Page 4067 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 30 November 2022
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do not show that. There was a change in public transport behaviour and it was a result of COVID, so let us dig into that.
First of all, let us look at the context. Let us look at the other jurisdictions which suffered decreases in public transport during COVID. In south-east Queensland during COVID, their best public transport usage was only three-quarters of their normal usage. In August 2022, they only had 73 per cent of people using public transport compared to their pre-pandemic levels. In comparison, their light rail system did pretty well. Their patronage was 95 per cent. Public transport usage dropped in south-east Queensland during COVID, but light rail bounced back quicker.
The data from Sydney and Melbourne tells the same story. In July 2022, in Sydney, public transport patronage levels sat at an average of 70 per cent of pre-COVID levels. In March 2022, in Melbourne, public transport usage was only around 63 per cent of pre-COVID levels. All around the country, public transport usage dropped during COVID, and it has not yet returned to pre-COVID levels. At different points in time during the past two years, people either could not use public transport because of lockdowns, or they were cautious about using it because of the ongoing pandemic, and confidence is still low. That is a story that has happened all over Australia and all over the world.
What has been happening here in the ACT as a result of COVID? In August 2022, the ACT Transport Recovery Plan refresh saw us at 70 per cent of pre-COVID levels of patronage. That is in line with other major cities. It is in line with south-east Queensland at 73 per cent, with Sydney at 70 per cent and with Melbourne at 63 per cent. It puts us at the top end of that. It is part of this national trend that saw a drop in public transport usage during COVID. We are consistent with what happened elsewhere. It had nothing to do with light rail or network 19.
What else can we learn from the data? We have seen some areas with lower decreases here in the ACT than they saw elsewhere, and in some areas we have seen an increase during COVID. This bounce-back only happened in the inner north of Canberra and in Gungahlin, the districts that have light rail. For the inner north of Canberra, it has actually increased. It went up to 9.2 per cent of journeys to work in 2021. Thank you, light rail. Gungahlin dropped, but it was a smaller drop in usage compared to everywhere else in Canberra and compared to other jurisdictions around Australia. COVID dropped public transport usage. Light rail has helped it to bounce back.
This is particularly stark when you look at the suburbs in Canberra that do not have light rail. Before the pandemic, Woden had higher levels of public transport usage than Gungahlin. Now Gungahlin has higher usage than Woden. Imagine how many more people will have access to great public transport in the Woden Valley and the inner south when Curtin, Hughes, Yarralumla and Deakin have direct access to public transport on the Adelaide Avenue-Yarra Glen corridor. Frankly, I cannot wait until we get light rail out to Belconnen, so that we can get this benefit, too.
The data that Mr Parton’s motion relies on simply is not correct. I am happy to have a chat afterwards and give him our sources, and show him how we have put these numbers together. It is absolutely clear in our office that light rail and network 19 did
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