Current Brisbane congestion worse than 2019, 2020: RACQ report

Brisbane commuters are sitting even longer in their cars on their way to work, with peak hours now worse than before COVID-19.

Brisbane’s arterials have been more congested in the first weeks of 2021 than prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as commuters shun public transport for cars.

A new RACQ report using Tom Tom data showed congestion on Brisbane’s roads had reached 90 per cent, indicating commute times were almost double that of free flowing traffic.

“This data proves what many of us have been thinking, traffic in Brisbane is getting worse,” RACQ spokeswoman Lauren Ritchie said.

“Average congestion back in 2019, pre-COVID-19, was peaking around 49 per cent,” Ms Ritchie said.

Morning traffic in Brisbane on the Riverside Expressway. Picture: File.

She said there were roughly 423 traffic jams across Brisbane just last week, as school returned.

But Ms Ritchie said wet conditions on Tuesday last week were only part of the story.

“In January congestion levels were at 71 per cent on a perfectly clear day, proving cars are still the preferred method of travel for locals,” she said.

Instead, the RACQ has called for increased frequency for public transport services.

“Queenslanders tell us a lack of services, poor connectivity and slow journey times are the major issues with the current network and they’re not willing to go back to catching the train, tram, bus or ferry due to concerns about their health and safety and social distancing, and because they don’t need to travel as regularly,” Ms Ritchie said.

She said public transport use was still down 30 per cent on pre-COVID levels in November last year.

A Translink spokesman however defended frequencies, saying there were now more bus and train services on the network than before the pandemic.

“Public transport use on our network last week reached up to 73 per cent of Pre-COVID patronage levels, our highest since the start of the pandemic,” the spokesman said.

“There remains plenty of capacity on the SEQ public transport network thanks to 105 permanent additional train services and the extension of 175 additional bus services until at least the middle of the year,” he said.