Motorists could spend extra hour commuting to work by 2030
IF you think traffic is bad now, just wait to see how congested our roads will be in 13 years. You’ll likely be spending a lot more time in the car.
Future Victoria
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MOTORISTS could spend an extra hour a day commuting to work by 2030 if nothing is done to combat road congestion, experts warn.
Data from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics shows the average commute time in Melbourne in 2011 was just over 35 minutes — or 7.5 working weeks a year.
Projections by PwC reveal that by 2030, average commute times could increase to 63 minutes under a worst-case scenario — or an extra 56 minutes a day.
PwC Director of Economics and Policy, Rob Tyson, said that would mean people spending almost 13.5 working weeks in the car.
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“This implies people could be spending an extra hour in their car every day, which is five hours of lost time per week,” Mr Tyson said.
“That equates to an additional six working weeks spent sitting in their car in traffic every year.
“These are worrying projections as people and businesses are unlikely to accept this time spent commuting.
“It erodes people’s quality of life, it hampers businesses which rely on the city’s transport networks, and could seriously reduce Melbourne’s competitiveness.”
RACV general manager public policy, Brian Negus, said traffic congestion cost the economy $4.6 billion a year with that figure projected to grow to $7.6 billion by 2030.
Infrastructure Victoria says congestion will cost each Victorian $1700 a year by 2030.
Mr Negus said Victorians were increasingly frustrated with the quality of transport in middle and outer Melbourne, where peak-hour speeds on many roads had slowed to about 20-25 km/h.
“This is taking a toll on the quality of life for all Victorians,” Mr Negus said.
“We know that more people will commute by bicycle if there is safer infrastructure, and clearly more separated bike paths are needed, especially in inner and middle Melbourne.
“Similarly, the fast-growing western suburbs, and the freight industry, will benefit from the West Gate Tunnel project which is effectively the western part of the East-West Link recommended by Sir Rod Eddington some eight years ago.
“Now the northern and southeastern suburbs need a similar long-term investment package to address the massive backlog of arterial road and public transport upgrades.
“All of these projects should incorporate bus priority and safe off-road bicycle facilities.”
Western Distributor Authority spokeswoman Kim Payne said the West Gate Tunnel project would reduce congestion on one of Melbourne’s busiest freeway corridors, cutting travel times by up to 20 minutes from the west.
She said the Environment Effects Statement showed that without the project, there would be an extra 28,000 vehicles a day on the West Gate Bridge, travel times would be much longer, and truck volumes would increase significantly on streets like Francis St and Buckley St.
PwC Partner Mario D’Elia said Melburnians also needed to overcome their reluctance to use buses.
“Are buses a solution like in most other parts of the world or is it just a Melbourne-thing that no one’s ever going to use them and we give up on them?” Mr D’Elia said.
“We have an abhorrence in Melbourne to using them which is different to other cities. Why is that? I don’t know. It is about connectivity so the whole system works as a network — and that’s what this new department, Transport for Victoria, is trying to do.”
Another one of Melbourne’s big road blocks is its high number of level crossings.
Sydney has about a dozen level crossings compared to Melbourne’s 180, which the state government plans to reduce to 130.
Removing additional level crossings would allow more trains to run, increase reliability, and reduce road congestion.
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