By Juliano Oliveira
The school calendar’s return has inflated traffic congestion in Brisbane at levels higher than the average registered in 2019 and 2020.
Such a scenario, according to RACQ, reaffirms the Brisbane residents preference for cars over public transport for their commute amid COVID-19. And the tendency is for it to get worse.
“Last week we saw congestion in the morning peak at 90%, according to Tom Tom traffic index, indicating travel time on a regular free-flowing commute was almost double,” Club spokesperson Lauren Ritchie said.
“Average congestion back in 2019, pre-COVID-19, was peaking around 49%. Concerningly we also saw as many as 423 traffic jams in Brisbane last week during peak hours.”
It comes to the sum of factors like wet weather, crashes, visibility and the decline in the public transport usage levels.
“Rain led to more vehicles on the road network last week with many deterred from walking or riding into work and crashes, flash flooding and breakdowns worsened the situation,” she said.
“But traffic levels are still frustrating even when we don’t have these weather issues. In January congestion levels were at 71% on a perfectly clear day, proving cars are still the preferred method of travel for locals.”
Ms Ritchie urged the local government to improve service reliability, convenience and accessibility.
“Public transport usage was still down by about 30% in November, reinforcing the need to not only improve our roads but provide a safe, frequent, reliable and affordable public transport to restore commuter confidence and encourage those to get out of the car.”
Queenslanders could have their say on congestion at www.racq.com/redspot.