After the ‘world’s biggest work-from-home experiment’, many people (and their employers) might decide they needn’t commute every day. If even a fraction do that, infrastructure needs will change.
Many operators have lost almost all their fare revenue. Even those who operate on contract terms that reduce the impact of falling patronage must bear the costs of disinfection and other precautions.
Many people don’t realise high-income earners are the biggest users of public transport in Australian cities, but it’s still low-income earners who are most vulnerable to service disruptions.
Australia can learn from what has been done overseas, especially in China, to keep public transport running while containing the spread of coronavirus.
On-demand public transport has now provided over 1 million rides in 36 trials in various Australian cities. Is the problem of poor suburban public transport on the way to being solved?
Bus travel is now free for all passengers throughout Luxembourg.
EPA-EFE/JULIEN WARNAND
Only the inner suburbs of Melbourne and other capital cities meet the 20-minute neighbourhood test. But we could transform the other suburbs for much less than the cost of current transport projects.
The neighbourhoods of Paris, Barcelona and Amsterdam with densities 3-5 times those of Melbourne and Sydney offer an insight into how we could transform our cities for the better.
Installing light rail is costly, as Sydney has found, but it’s the gold standard for public transport along road corridors. What trackless trams can do is rapidly expand such services at low cost.
It doesn’t take much to get us walking more.
Flickr/alina gnerre
Two-thirds of surveyed workers work from home one day a week on average, but could do at least half their work out of the workplace. If they commuted less often, congestion could be greatly reduced.