Public transport alone is not the answer

Facts have got lost in debate on Hobart’s road congestion, writes Bob Cotgrove

THE truck accident on the Tasman Bridge last Monday, leading to hours of traffic chaos throughout Hobart, again raises the issue of what to do about the city’s increasing road congestion.

The issue requires a sober analysis of the facts rather than a spiel of ideological fantasies.

Urban residential and travel patterns have changed radically since the days when men worked in factories and women stayed home to look after the house and children.

In today’s modern post-industrial service-based societies, women now have workforce participation rates equal to men.

Out-of-house travel needs; going to work; shopping; attending to business matters; depositing and collecting kids from daycare or school; meeting up with friends for a chat and coffee; plus a range of other activities, are shared between men and women.

Most of these activities are scattered around the urban environment and many have strict time schedules that cannot be ignored.

For most people, the only way to accomplish these diverse travel activities is by using a personal car.

Car ownership also allows far greater choice in residential location.

The major growth areas in all cities are the outer suburbs, where affordable land is available to satisfy the average family’s budget and preferences for a home with space for gardens, lawns and outdoor entertaining.

It is often said that Hobart is the most car-dependent city in Australia.

More buses going to more places more frequently, establishing a northern suburbs light-rail service on the old railway line, and expanding ferry routes on the Derwent River are all measures advocated by public transport supporters to reduce peak congestion.

How true are these claims? There are 19 statistical urban areas (SUAs) in Australia with populations exceeding 100,000, ranging in size from the largest, Sydney, with a population of 4.83 million, to the smallest, Bendigo, with just 103,000.

Hobart is ranked 13th in size with a population of about 227,000, between Geelong (290,000) and Townsville (179,000).

Only the other five state capitals (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide) have more than one million people. The other 14 cities are all less than a million.

In terms of public transport use by commuters, Hobart is ranked seventh highest, behind the five million-plus capitals and Canberra-Queanbeyan, and well ahead of the other 12 SUAs, including six that are much larger than Hobart in population. As far as car dependency goes, Hobart again does well for its size, being ranked sixth lowest, at 87.3 per cent, in the use of a car for the journey to work.

Apart from Hobart and CanberraQueanbeyan, commuters in all the other 12 cities with fewer than a million inhabitants, from the Gold Coast to Bendigo, have more than 90 per cent car use and less than five per cent public transport use.

As well as that, Hobart has the highest percentage of commuters walking to work – 5.7 per cent.

No other SUA is above 5.0 per

No Australian city has alleviated road congestion by improving public transport. BOB COTGROVE

cent. So, for its size, Hobart does well in public transport use and has a relatively low car dependency.

The RACT, in its 30-year Greater Hobart Mobility Vision, includes “River City” as one of its scenarios with a heavy emphasis on ferries as the primary means of mobility.

It used Brisbane as a model for what Hobart could become.

For the record, Brisbane has the highest ferry use of all 19 SUAs, yet whether alone or in combination with cars, buses, trains, and trams, ferries account for only two in every 1000 commuters.

So much for “River City”! In the next decade, Greater Hobart’s population is expected to grow by 50,000.

The outer suburbs of Brighton, southern Kingborough, Sorell and beyond will house 20,000 of that growth.

As a result, inter-regional road traffic between the northern, southern and eastern suburbs will increase substantially, requiring a western bypass around the central business district and a new bridge over the River Derwent.

These inevitable infrastructure projects will require at least a decade to plan and build.

No Australian city has alleviated road congestion by improving public transport.

Those in authority and their advisers who claim otherwise are not telling the truth, either deliberately or through ignorance.

Clear factual evidence rejects their claims. It’s time they were held to account.