Article: Thomastown drivers suffer most in peak-hour commute

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Thomastown drivers suffer most in peak-hour commute

Thomastown drivers suffer most in peak-hour commute

    Nick Leys
    From: Herald Sun
    August 03, 2011 12:00AM

THE peak-hour drive to and from Melbourne's northern suburbs is among the slowest in the country.

Traffic moves at snail's pace in and out of the city.

Anyone who dares to drive into the CBD from Thomastown in peak hour will find themselves averaging just 24km/h for the 17km, a national survey of congestion on major arterial roads has found.

Only residents of Sydney's northern beaches face a slower journey into the CBD.

The survey by RACV subsidiary Intelematics Australia took in the 26 busiest commuter routes in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, measuring traffic data over two years.

After Thomastown the slowest traffic on Melbourne's seven busiest arterials was to and from Box Hill (28km/h), Mentone (31), Melbourne airport (36), Laverton (38), Dandenong (42) and Frankston (54).

The longest commutes to the CBD are from Frankston (62 minutes), Dandenong (58), Box Hill (45), Mentone (44), Thomastown (44), Melbourne airport (39) and Laverton (34).

The study found while drivers travelling from the north had a particularly slow run, those coming to the CBD from Frankston had the fastest average speed of 54km/h in peak periods.

People driving from Mentone did not fare as well, managing an average 30km/h, still considerably faster than those coming in from Thomastown.

The survey is believed to be the most extensive of its kind collated in Australia from GPS technology and is based on hundreds of millions of speed and distance measurements.

Traffic flow samples for each road segment were taken every 30 seconds and averaged at 15-minute intervals over all motorways and arterial roads for two years.

The survey also found:

THE slowest journey into Melbourne's CBD most typically occurs on Tuesday.

THE slowest journey home from the CBD is on Friday.

ROADS are generally as busy on Saturdays from 10am-1pm as they are on weekdays, and only marginally faster at this time on a Sunday.

TRAFFIC is slowest between midnight and the early hours of Saturday.

Intelematics Australia CEO Adam Game said understanding traffic patterns could reduce stress.

He said travel times in Sydney and Brisbane peaks almost doubled non-peak journeys. "Melbourne was not far behind, with Laverton to the city having an increase of more than 95 per cent in travel time," he said.

The RACV and VECCI want an east-west tunnel to provide an alternative to the West Gate Bridge, a rail link to the airport, connections between the metropolitan ring road and EastLink and a rail tunnel from Footscray to Caulfield station.