Spatial changes in Brisbane journey to work 2006-2011

Sun 4 November, 2012

How have mode shares of journeys to work from different home locations changed in Brisbane? What impact have recent bus service level improvements had?

In my post on city level mode share changes we saw that Brisbane had a 1.2% mode shift to public transport between 2006 and 2011. This post will uncover which areas shifted the most.

The following animations show various mode shares for journeys to work from census collection districts for 2006 and Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) for 2011. These are the smallest geographies available for each census. All the data is by place of usual residence.

I’ve animated each image to alternate between 2006 and 2011, so you can gaze at them and spot the changes. You’ll need to click on them to enlarge and see the animation.

Public transport

You can mode shift in the inner suburbs, The Gap, the Albany Creek area, around Shorncliffe, the middle southern suburbs (between Yeerongpilly and Woodridge), and the strip towards Shailer Park. Much less mode shift is evident in the outer suburbs, particularly Ipswitch, Victoria Point, Cleveland, and Redcliffe. The Springfield growth area shows higher mode shares than average for urban fringe areas without heavy rail.

Sustainable transport (only)

This map excludes those who used private transport to reach public transport. In most outer suburbs of Brisbane, it seems the vast majority of people are using private motorised transport as part of their journey to work, including to get to train or busway stations.

Train

Significant mode shift can be seen along the Ferny Grove line, the Shorncliffe line, and the line towards Darra. I can see little mode shift on other lines.

There was modest mode shift towards train in the Inala area (near the Richlands rail line that opened in early 2011). Perhaps it will take some time for commuting patterns to change to take advantage of the rail line?

Note that a significant share of people in Springfield used trains. They will be getting a train closer to home when the rail line extension from Richlands to Springfield opens in 2014. It appears that only a few of them got to the train by feeder bus, as the next map shows.

Bus

There was significant shift to bus use in the southern suburbs, particularly around the South East Busway (shown in purple). This busway opened in 2001, but it seems mode shift has continued. There was also strong shift in South Brisbane and the West End (where the high frequency CityGlider bus was introduced), out to The Gap, to the inner south-west, the inner northern suburbs between the train lines, and south through Calamvale (north of Browns Plains, now served by high service “BUZ” bus routes using the South East Busway). There was little shift to using buses in the outer suburbs, other than in the Browns Plains area which is now serviced by BUZ routes.

Ferry

There are some significant changes, particularly around the West End (south-west of the CBD) where ferry mode share collapsed (perhaps due to increased bus service levels and disruptions to ferries following the 2011 floods). Ferry mode share also dropped in the St Lucia area, and for students on the University of Queensland campus. I suspect this might be to do with increased bus service levels.

There was strong growth in ferry mode share in Bulimba (north-east of the CBD), following the reopening of the Apollo Road Ferry Wharf in 2008 (which on these maps seems to have been a success) (Apollo Road wharf is the furthest downstream ferry wharf on the south bank).

Train and bus

Train and bus journeys increased share in many areas around Brisbane (note the different scale). Notable areas include around Ferny Grove, North Lakes, along the Beenleigh rail line, along the rail line to Darra, and in Springfield. However these are all very small mode shares.

Multiple public transport modes

Multiple public transport mode journey origins tend to be fairly scattered, so here is a summary over the Greater Brisbane area (using place of enumeration data and thus losing journeys with ferry + non PT modes):

Integrated fares were introduced in 2004/05 eliminating the fare penalty for changing modes. There was a slight drop in multi-modal public transport mode share in 2006 (compared to 2001), but then a substantial rise by 2011 (faster than growth in single mode journeys). I want to explore multi-modality in journey to work data some more soon. Stay tuned.

Mode shift to public transport overall

Here’s a map showing the overall mode share to public transport in Statistical Local Areas (SLAs), the smallest geography where data is available for both 2006 and 2011 (you’ll need to click to enlarge, and unfortunately my GIS software doesn’t give every SLA a label ).

The biggest mode shifts to public transport on this map are in Pallara – Heathwood – Larapinta (mostly sparsely populated), around Darra-Richlands (where the new train line opened), Calamvale (new BUZ routes presumably), and around the end of the South East Busway.

Pinjarra Hills has a shift but only 139 people travelled to work from this SLA in 2011, so it only takes a few people to register a larger mode shift. And before you get excited about the airport area (Pinenba-Eagle Farm), only 144 people travelled from there to work in 2011. I’ll look at mode share by work location in a later post.

