{"id":83038,"date":"2024-07-09T14:05:17","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T04:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=83038"},"modified":"2024-07-09T14:05:19","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T04:05:19","slug":"how-do-australian-worker-commute-times-compare-to-europe-and-north-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=83038","title":{"rendered":"How do Australian worker commute times compare to Europe and North America?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The average Australian worker spends more than an hour a day stuck in rush-hour traffic, fighting for a seat on the bus or trying to zone out on the train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commute times nationwide are longer than for many European countries \u2014 they also surpass other car-dependent countries such as the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But is there a reason we&#8217;re lagging behind? And what can we do to make our travel time shorter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Are commuter times likely to get better soon?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s all relative but&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unimelb.edu.au\/newsroom\/news\/2019\/july\/hilda-examines-how-australians-are-balancing-work-and-home#:~:text=This%20year's%20HILDA%20report%20also,had%20risen%20to%204.5%20hours.\">commuter times in Australia have been increasing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, workers averaged a weekly commuting time of about 3.7 hours just more than two decades ago. That grew to about 4.5 hours in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-datawrapper wp-block-embed-datawrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Work commute times in Australia\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/XWFZW\/1\/?dark=false#?secret=BqnzoLByLA\" data-secret=\"BqnzoLByLA\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"500\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr Alan Both from the Australian Urban Observatory said the urban sprawl in some of the larger cities including Melbourne and Sydney was contributing to the increase in commuter travel time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s quite normal for people to be living over an hour away from work,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Affordability is the main issue with these sorts of things \u2014 you can&#8217;t expect young professionals to be able to afford anywhere near the city, they just simply have to live further out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;And because of that, they have the experience of longer commutes.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr Both explained there were solutions to ease the traffic and add more public transport in newly built suburbs in some of the country&#8217;s growth areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;One of the last things to go in are things like bus stops. So in general, if you&#8217;re moving to a new area, you are a car user,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;So you have to drive and that increases the traffic on the roads and slows everything down.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-datawrapper wp-block-embed-datawrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Percentage of commuters that can reach work within 30 minutes\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/1nX7q\/1\/?dark=false#?secret=puvddnlDQm\" data-secret=\"puvddnlDQm\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"481\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that due to the heavy reliance on car usage and a lack of public transport options in some of these newly built outer suburbs, delays in getting to work were inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;New suburbs have really bad congestion. You even see it in the sort of middle- and outer-ring suburbs where just getting onto the highway is a traffic jam,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;So not even actually getting to the highway just, you know, entering and exiting.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RMIT University&#8217;s Dr Koorosh Gharehbaghi specialises in public transport systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said the average distance people were living away from work was increasing but there were other factors at play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In cities that are doing sort of a large upgrade with the Sydney Metro, even Melbourne, for example, the commuter time has increased because they&#8217;re doing a lot of maintenance works and upgrades,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;But what it comes down to is the actual distance of travel to work.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How does Australia compare to other parts of the world?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Australia does not compare well to international examples in both Europe and North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Europe, more than 60 per cent of workers in the EU travelled less than half an hour from work to home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-datawrapper wp-block-embed-datawrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Work commute times in Europe\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/Vzik4\/8\/?dark=false#?secret=Cx7JyuW43o\" data-secret=\"Cx7JyuW43o\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"508\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But experts including Dr Gharehbaghi have said European examples might not be the best comparison when it comes to Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, cities such as Copenhagen were smaller in size and population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Dr Gharehbaghi said there were elements like frequency of service that Australia could try to emulate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The level of public transport service they have \u2026 are not only the latest systems available, but the frequency that they have with their public transport is quite high,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are some international examples that Australia could look to?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Experts have said Australia should look at cities that have a comparable size with similar levels of urban sprawl of large capitals including Melbourne and Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In smaller cities and countries, they have much more [stricter] sort of planning schemes, which means they heavily monitor due to lack of available land,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-datawrapper wp-block-embed-datawrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Work commute times in North America\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/xL3gb\/1\/?dark=false#?secret=jqYOFSQ9lo\" data-secret=\"jqYOFSQ9lo\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"335\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s why he thinks some of Australia&#8217;s largest cities should look to Toronto for models to improve commuter travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;What you find with Toronto, is it has a lesser commuter wait time compared to Melbourne,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Why that is, because they&#8217;re spending a lot of money on upgrading and updating the systems, more than the state government of Victoria, as well as the federal government.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What can governments do to improve work commute times?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The frequency of public transport services is top of the list for both experts but they say there needs to be more foresight in planning our cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Increasing frequency is one but also in making sure that, again, that the system can be able to handle that higher-intensity service required,&#8221; Dr Gharehbaghi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He believes a bigger problem for increased commuter times, especially in some of the larger capital cities, is unchecked growth in some outer-suburban communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We have urban growth corridors that are designated by the state governments in terms of the population sort of growth for the future,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;But what happens is, when the population of cities are expanding, [they are] not in the particular area that the government had in place in terms of possible growth.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-datawrapper wp-block-embed-datawrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Percentage of people who work locally in Australia\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/uR24z\/2\/?dark=false#?secret=PIvzrrIJRm\" data-secret=\"PIvzrrIJRm\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"526\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr Both explained there were several things in play, including increased frequency of services and higher density.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But he said there were some quick wins governments could have in improving commuter times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;One of the big barriers for people using the transit system is inflexibility. You quickly become beholden to the schedule of the public transit,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added there might be difficulty in increasing services on trains in the short term but said there was an opportunity to strengthen the bus network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;If you go to the outer suburbs or even middle-ring suburbs, there might be a bus only every 30 minutes,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;ve just missed that bus, you&#8217;re waiting there for another 30 minutes.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ABC News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The average Australian worker spends more than an hour a day stuck in rush-hour traffic, fighting for a seat on the bus or trying to zone out on the train.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":83039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,47],"tags":[265,987,993,8339,2139],"class_list":["post-83038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-rail-news","tag-adelaide","tag-brisbane","tag-melbourne","tag-perth","tag-sydney"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83040,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83038\/revisions\/83040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}