Sydney’s most congested roads are choking on significantly less traffic than five years ago, despite record car and driver registrations, and millions fewer public transport trips each month.
Centenary Drive in Homebush was a part-time parking lot for 95,110 vehicles per day in 2019, but this year it is frustrating almost 15,000 fewer drivers.
Traffic has declined on Pittwater Road in Collaroy by more than 10 per cent. Windsor Road in Baulkham Hills, Victoria Road in Ryde and Burns Bay Road in Lane Cove also have thousands fewer motorists each day compared to in 2019.
Founding director of the University of Sydney’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies professor David Hensher said working from home had reshaped road use in areas such as Sydney’s north shore and the eastern suburbs.
“A lot of people are working roughly two to three days in the office and, if you look at the public servants, many of them are at home almost four days a week,” Hensher said.
Recent University of Sydney travel surveys have found about one in four people do some work from home, and roughly one out of every five working hours is now done from home.
The highest level of peak hour commuting occurs on Tuesdays (67 per cent of regular commuters), while on Fridays, only about half of the commuters depart for work during peak hours, the survey said.
Time saved by not commuting – up to nine hours a week on average – is mostly spent at home, but about 20 per cent is spent going out locally, usually by car.
There’s also been a shift to working half-days in the office, further reducing peak hour travel.
Half of all car and public transport trips in Sydney now occur in off-peak hours and these trips are more likely to be on local roads than on arterial routes.
The busiest time on Sydney’s roads is 11am on Saturdays as parents take children to sports and other social activities.
New toll roads, including WestConnex, have displaced trips on arterial roads because fewer trips to work mean drivers can more easily afford tolls and parking fees. The $60 toll cap has also had an impact. Someone driving to the city from the Hills District can save $4000 or $5000 a year, Hensher said.
Professor David Hensher said the number of people who commute after the pandemic could drop by 10 per cent. Credit: Louie Douvis
A “working from home propensity” is used in transport planning, but traffic patterns are expected to return to normal in the next five years, Hensher said.
“But I think that will be mainly due to population growth. I’m not sure the distribution will remain the same,” he said.
Another likely cause of reduced traffic is cost of living pressures.
“Because people are not going out and spending quite so much money on leisure or restaurant activities, there are a lot of discretionary car trips that are not undertaken at all,” Hensher said.
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