With more Australians getting to work by public transport every year, new research has analysed the benefits of transport access to overall health.
A recent investigation presented at Monash University and the University of Sydney’s September 2019 event, the Festival of Urbanism, explored the connection between equal access to housing and transport and passenger health. Liton Kamruzzaman, one of its expert presenters, is an associate professor with Monash University’s Department of Architecture. He tells Rail Express there are strong links between having access to public transport and your health.
“Access to public transport is certainly linked to being healthier,” Kamruzzaman says. “For example, if I take the train to work, I need to walk 10-15 minutes to a station, so I am getting my body moving at least twice a day every day, I am getting healthy.
“If you are driving to work because you don’t have access to a train station nearby, you are missing out on this exercise and you may not have the time to go to the gym or take part in other exercise activities after work.”
As well as the physical benefits, there is also the added benefit of a healthier work/life balance that comes with a shorter commute time.
While people living in Melbourne’s inner suburbs are experiencing some of the best commute times in the world, Kamruzzaman believes there is an opportunity to better connect the city’s fringe suburbs, so people living in these areas can reap the benefits associated with using public transport to get to and from work. “Roughly, the worldwide standard time people spend travelling to get into work per day is one to one and a half hours,” he says. “The inner suburbs of Melbourne are within this average, with most workers spending 30-35 minutes per day to get into work and another 30 minutes coming home.
“The middle to outer suburbs however can be double this at two, sometimes two and a half hours travel time by car every day.”
As well as spending less time stuck in traffic, Kamruzzaman says those who can commute to work by train, tram or bus are less likely to be socially isolated than people who are reliant on using their car to travel to and from work.
“By using public transport, people are becoming connected with others and have time to socialise, network and build trust, so it has a positive impact socially as well,” he says. “People in outer suburb areas are often dependent on having two cars per household, while those living in inner-city suburbs usually have just the one car. They need to spend more on maintaining their cars, meaning they have less money for health, housing and other activities.
“As a result, these people can become socially excluded and don’t have the opportunity to mix and connect with other people or to participate in social activities as people living closer to public transport networks do.
“People who are socially isolated may not have access to social infrastructure, for example shopping centres or community centres, so based on this inaccessibility and lack of physical exercise that comes with spending more time in the car, these people are at more risk of becoming depressed or obese.”
As well as creating a happier and healthier community, faster and more frequent public transport options makes for safer fringe suburb communities.
“We know that a lot of females don’t feel safe on public transport, which shows how important it is to integrate transport into the planning and designing of cities,” Kamruzzaman continues.
Some of the Melbourne suburbs Kamruzzaman specifically found to have a high demand but low supply for public transport include Cardinia, Albion, Hastings, Frankston, Deer Park, Keilor Plains, Meadows Heights, Cranbourne South, Clayton South and parts of the Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Ranges.
Projects such as the Andrews Government’s planned Suburban Rail Loop, which will connect Cheltenham in the south-east to Werribee in the north-west, will help to improve travel times and accessibility options for commuters living in areas such as Clayon, Broadmeadows and Sunshine.
Kamruzzaman doesn’t want to see the solutions stop here and continue working towards better connecting fringe areas to public transport networks, including offering frequent bus services from suburbs that don’t have access to the train line, so using public transport is still an option for fringe suburb residents.
“The Suburban Rail Loop will save significant time for those people who previously had to go into the city centre to access transport links,” Kamruzzaman says. “However, it will only build a few new stations, which still leaves a gap for those who don’t already have access.
“The ideal short-term resolution is offering more frequent bus services to connect those with limited access to existing train infrastructure. If there is only one bus every hour, this may not fit with people’s schedules, so the ideal option at this point of time without having to make a major investment is to increase the frequency in connecting services.”
Longer term, Kamruzzaman would like to see an increase in train stations and lines, making the city more connected, faster and more frequent and a continued investment in planning and transport.
“From a planning point of view, Melbourne is 7-8 times bigger than cities like London or New York City but has 4-5 times less the population, which gives you an idea of how widely distributed the city is,” he explains. “This means we need to continue to invest in public transport and the city planning system needs to be in accordance with transport planning and vice versa.
“We need to control our planning system to make it so public transport is viable, we cannot move houses that are already built so we need to provide services to those people living out in those areas.”
While taking the train, tram or bus to work may not feel like much, Kamruzzaman believes every time you tap on your Myki card, you are becoming part of the solution to create a safer, healthier community.