The biggest shift away from public transport was in Yeerongpilly, whilst other SLAs with significant drops include Fairfield, Geebung, Holland Park, and Highgate Hill. Not sure what the reasons might be in those places.

Walking only

There was a slight shift to walking in the inner city areas, notably around Woolloongabba, Paddington, and Wilston. Walking mode share was highest around the CBD, Fortitude Valley, and around St Lucia/University of Queensland (UQ).

Cycling

Cycling has grown rapidly (off a small base), particularly in the inner suburbs include around St Lucia/UQ and West End.

I’m sure other people will find more patterns – please comment on any interesting finds.

2 Comments | Brisbane, Mode share, Mode shift | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by chrisloader

Spatial changes in Perth journey to work 2006-2011

Fri 2 November, 2012

How have mode shares of journeys to work from different home locations changed in Perth? What impact has the new Mandurah rail line had?

In my post on city level mode share changes we saw that Perth had a 2.1% mode shift to public transport between 2006 and 2011. This post will uncover which areas shifted the most.

The following animations show various mode shares for journeys to work from census collection districts for 2006 and Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) for 2011. These are the smallest geographies available for each census. All the data is by place of usual residence.

I’ve animated each image to alternate between 2006 and 2011, so you can gaze at them and spot the changes. You’ll need to click on them to enlarge and see the animation.

(I’ve used a slightly faster flip speed compared to my equivalent Melbourne post. Is this better? Please let me know).

Public transport

You can see dramatic increases in public transport mode share in the southern suburbs, most strikingly around Kwinana, Rockingham, and Atwell/Success/Hammond Park/Aubin Grove (south of Cockburn Central). You would have to say the new Mandurah rail line is fairly transformational public transport infrastructure.

You can also see people moved in near Clarkson train station (south-east corner of the urban block labelled “Clarkson” in the far north) and 29% of commuters nearest the station caught public transport to work (most on the fast train service to the Perth CBD). If Clarkson is supposed to be a transit orientated development with high public transport use, it seems to have been successful. The public transport mode share is extraordinarily high for such an outer suburban area. Note that Clarkson station opened in 2004.

Areas of Perth with little discernible shift to public transport include Ellenbrook, the Forrestfield/Kalamunda area to the east, and Ballajura (north-east of Mirrabooka). These outer suburbs do have bus routes linking them to the centre of Perth, but they don’t exactly get a high-speed run into the city.

Sustainable transport (only)

This map excludes those who used private transport to reach public transport. In the outer suburbs of Perth, it seems the vast majority of people are using private motorised transport as part of their journey to work, including to get to train stations.

[minor corrections to map made 5 Nov 2012]

Train

As you would expect, there is a huge change in the southern suburbs around the new Mandurah rail line.

It is also interesting to see that train mode share was much higher north of Warwick than it is south of Warwick. In fact for the inner suburbs significant train mode shares only showed up in the immediate area around stations. Those further from the train line were a little less likely to use public transport, and were more likely to use buses, as the next map shows.

Bus

There’s not a lot of change across Perth. In particular, there isn’t much change in the middle southern suburbs (between Fremantle and Cannington). That might suggest the net increase in public transport mode share in this area came from people getting to train stations by modes other than feeder bus.

Ferry

I’ve added ferries for completeness. I’m not sure what conclusions you can draw, especially with the change in geographies between 2006 and 2011. Certainly ferries did get used by a group of commuters in the South Perth area to get across to the Perth CBD (note there is no train station in South Perth).

Train and bus

You can see the middle southern suburbs used feeder bus services in significant numbers, though not as strongly around Kwinana and Rockingham (perhaps parking at the station is easier?). Train + bus commuting also grew somewhat in the northern suburbs between Warwick and Joondalup, and west of Stirling.

Mode shift to public transport overall

Here’s a map showing the mode shift towards public transport by Statistical Local Area (SLA), the smallest geography for which results are available for both the 2006 and 2011 censuses.

The biggest mode shift was in Kwinana, followed by Perth – remainder (areas of the City of Perth excluding the CBD core), Cockburn, Canning and Melville – all around the new Mandurah rail line. Just off the map is the City of Mandurah area, which had a 5.7% mode shift to public transport (from 3.2% to 8.9%). Nowhere in Perth did public transport mode share go down, although in Kalamunda it was stagnant at 6.7%.

And before you get excited about Rottnest Island showing a mode shift to public transport, it is simply part of the Cockburn SLA. For the record, only 73 people on Rottnest travelled to work in 2011, 21% by bicycle and 64% by walking only (none by ferry or other public transport).

