Sydney residents WFH on Mondays and Fridays, NSW transport data reveals

Exclusive transport data has revealed just how much COVID has reshaped our working life, turbocharging local neighbourhoods as we take advantage of working from home.

Sydneysiders are embracing working from home, with exclusive transport data showing most are avoiding the office on Mondays and Fridays.

An analysis of daily traffic and public transport movements suggests most workers have chosen Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays as “office” days.

But, while they might not be in the office, the data shows people are flooding into the CBD after 3pm on a Friday for a night out in the city.

Uniquely to the Sydney CBD, the data showed an increase in city-bound public transport journeys on Friday afternoon, with more than 30 per cent of trips to the CBD occurring at this time.

Exclusive transport data shows Sydneysiders are avoiding the office on Mondays and Fridays.

Prior the pandemic, the number of Friday afternoon trips into the city was less than 30 per cent.

Transport officials believe most of the city-bound journeys occurring at this time relates to people heading into town for a night out.

Compiled exclusively for The Sunday Telegraph, the Transport for NSW data examined both daily traffic and public transport movements until the first week of March.

The analysis found several changes in how, when and where Sydneysiders are travelling.

While traffic volumes had returned to pre-COVID levels, there are less commuters on the roads.

Instead, the analysis found there to have been a 25 per cent increase in heavy vehicle volumes in February 2021 compared to the same month last year — a rise linked to the online buying boom.

There are also more parents on the road picking up and dropping off their children to and from school. Only 80 per cent of students who travelled on public transport before the pandemic have returned to the network.

Stock images of Transport Sydney Trains, Opal card reader at Town Hall station, Sydney, Monday, Sept. 2, 2013. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts) NO ARCHIVING

With more workers at home, daily traffic in residential areas has increased with motorists making shorter trips than before the pandemic.

In shopping districts such as Parramatta, the data showed there had a been a rise in shorter trips to the CBD as people returned to the shops.

The analysis comes as employers grapple with whether to insist on workers on coming in to the office full-time, despite many employees successfully working from home while at the same time boosting suburban economies.

NSW Treasury secretary Michael Pratt caused a storm after telling a Budget Estimates earlier this month how he had ordered department staff to return to work in the office for “at least three days” amid concerns productivity while working from home has begun to fall, with plans for employees to come back full-time in the future.

Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger said people working from home had “supercharged” small businesses in Western Sydney while also improving the work-life balance for workers.

Commuters at Central Sydney. Most commuter trips now occur Tuesday-Thursdays.

He warned employers who failed to be flexible risked losing talented staff.

“Working close to home has been a huge benefit to Western Sydney. It has turbocharged local neighbourhoods,” Mr Borger said.

“Sydney was a great city before the pandemic, but it wasn’t perfect. We had the job engine in the east and a housing engine in the west, resulting in people having to sit in traffic jams and crowded public transport to get to work.

“I think companies are going to have to provide flexibility if they are going to keep talented people.”

The data showed there were 1.5 million public transport trips on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on the first week in March this year, with 1.3 million trips on Monday and 1.4 million on Friday.

In the same week last year, there were 2.4 million trips on Monday and Tuesday with 2.3 million trips on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.