7.1.1.1  Urban transport national overview

Australia's urban transport networks include urban roads, and urban public transport systems including urban passenger rail, buses, light rail and ferries.

The Audit analysed urban transport networks in the conurbations162 around the six largest capital cities: Sydney-Newcastle-Wollongong, Melbourne-Geelong, Brisbane-Gold Coast-Sunshine Coast, greater Perth (which extends to Mandurah in the south), greater Adelaide and greater Canberra. A conurbation is an extended metropolitan area which may include several cities or towns within the economic region of a major city.

The detailed transport modelling used for the six largest capital cities was not available for Hobart and Darwin. Top-down estimates have been used for those two cities.

In 2011, urban roads carried 420 million vehicle kilometres per day across the six conurbations, while the public transport networks moved significant numbers of passengers:

■  urban rail carried 46.3 million passenger kilometres (km) per day;

■  urban buses carried 16.8 million passenger km per day;

■  light rail/trams carried 4.1 million passenger km per day; and

■  ferries carried 0.3 million passenger km per day.163

Table 9 shows the utilisation of each mode of urban transport across the conurbations analysed as part of the Audit.

Table 9: Daily kilometres travelled in six conurbations by origin-destination across urban transport modes in 2011 (million km)

Source: ACIL Allen Consulting (2014b)

Table 10: Urban transport DEC by mode and conurbation, 2011 ($ million, 2011 prices)

Source: ACIL Allen Consulting (2014b)

Table 10 details the DEC in 2011 of each urban transport mode for the six conurbations modelled in the Audit.

In 2011, the total DEC of urban transport infrastructure across the six conurbations was $78 billion. This represents 58 per cent of the overall transport sector DEC for the entire country and 42 per cent of infrastructure's total DEC.166

Using the Audit's top-down approach, the DEC of urban transport infrastructure for Hobart and Darwin was estimated to be $835 million and $600 million respectively in 2011. Combining these estimates with the six modelled conurbations, the DEC of urban transport for all eight capital cities was estimated to be $79.7 billion in 2011.167

The cost of delay on Australia's urban transport network was estimated at $13.7 billion in 2011.

Population and economic growth in urban centres will continue to be the key drivers of demand for urban transport infrastructure in Australia. The Audit projects that, for 2031:

■  demand for mobility in every conurbation studied will grow quite rapidly, exceeding the rate of national population and economic growth;

■  in the absence of additional capacity, the DEC for urban transport for the six conurbations is projected to grow to $175.1 billion in 2031, while the cost of delay is projected to grow to $53.3 billion in 2031;

■  public transport usage (expressed as passenger kilometres travelled) is projected to grow by 89 per cent between 2011 and 2031; and

■  in the absence of additional capacity, demand for urban public transport networks will exceed capacity more often, more seriously and in more locations.

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162. The conurbations in the urban transport section of the Audit cover a larger area than the Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA) used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

163. ACIL Allen Consulting (2014b)

164.  LCV: light commercial vehicle

165.  HCV: heavy commercial vehicle

166.  ACIL Allen Consulting (2014b)

167.  ACIL Allen Consulting (2014b)