Walking declines as car use dominates Hobart journeys

Tasmanian Travel Survey data has just been released and the findings may surprise you. THE FACTS AND FIGURES >>

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HOBART residents are walking less than they did a decade ago, a study of the city’s transport preferences has found.

The results of the Greater Hobart Travel Survey were released on Thursday by Infrastructure and Transport Minister Michael Ferguson.

Cars remain the city’s favourite means of travel, accounting for 77 per cent of weekday trips, compared with 74 per cent in the 2010 edition of the survey.

The use of public transport rose slightly from four to five per cent of all trips; cycling was stable at one per cent — but walking fell from 20 per cent of trips ten years ago to 16 per cent.

Traffic in Davey Street Hobart at around 8.45am. Traffic on the road is increasing again due to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions with the return to school for many students. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

An analysis of travel patterns revealed the emergency of a weekend peak period, between 11am and noon, where traffic volumes are almost as high as during a weekday afternoon.

Most trips are for work purposes (22 per cent), followed by social or recreational journeys (20 per cent), shopping (17 per cent) or drop-off and pick-up trips (16 per cent).

Mr Ferguson said the information collected from a random selection of 2000 households in the greater metropolitan region was important for planning.

“The data collected during the survey will be instrumental in making planning decisions about roads, public transport and other infrastructure and facilities now and into the future,” he said.

Among the other nuggets revealed: households have 1.8 cars and 1.3 bicycles on average, make 3.2 trips per day with an average distance per trip of 10.8 kilometres covered in 19 minutes: an average speed of about 54km/h.

A shopper is seen walking with a plastic bag inside the Central Market in Adelaide, Friday, November 1, 2019. (AAP Image/Morgan Sette) NO ARCHIVING

Trips were almost two kilometres further than the average of a decade ago.

The average person spends around 73 minutes per day travelling and covers around 34 kilometres in total by car, bus, bicycle and on foot.

The survey also revealed that 91 per cent of adults had a drivers licence and 7.4 per cent rode a bicycle in the week prior to the survey.

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