Transurban declares toll road traffic near full recovery

Toll road operator Transurban figures show the daily commute has returned to pre-COVID levels for many Australians.

Heavy traffic is returning to Australia’s toll roads.

The daily commute has returned to pre-COVID levels for many areas of Australia, with several of toll road operator Transurban’s Australian assets recording average daily traffic activity equal to or above 2019 levels in the March quarter.

In a statement to the ASX on Thursday, the $37.8bn company said March quarter average daily travel levels across all of its markets – Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and North America – was 1.1 per cent higher than the same time last year and just 3.8 per cent below March quarter 2019 levels.

Chief executive Scott Charlton told The Australian traffic would continue to improve as the economy recovered.

“We’re seeing traffic recovering on our roads in line with improving economic conditions across Australia as restrictions have eased,” Mr Charlton said.

The best performing market was Sydney, where average daily travel levels lifted 21.8 per cent – or 4.5 per cent when excluding the newly opened M8/M5 East and NorthConnex – over last year to 936,000 trips per day.

Compared to the March quarter of 2019 – well before the pandemic – traffic activity was up 15.5 per cent, or roughly equal when excluding activity on the newly opened roads.

Average workday traffic increased by 20.1 per cent over last year while average weekend and public holiday traffic increased by 28.1 per cent.

Both cars and trucks returned to Sydney roads, with car traffic lifting 21.4 per cent and heavy vehicle traffic lifting 26.9 per cent for the quarter.

The city’s strongest performing road was the Hills M2 motorway that links Lane Cove and Seven Hills in the city’s north, with 135,000 average daily trips over the quarter, 9.3 per cent above where it was in 2020 and just 3.4 per cent below where it was in 2019.

The company said activity in Sydney was boosted by a relative lack of COVID-19 restrictions.

“Strong traffic performance reflected the improved operating environment in Sydney, with the city largely free of restrictions during the period,” the company said.

In Melbourne average daily traffic activity on its sole road, the CityLink, fell due to “a period of lockdown and masks enforced indoors.”

An average of 675,000 trips were made per day, 15.2 per cent below 2020 and 20.9 per cent below 2019 – but Transurban said volumes had improved since restrictions were lifted in mid-February.

Large vehicle traffic was more resilient, falling 2.6 per cent year on year compared to an 18.5 per cent decline in car traffic.

Brisbane saw 403,000 average daily trips over the quarter, 3.3 per cent above last year and just 1 per cent below 2019 traffic.

The strong performance came despite snap lockdowns imposed on Brisbane in January and the end of March: Brisbane traffic volumes were supported by the Logan Motorway, which saw a 10.9 per cent increase in daily activity over the year.

“Logan Motorway continues to be the network’s best performing asset, benefiting from the additional capacity provided as a result of the Logan Enhancement Project which completed in 2019,” Transurban said.

The company’s North American division saw average daily traffic fall 26.9 per cent over the year to 101,000 trips across its roads in the Greater Washington Area, Virginia and Montreal.

“Restrictions in movement in the Greater Washington Area continue to impact traffic and pricing on the Express Lanes assets which are still down on pre-COVID-19 levels, although volumes did improve throughout the quarter,” Transurban said.

“A Safer at Home Order remains in place in Virginia, however the vaccine rollout is progressing quickly and approximately one in three adults were vaccinated with at least one dose at the end of the period.”

Meanwhile, the group’s financing vehicle, Transurban Finance Company has upsized its existing $1.6bn syndicated bank debt facility to $2.6bn. The new $1bn debt tranche has a tenor of 2.5 years.

Transurban shares closed at $13.80, up 0.14 per cent.