Walking only

The biggest change was in the CBD, where there is now a significant density of workers living (and thus making it onto the map). Walking to work was largely confined to the Perth CBD, around the University of Western Australia (UWA, east of Claremont), Fremantle, Joondalup, and Claremont

Cycling

Cycling has grown rapidly (off a small base), particularly in the inner northern and western suburbs, south of Fremantle, and around UWA.

I’m sure other people will find more patterns – please comment on any interesting finds.

1 Comment | Mode share, Mode shift | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by chrisloader

Spatial changes in Melbourne journey to work 2006-2011

Tue 30 October, 2012

How have the mode shares of journeys to work changed by different home locations in Melbourne?

The following animations show various mode shares for journeys to work from census collection districts for 2006 and Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) for 2011. These are the smallest geographies available for each census. All the data is by place of usual residence.

I’ve animated each image to alternate between 2006 and 2011, so you can gaze at them and spot the changes. But you’ll need to click on them to enlarge and see the animation.

Public transport

Public transport mode share is mostly up across the board. Some exceptions include:

  • Langwarrin (east of Frankston)
  • Dingley
  • Greenvale
  • Hillside
  • Eastern parts of Rowville

Sustainable transport (only)

This map excludes those who used private transport to reach public transport. It shows that on the suburban fringe, the vast majority of people are still using private motorised transport to get to work. Areas without significant growth include Sunbury, South Morang, Greenvale, Rowville, Berwick north, Skye/Carrum Downs, Mt Eliza, Dingley, areas around the Ringwood-Lilydale rail line, and Westmeadows.

[minor corrections to map made 5 Nov 2012]

Train

Melb train

[minor corrections to map made 6 Sep 2013]

There is growth across mode areas of Melbourne. You can see a massive difference in Roxburgh Park Craigieburn area following the extension of suburban electric services to Craigieburn.

Bus

You can see a substantial increases:

  • in Doncaster area following the introduction of 7 SmartBus routes (including 4 to the CBD).
  • in pockets between the Ringwood and Dandenong rail lines in the middle eastern suburbs. These areas had SmartBus routes introduced in 2002/2005, and perhaps it is taking a while to translate to bus in journey to work.
  • Around Abbotsford/Collingwood, perhaps reflecting increased train crowding and introduction of four SmartBus routes along Hoddle Street creating an extremely frequent service to the city.

Tram

You can see increased mode share across the network, particularly around the outer end of the tram route to Bundoora (zone 2 only in 2006, included in zone 1 in 2011) (but less so in Vermont South).

Active transport (only)

You can see gains in the Brunswick, Northcote, Kew and Foostcray areas.

Walking only

I can see little change between 2006 and 2011, which is in line with little change in the overall share for Melbourne.

Cycling

Cycling continues to grow rapidly in the inner northern suburbs, but also a little to the inner east and inner south.

Train and Bicycle

With the introduction of Parkiteer cages at train stations, was there any increase in the number of people riding to train stations?

The numbers are so small, it is difficult to see spatially, but there was a substantial increase in overall numbers from around 1200 to 1800.

Train and bus

You can see increases around the Dandenong rail line, between the Glen Waverley and Ringwood rail lines, around Werribee/Tarneit, and around Sydenham.

Public transport mode shift by SLA

Here’s a map showing the mode shift towards public transport by Statistical Local Area (SLA), the smallest geography for which results are available for both the 2006 and 2011 censuses.

The biggest mode shifts were in the City of Melbourne, followed by Wyndham – south (Point Cook), South Yarra/Prahran, and Moreland – north. Nowhere in Melbourne did public transport mode share reduce.

I’m sure other people will find more patterns in the maps than I have been able to today. Please comment on any interesting finds. I might come back later and update this post when I have more time.

I will aim to do a similar exercise for other cities soon.

10 Comments | Melbourne, Mode share, Mode shift | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by chrisloader

Trends in journey to work mode shares in Australian cities to 2011

Tue 30 October, 2012

[updated December 2012 with more Canberra and Hobart data, and removing ‘method of travel not stated’ from all mode share calculations]

The ABS has just released census data for the 2011 journey to work (amongst other things). This post takes a city-level view of mode share trends.

Public transport

The following chart shows the public transport share for journeys to work for people within Statistical Divisions (up to 2006) and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (for 2011) for each of the Australian major capital cities.

PT mode share trend

You can see 2011 increases in public transport more share in all cities except Adelaide, Hobart and Canberra. Melbourne grew by 2.2%, Perth by 2.1%, Sydney by 2.0%, Brisbane by 1.1% while Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart dropped by 0.1%.

