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Pedestrian numbers down more than half in parts of Melbourne CBD
By Craig Butt
Melburnians are staying away from the city’s central business district, with foot traffic at some of the busiest locations down almost half.
Pedestrian monitoring data from the City of Melbourne shows that morning peak foot traffic around Southern Cross Station is down 61 per cent on Wednesday compared with the past month’s average, while at Flinders Street Station underpass the numbers are down 45 per cent.
Foot traffic was down by more than half in Melbourne’s CBD on Wednesday.Credit: Wayne Taylor
These two stations are typically the busiest sensor locations for foot traffic in the city each morning, although it is worth noting the drop may be partly due to more Melburnians opting to drive to work on Wednesday rather than taking public transport.
At Southern Cross Station there were 739 pedestrians logged between 8am and 9am on Wednesday morning. On a typical morning over the past month, about 1800 people have passed through the area at this time of day.
Meanwhile, at the Flinders Street Station underpass, there were 1192 pedestrians recorded, down from 2172 on a typical weekday morning.
The data shows that Wednesday’s foot traffic is hewing closer to average weekday foot traffic over the past year – a figure that has been driven down considerably by lockdowns over that time – than the average over the past month.
The City of Melbourne has set up pedestrian monitoring sensors at 72 locations within its boundaries, which were set up to aid city planning policies.
At lunchtime on Monday, pedestrian volumes were down on the weekday average at almost every single sensor location in the city. Each dot on the map below shows a sensor location, and the blue colour key means that the area has recorded a significantly lower pedestrian traffic than usual.
A screenshot of pedestrian data from the City of Melbourne showing lower pedestrian numbers throughout the city at lunchtime on Wednesday (blue means lower than average pedestrian numbers).Credit: City of Melbourne
One of the locations where sensors have been installed is the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre – the site of one of the state’s COVID-19 vaccination centres – which Melburnians have flocked to in large numbers since of the start of this week.
The pedestrian data shows the area has been far quieter in terms of foot traffic on Wednesday than at the start of the week.
This graph shows pedestrian numbers at the main Clarendon Street entrance of the Convention and Exhibition Centre since Monday, and the average weekday foot traffic average for the past month has been included as well for context.
On Monday (the dark purple line), there were far more people visiting the centre during the morning and around lunchtime than on a typical weekday over the past month (the green line).
Between 2pm and 3pm, the sensors there logged 2476 pedestrians – the highest weekday total for that time of day so far this year and more than twice the average number of people milling about the area on a typical weekday.
On Tuesday (the light purple line), there wasn’t quite the same rush as on Monday, but foot traffic was tracking above average during the morning and lunchtime.
On Wednesday (the orange line), there were 916 pedestrians logged in the area between 8am and 9am, slightly below the weekday average of 1036 people for that time of day. But it’s worth noting that this drop in pedestrian numbers is not as steep as some of the other areas of the city.
Foot traffic is also down in Bourke Street Mall, one of the busiest locations for shoppers and visitors to the city, with pedestrian numbers down almost 40 per cent.
During the 1-2pm lunchtime peak, in which there have been 2233 people recorded walking along the north side of Bourke Street Mall on a typical weekday over the past month, there were 1382 pedestrians detected there on Wednesday.
Throughout Wednesday, the pedestrian numbers through the area have been on par with its 52-week average, a measure of foot traffic that has been driven down because Melbourne has spent about one-third of the past year in lockdown.
But that isn’t to say foot traffic levels in the area on Wednesday are as low as they were during the state’s first or second wave lockdowns, when lunchtime foot traffic through Bourke Street Mall rarely rose above about 400.
The graphs in this story will be updated throughout the day.