Travel patterns (was Re: New form of rail transportation)

[amorton@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au (Anthony Morton)]

Vaughan Williams  <ender2000@my-deja.com> wrote:

>How about a nuclear powered monorail while you're at it. Do you know how
>many people travel from Nunawading to Cranbourne?

I just checked the latest census.  45 people out of a total workforce of
42,449 in Blackburn, Nunawading and Mitcham work in Cranbourne.  That's
around 0.1 per cent.  By comparison 6,996 people work in the Melbourne CBD.

Here's some more numbers culled verbatim from the census journey-to-work
figures, which are relevant to the question of how much long-distance
circumferential travel there is in the eastern suburbs compared with local
and radial travel.

>From Box Hill
   Total workforce         20,453
   To Oakleigh                479      2.3%
   To Springvale              166      0.8%
   To Dandenong               157      0.8%
   To Frankston                15      0.1%
   To City of Melb          4,023     19.7%
   To Box Hill              3,498     17.1%
   To adjoining suburbs     3,094     15.1%

>From Nunawading West (Blackburn)
   Total workforce         21,368
   To Oakleigh                611      2.9%
   To Springvale              235      1.1%
   To Dandenong               229      1.1%
   To Frankston                44      0.2%
   To City of Melb          3,668     17.2%
   To Nunawading West       3,219     15.1%
   To adjoining suburbs     4,734     22.2%

>From Nunawading East (Mitcham)
   Total workforce         21,081
   To Oakleigh                507      2.4%
   To Springvale              283      1.3%
   To Dandenong               290      1.4%
   To Frankston                41      0.2%
   To City of Melb          3,328     15.8%
   To Nunawading East       3,242     15.4%
   To adjoining suburbs     4,794     22.7%

>From Ringwood
   Total workforce         18,884
   To Oakleigh                275      1.5%
   To Springvale              192      1.0%
   To Dandenong               200      1.1%
   To Frankston                23      0.1%
   To City of Melb          2,545     13.5%
   To Ringwood              3,934     20.8%
   To adjoining suburbs     3,446     18.2%

>From Knox North (Wantirna, Bayswater, Boronia, Ferntree Gully)
   Total workforce         49,809
   To Springvale              947      1.9%
   To Dandenong             1,260      2.5%
   To Frankston               169      0.3%
   To City of Melb          4,830      9.7%
   To Knox North           14,017     28.1%
   To adjoining suburbs     9,368     18.8%

>From Oakleigh
   Total workforce         16,263
   To Box Hill                198      1.2%
   To Nunawading West         111      0.7%
   To Nunawading East          72      0.4%
   To Ringwood                 44      0.3%
   To City of Melb          2,322     14.3%
   To Oakleigh              3,364     20.7%
   To adjoining suburbs     3,945     24.3%

>From Springvale
   Total workforce         27,760
   To Box Hill                206      0.7%
   To Nunawading West         135      0.5%
   To Nunawading East         123      0.4%
   To Ringwood                 61      0.2%
   To Knox North              336      1.2%
   To City of Melb          2,122      7.6%
   To Springvale            5,429     19.6%
   To adjoining suburbs    11,478     41.3%

>From Dandenong
   Total workforce         21,324
   To Box Hill                128      0.6%
   To Nunawading West         136      0.6%
   To Nunawading East         112      0.5%
   To Ringwood                 72      0.3%
   To Knox North              365      1.7%
   To City of Melb          1,538      7.2%
   To Dandenong             5,318     24.9%
   To adjoining suburbs     3,766     17.7%

>From Frankston
   Total workforce         31,016
   To Box Hill                 93      0.3%
   To Nunawading West          83      0.3%
   To Nunawading East          65      0.2%
   To Ringwood                 50      0.2%
   To Waverley West           584      1.9%
   To Waverley East           160      0.5%
   To Knox North              176      0.6%
   To Knox South              205      0.7%
   To City of Melb          2,279      7.3%
   To Frankston            10,356     33.4%
   To adjoining suburbs     2,254      7.3%

In all cases travel in the local area, to adjoining suburbs, and to the
central city together accounts for around half of all travel.  Long-distance
travel in the Springvale Rd / Stud Rd corridor accounts for at most 5% of
all travel.  Indeed it appears that most of the admittedly heavy traffic in
this corridor is generated by shorter-distance trips, or by east-west trips
that go north-south for a short distance.

The balance of trips (the 40% or so not accounted for in these tables) are
made up mostly of trips along the radial rail corridors, such as Ringwood to
Box Hill, Dandenong to Oakleigh or Frankston to Cheltenham.  There are also
a number of trips involving short cross-suburban sections in the inner suburbs
(such as Oakleigh to Hawthorn), many of which are catered for by the tram
network.  Finally there are a very small number of dispersed trips to far-
flung destinations which account for an even smaller percentage than the
long-distance north-south trips.

It is upon evidence like this that public transport activists like myself
emphasise the need for a transport system based on high-capacity radial rail
links, supported by high-standard local and cross-suburban bus networks.

Cheers,
Tony M.

Public Transport Users Association         http://www.vicnet.net.au/~ptua/