New survey reveals longer commute times Australia-wide

A new survey from Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) has revealed that commuters are suffering across Australia with commuting times soaring.

Sydneysiders are the worst off with the average return commute taking 71 minutes, a 17% increase from the original survey results in 2002. The rest of NSW is better off with a 51 minute average commute but this has increased by 23% since 2002.

It appears that infrastructure is no longer keeping up with the population’s needs.

Longer commuting times mean people have less family time, poorer health and are unhappy overall. Crowded platforms and packed carriages only incentivise workers to change jobs or move closer to work, adding more pressure to urban networks.

“Having new rail systems is not improving the existing system in that commuter journeys are clearly longer. They’ve axed buses to encourage people to use the metro on a journey which now takes twice as long since they have to change trains and go through additional stops,” said RTBU Loco Division Secretary Bob Hayden.

“It’s a complete disaster. There should be a focus on making commutes more efficient by expanding the integrated heavy rail network, not longer and more crowded.”

“This isn’t just affecting commuters, it’s increasing the stress for drivers and staff at stations. When something goes wrong, the government just blames staff and moves on. That just isn’t right.”

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