Beat the peak traffic

And spend more time doing what you love

 

 

 

 

 

How are you flexing?

We’re not talking about your post-COVID biceps (if you went down the fitspo path) but the way you’re working. Given so many of us have embraced flexible work for the past 20 months, now is a good time to think about whether you’re able to slightly alter your work hours and get into some new work hour patterns when we return the office and get into the habit of beating the peak hour rush even before it returns.

Find out the best times to travel

Melbourne traffic is trending closer to pre-pandemic levels each day, so now is the time for drivers to consider shifting their travel patterns and save up to 1.5 hours a week.

Based on recent travel times, these are the savings drivers could make when travelling on the freeway network and CityLink by shifting their travel time patterns. Data is sourced from Tom Tom and has been analysed by Transurban traffic engineers to find the best travel time saving opportunities.

  • From Melbourne’s west
    Travelling into the city (Lorimer Street) and back from Point Cook
    • By shifting your travel to 7am instead of 8am on the way in, and heading home at either 3pm or 6pm
    • You can save around 12 min
    • Which is an hour a week.
    Travelling across town from Sunshine to Chadstone via the freeway network
    • Hitting the road earlier at 7.15am instead of 8.30am and returning at 5.30pm instead of 4.30pm
    • You can save around 13 minutes
    • Which is over an hour a week.
    Travelling across town from Point Cook to Mulgrave via the freeway network
    • By shifting your travel to 7am instead of 8am and returning at 3.15pm instead of 4.30pm
    • You could save around 15 minutes a day
    • Which is an hour and 15 minutes a week
  • From Melbourne’s south-east
    Travelling into the city (Kings Way) and back from Chadstone
    • By shifting your travel to 7am on the way in instead of 8.30am, and 3pm or 5pm instead of 4pm on the way home
    • You can save almost 10 minutes a day
    • That’s over 45 minutes back in your week.
    Travelling into the city (Kings Way) and back from Berwick
    • By shifting your travel to 7am instead of 8am on the way in, and 3pm instead of 4pm on the way home
    • You can save almost 20 minutes a day
    • Giving you back around an hour and a half each week.
    Travelling across town from Mulgrave to Point Cook via the freeway network
    • By shifting your travel to 7.15am or 9.30am instead of 8.30am and returning at 5.30pm instead of 4pm
    • You could save around 10 minute a day
    • Which is 50 minutes a week.
  • From Melbourne’s north

    Travelling into the city (Lorimer Street) and back from Sunbury

    • By shifting your travel to 7am or 9am instead of 8am on the way in, and heading home at either 3:30pm or 6pm instead of 5pm
    • You can save around 7 minutes a day
    • Which is over half an hour a week

You’ve changed…

The pandemic has changed many things about our lives, including how we get around. Our research shows that in Melbourne, fewer people plan to use public transport daily after the pandemic, compared to pre-pandemic levels, while more people expect to use personal transport such as their cars or motorbikes every day.
 

How daily transport users in Melbourne expect their use will change post-pandemic

Public transport

Private vehicle



However, it was a different story for less frequent users of public transport, with an increase in the number of people who intend to use public transport a few times a week post-pandemic compared to their pre-pandemic use. This suggests that people who once were daily users might scale back to less frequent use, and could be part of a broader trend such as an increase in flexible and remote work.
How regular transport users in Melbourne expect their use will change post-pandemic

Public transport

Private vehicle



But we can all agree that debilitating congestion should not be the inevitable outcome when restrictions ease again and we start moving around more frequently. To overcome this challenge, we need to find ways to make the most of the existing road network.

Get up! Or snooze in…

Early riser or late starter? Either way, there’s opportunities to save time if you travel outside the peak. And these changes don’t need to leave you yawning, rubbing your eyes and onto coffee number three at 9am, you only need to change your travel about an hour either side of traditional peak hour to get some decent savings. So if you’re already an early riser, why not take off earlier? If you’re a late starter, happy days for you too.

Guess what the busiest day on CityLink is?

Friday seems to be one of the quietest days in the office, so you might think that means the roads would be quieter too, but Fridays are actually the busiest day of the week on CityLink. How does that work? Well,

  • Only 25 per cent of trips on CityLink are those commuting to work every day
  • And 47 per cent are on the road for a special event like a social outing or running errands like doing the shopping

So busy Fridays could more be a reflection of us getting out and about for a weekend event, doing some shopping, visiting family and friends, or hitting the road before the weekend.

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