Page 1341 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 12 May 2021
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aspirations about when life can start returning to normal. Public transport patronage has gradually increased but it is still down by about 25 per cent. Congestion on our roads is already worse than it was before the pandemic, with overall traffic volumes currently three per cent higher than in December 2019 across the ACT. Traffic in Woden, in particular, has increased, with volumes eight per cent higher than before COVID hit. Traffic volumes are up 21 per cent on Northbourne Avenue northbound and 27 per cent southbound compared to pre-pandemic traffic. That is at the peak time.
Data released this month in the ABS household survey shows that one in six users of public transport have not been back on board since the COVID-19 pandemic. Public health advice, under Canberra’s COVID-19 recovery road map, is still to avoid public transport in peak hour. Clearly, we have a long road ahead of us. Expert health advice has been our guide throughout the pandemic, and it will continue to inform how we communicate with Canberrans about their use of the bus network and light rail.
While health advice remains paramount, it is important to start the conversation about life returning to normal. As we start the long journey of economic and social recovery, we must look at how we can safely invite people back onto public transport in a healthy and sustainable way. I am pleased to say that this is something that our government is tackling through the ACT Transport Recovery Plan. It outlines the work that we are doing to set public transport on a growth path as we move beyond COVID-19.
Our approach to achieving sustained patronage increases in a COVID-normal world is based upon four core principles. First, the health and safety of passengers is paramount, and we will continue to be guided by the health advice. Second, we recognise that the best way to restore community confidence is to foster a gradual ramp-up in patronage that is complemented by supporting activities such as the vaccine rollout. We should not expect everyone to jump on board a bus tomorrow, but when the time is right we will be strongly welcoming people back on board. Third, our actions will be data driven and aimed at improving the passenger experience over time. Finally, we will continue to invest strategically in our public transport network and refine our services to ensure that Canberrans who want to use public transport can do so.
Some of the key steps we will be taking through the plan include delivering a COVID safe etiquette campaign, which outlines to passengers what they can do to ensure that other passengers are safe and feel safe on public transport. We will review our existing fare structure to identify options that incentivise COVID safe public transport usage, particularly in terms of social distancing through spreading the peak. We will facilitate better integration between public transport, active transport and micro-mobility schemes to ensure that Canberrans have end-to-end options that do not require them to get into their cars. We will work with the private sector and major employers to find ways to have flexible working arrangements to stimulate economic activity, while also encouraging commuters to travel in the shoulder peak periods.
I want to unpack this last section a little further. Traffic volumes in Canberra are currently exceeding pre-pandemic levels because people have not yet returned to public transport. This is a trend seen in other cities around Australia and the world. As
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