Sydneysiders may not love their public transport as much as their beaches and natural wonders, but it appears we’re much better off than other major cities around Australia. A new study by Climate Council has analysed the accessibility of public transport in Australia’s capital cities looking into factors such as reliability and frequency and found that Sydneysiders have the best access to public transport.
The study also found that out of the 15 million people who lived in major Australian cities, only about half have proper access to public transport.
Key findings
In Sydney, access in the CBD, Botany, and eastern suburbs was deemed the best while the Blue Mountains, Penrith, and Campbelltown were identified as the areas with the poorest access to public transport. According to the study, 67.2% of Sydneysiders have access to a minimal level of public transport which has been defined as an address within 800 metres or roughly a 10-minute walk of a service that runs at least every 15 minutes between 7am and 7pm. However, it was noted that only about 27% of Sydney residents use public transport to travel to work, preferring the car instead.
Notably, Sydney is the city that has the most equal access to public transport in both rich and relatively poorer areas. Sydney also has the highest population density of all the cities that were analysed.
Melbourne was ranked second with 52.5% of residents living within 800 metres of a public transport service although there was a notable divide between wealthy and lower-income suburbs in the city. Adelaide was third on the list with 47.6% of people having sufficient access to public transport and Perth was fourth with only 40.5% of people having easy access to public transport.
Last on the list was Brisbane which has been found to have the worst public transport accessibility in all of Australia with only 33.7% of residents living within a 10-minute walk to public transport.
While Sydney’s performance in this study is refreshingly positive, it must be noted that there is a significant gap between Australian cities and other global cities such as New York where all five of its boroughs have at least 82% people living within 800 metres of public transport. The study also noted that Australia has more registered cars than drivers and limited use of shared and active transport.
Read the full report here.