Melbourne public transport not keeping up with population growth: study

THAT hellish commute isn’t just in your head — new findings from Monash University show how our public transport isn’t keeping up with population growth.

Congestion at tram stop near Flinders St Station.

PUBLIC transport services are not keeping up with rapid population growth despite calls by civic leaders and planners to avoid using cars.

A Monash University study has found that total provision of train, tram and bus services in Melbourne has increased by 50 per cent since 2001-02.

However, when taking into account the city’s massive growth in recent times, the amount of services per person has been declining for about five years.

Public transport timetabled km per capita rose to about 37 in 2011-12, but it dropped to less than 34 last year.

Prof Graham Currie says public transport services need improving.

Head of Monash’s public transport research group Professor Graham Currie said the data confirmed that the level of new services was not keeping up with population growth.

“At the moment we’re not improving service, we’re actually going backwards,” he said.

“When people say full trains and worry there are no buses, there’s every reason for that because we haven’t been keeping up with the growth.”

The dip in per capita public transport provision comes amid strong pressure by some councils and planning experts for residents and workers to leave their cars at home.

SUMMER WORKS DISRUPT TRAIN SERVICES

PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICE COMPLAINTS DOUBLE IN A YEAR

CALL FOR SUBURBAN TRAINS TO RUN EVERY 10 MINUTES

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle recently said that the number of cars coming into the city had dropped by a quarter since 2008, and that was a good thing.

“(But) this is where the jobs are ... this is where the entertainment and hospitality is, and so we need to move large numbers of people — the only way to do that is by mass transit.”

Former state urban redevelopment chief Pru Sanderson recently told a seminar that in transport terms there were effectively two Melbournes — those with good public transport choices and those without.

“A person without much money in the inner city can get access to public transport more cheaply than a car, they go ‘why would I spend my money on a car, I’ve got an alternative,” she said.

Ms Sanderson is now an executive with global design consultancy Arcadis which recently released a report saying that Melbourne’s car-dependent culture had to change and calling for better public transport services.

Pearcedale's Luke Bennett needs his car to get around town. Picture: Mark Stewart

But for workers like Luke Bennett, from Pearcedale on the Mornington Peninsula, having a car is vital to get around efficiently.

A spokeswoman for Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allen said the state government was making the biggest transport investment in Victoria’s history, including the Metro Tunnel, 50 level crossing removals, smarter signalling, better stations and hundreds of extra services.

“We’ll keep investing in Victoria’s public transport system to get people home safer and sooner as Victoria grows,” he said.

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