Sydney’s roads remain eerily deserted during COVID-19 isolation
The coronavirus crisis has not only caused a major drop in petrol prices but it has left Sydney roads eerily deserted, allowing essential workers to travel across the city in record time. SEE THE INCREDIBLE DRONE FOOTAGE
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The coronavirus crisis has caused petrol prices and public transport patronage to plummet with the drops expected to continue in the coming weeks while our roads and highways remain deserted.
Travel on Sydney's road network has declined more than half in the last four weeks while patronage has dropped more than a third on buses, trains and ferries compared to this time last year.
The biggest decrease was on ferry trips with March 2020 having 48 per cent less passengers than in 2019. While the bus and train patronage are down 33 and 38 per cent.
For those on the mostly empty roads, it has been sweet relief seeing petrol station signs with prices falling below $1 per litre.
NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said we could see an 18-year-low in price during coming weeks the price per litre expected to get down to 90 cents.
“The people currently driving on our roads are healthcare workers and first responders, workers delivering essential services and families shopping for groceries – just the people who desperately need some relief at the bowser right now,” Mr Khoury said.
“The NRMA has kept a watchful eye on prices since the coronavirus shut our nation down and we are finally seeing prices fall – the average price in Sydney has fallen over 37 cents per litre in the last four weeks and they will continue to fall to below 90 cents per litre.
“Pleasingly we are seeing these falls across all the major brands and across the whole of the city.” The Daily Telegraph tracked commuter times from Manly to Town Hall, Ryde to Central Station, Parramatta to the CBD and Marrickville to Surry Hills during March 2019.
In April 2020, it is 30 minutes faster driving from Manly to Town hall, 35 minutes faster when travelling from Ryde to Central Station, 40 minutes faster when driving from Parramatta to the CBD and 6 minutes faster when travelling from Marrickville to Surry Hills.
The Daily Telegraph revealed the amount of travel on Sydney’s roads had dropped by 55 per cent in the last four weeks.
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the lack of traffic on the roads was comforting.
“The fact we have less people moving around means less chance of the virus moving around us which is a good thing,” he said.
“But public transport is an essential service and I want to thank our frontline workforce, our private sector partners, the transport agency and the union leadership for working together to keep services running for those who can’t work from home or need to access essential services.”