But there are limitations of this data:

  • Census data is usually available by place of enumeration (where you actually were on census night) and/or place of usual residence. In the above chart the following years are by place of enumeration: 1991,  2001, 2006, 2011. I am just not sure whether the other years are place of enumeration or place of usual residence (ABS were unfortunately not as rigorous with their labelling of data tables in the past). There may be small differences in the results for place of usual residence.
  • The data available to me has been summarised in a “lossy” fashion when it comes to public transport mode share. It means that a journey involving tram or ferry and one or more non-PT modes is not counted as public transport in any of the results (it falls under “other two modes” or “other three modes” which includes PT and non PT journeys). For example, car + ferry or bicycle + tram. That means the true share of trips involving public transport will be slightly higher than the charts above, particularly for Melbourne and Sydney.
  • The 2011 figures relate to Greater Capital City Statistical Areas. For Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Hobart these are larger than the statistical divisions used for 2006 and early data. This means people on the fringe are now included, and they are likely to have lower rates of public transport use. So the underlying trends are likely to be higher growth in public transport mode share.

The limitations in counting of tram and ferry trips can be overcome by measuring mode share by workplace location, although I can only get such data for 2001, 2006 and 2011:

PT mode share by workplace trend

These figures are all higher because they include people travelling to work in the metropolitan areas from outside (where PT might have a higher mode share via rail networks for example) and they count all journeys involving ferry and tram. Between 2006 and 2011, Melbourne grew the fastest – by 2.4%, Sydney and Perth were up 2.0%, Brisbane up 1.2% and very little change in Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart.

Cycling

The following chart shows cycling only journey to work mode share:

cycling only mode share trend

(Adelaide and Perth are both on 1.3% in 2011)

Canberra is the stand-out city, owing to a good network of off-road bicycle paths through the city. But Melbourne has shown the fastest increase, going from 1.o% in 2001 to 1.6% in 2011.

Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne had a significant drop between 1991 and 1996, but this did not occur in Hobart, Canberra or Sydney.

Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney have shown the most growth in recent times. Adelaide and Hobart unfortunately went backwards in 2011. I’m not sure why Adelaide dropped so much, maybe it was a product of weather on the two census days?

Here’s another view that includes journeys with bicycle and other modes (by work location, not home location):

Bicycle any mode share

Perth and Canberra had the largest growth in journeys involving cycling and other modes.

Walking only

walking only mode share trend

Walking only rose in all cities 2001 to 2006, but then fell in most cities between 2006 and 2011 (Perth and Brisbane the exceptions). Perhaps surprisingly, Hobart had a higher rates of walking to work than all other cities.

Car

The following chart shows the proportion of journeys to work made by car only (either as driver or passenger):

car only mode share

(both Adelaide and Hobart were on 82.7% in 2011)

You can see car mode share peaked in 1996 in all cities except Canberra where it peaked in 2001, and Hobart where the 2011 result was just under the 1996 result.

Hobart, Adelaide and Canberra had small rises in 2011 (1.0%, 0.4% and 0.1% respectively) while Perth had the biggest drop in car mode share (down 2.6%), followed by Melbourne (down 2.0%), Sydney (down 1.8%) and Brisbane (down 0.9%).

Vehicle passenger

Vehicle passenger by work location

Travel as a vehicle passenger has declined in all cities, suggesting we are doing a lot less car pooling and commuter vehicle occupancy is continuing to decline in line with increasing car ownership. Curiously Hobart and Canberra topped the cities for vehicle passenger mode share.

Overall mode split

Because of the issue of under-counting of tram and ferry data for place of enumeration, I’ve constructed the following chart using place of work and a “main mode” summary:

 

work dest mode split 2001-2011

I assigned a ‘main mode’ based on a hierarchy as follows:

  • Any journey involving train is counted with the main mode as train
  • Any other journey involving bus is counted with the main mode as bus
  • Any other journey involving tram and/or ferry is counted as “PT Other”
  • Any other journey involving car as driver, truck or motorbike/scooter is counted as “vehicle driver”
  • Any other journey involving car as passenger or taxi is counted as “vehicle passenger

In future posts I plan to look at the change in spatial distribution of journey to work mode share (by home and work location).

I’d like to acknowledge Dr John Stone for assistance with historical journey to work data.

9 Comments | Australian Cities, Brisbane, Cycling, Melbourne, Mode share, Mode shift, Sydney | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by chrisloader

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