Discussion about cities

Category Archives: Transport – general

Does commuting lower social capital?

March 28, 2012 – 12:13 pm

The Grattan Institute released a new report, Social Cities, under its Cities Program this week. The report addresses “worrying signs that isolation and loneliness are increasing in Australia”. The data shows, it says, “that people’s friendships and neighbourhood connections have diminished over the past two decades”. Notwithstanding the title, the report only addresses city design. [...]

By Alan Davies | Also posted in Transport - general | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (4)

Why is infrastructure so bloody expensive?

February 16, 2012 – 9:15 am

In my last post, I looked at the enormous differences in the cost of subways between some countries and cities. The “take home” message is to be careful extrapolating overseas experience to Australia because there is immense variability across projects. A closely related issue though, is the remarkable cost escalation of what on the surface [...]

By Alan Davies | Also posted in Infrastructure, Transport - general | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (9)

What is the cost of commuting by car compared to public transport?

November 14, 2011 – 8:51 pm

The exhibit shows that in terms of weekly household cash outlays, commuting by public transport is vastly cheaper than commuting by car, irrespective of where the commuter lives (see first three rows). Both fixed and variable costs are much higher for cars than for public transport. For example, outer suburban households where the workers drive [...]

By Alan Davies | Also posted in Cars & traffic, Public transport, Transport - general | Tagged , , , , | Comments (8)

How much time do Melburnians spend commuting?

November 13, 2011 – 6:32 pm

On average, workers who live in the outer suburbs commute 2.5 times further to get to work one-way than their counterparts who live in the inner city. That’s in terms of distance – probably no surprises there. However what’s not always appreciated is the extra time they spend commuting isn’t that much more – only [...]

By Alan Davies | Also posted in Cars & traffic, Public transport, Transport - general | Tagged , , , , | Comments (11)