Article: Public transport is Melburnians' biggest squeeze

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

Public transport is Melburnians' biggest squeeze

Public transport is Melburnians' biggest squeeze
Adam Carey
February 13, 2012

MORE than half a billion people squeezed onto Melbourne's public transport network last year, with the latest figures showing 523.7 million passenger journeys as patronage rose 4.6 per cent.

The latest Metlink passenger survey, which spans September 2010 to September 2011, records a total of 227.1 million individual train trips, 185.7 million tram journeys and 110.9 million trips by bus.

The biggest increase by far was in bus patronage, which rose by 9.1 per cent.

The number of tram trips increased 5.4 per cent, and train usage rose 2.1 per cent, although it slumped between July and September, the first quarter after Metro introduced its new timetable.

Minister for Public Transport Terry Mulder said more Melburnians were using public transport instead of driving.

''In recent years, the trend has been for Melbourne's public transport patronage to increase,'' Mr Mulder said.

''Since June 2007, the number of passengers using public transport has risen by a compound annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent. This is faster than Melbourne's population growth.''

In raw terms, public transport is as popular as it has ever been in Melbourne, but proportionally this is not the case.

In 1950, there were 204 million recorded train journeys in Melbourne, when the city had a population of about 1.3 million; today Melbourne's population is about 4 million.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/public-transport-is-melburnians-biggest-squeeze-20120212-1szqn.html