ADELAIDE TRAVEL PATTERNS - Transport SA - Sa.gov.au

December 2003
Research Summary
TP-03/1
T R AV
E L TO
/ F R OM
T HE
Research Research Research Research Summaries
Summaries
Summaries
Summaries
ADELAIDE TRAVEL PATTERNS: TRAVEL
TO/FROM THE CITY OF ADELAIDE
Research Summaries, produced by the
Department of Transport & Urban Planning
(Transport Planning Agency) summarise recent
research undertaken by the Agency. Circulated
across South Australian Government and the
Australian transport community, they seek to
inform and encourage discussion about transport
matters. They are not government policy.
The information presented here is drawn from
data collected in the 1986 and 1999 Adelaide
household travel surveys (denoted as Adelaide
Household Travel Survey (AHTS, 1986) &
Metropolitan Adelaide Household Travel Survey
(MAHTS, 1999)). Note that some trends in
transport since 1999 have changed e.g. Public
Transport usage has been increasing (PTB,
2002).
This is the second Research Summary in the
Adelaide Travel Patterns series (see bottom of
page 6 for details). This Research Summary
considers travel to/from the City of Adelaide.
Context: Travel in Metro
Adelaide, 1986 and 1999
Travel across the whole of metropolitan Adelaide
is considered �rst to provide a context for analysis
of travel to/from the City of Adelaide 1 .
In 1999, the number of person trips undertaken
per day by residents of metropolitan Adelaide
(Adelaide Statistical Division - ASD) were: 2
• Av Weekday : 3.6 million
• Av Saturday : 3.4 million
• Av Sunday : 2.7 million.
Av Saturday travel was about 5% less than av
weekday travel, and av Sunday travel was around
25% less than av weekday travel.
There was relatively little change in these trip
numbers between 1986 and 1999.
Over this period, metropolitan Adelaide’s
population increased by 10%, so there was an
overall reduction in trips per person.
1 Referred to herein as the "City", it consists of the Adelaide
Local Government Area.
2 Throughout this Research Summary, results reported by day
type are for "average" day type, i.e. average Weekday,
average Saturday and average Sunday. The trip data
reported is for a full 24 hour period when referred to as a
day.
C IT
Y OF
ADE
LAI
DE
Travel To/From ‘The City’,
1986 and 1999
Person Trips
Travel to/from the City accounts for up to 10% of
all trips in metropolitan Adelaide. Figure 1 shows
that in 1999 it accounted for around 10% of av
weekday trips, 8% of av Saturday trips and 7% of
av Sunday trips.
Person Trips Per day ('000)
Figure 1: Trips To/From the City of
Adelaide vs Other Metro Travel, 1999
3,500 To/From City
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
Average
Weekday
Source: MAHTS, 1999.
Average
Saturday
Between 1986 and 1999, trips to/from the City
changed as follows (see Figure 2):
• Av Weekdays : declined by 77,000 trips (an
18% decline)
• Av Saturday : declined by 15,000 trips (a 5%
decline)
• Av Sunday : increased by 18,000 trips (a 10%
increase).
Person Trips per day ('000)
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
R E S E AR
C H S UMMA
R Y T P -03/
1
Other Metro
Travel
Average
Sunday
Figure 2: Number of Person Trips To/From
the City of Adelaide, 1986 & 1999
Average Average
Weekday Saturday
Source: AHTS, 1986 MAHTS, 1999
1986
1999
Average
Sunday
1

Mode Share
Table 1: Average Weekday Travel To/From City Compared with Other Metro Travel, 1999
TRIPS ('000) MODE SHARE (%)
Car
255
Public Transport 82
20
357
Source: MAHTS, 1999. All Figures have been rounded.
3
Travel To/ Other Metro
From City Travel
2,595
80
Other Modes
576
Total
3,251
Mode Share
Mode Share is the proportion (%) of trips by each
transport mode. Tables 1 and 2 provide an
overview of mode share information.
The key features in Table 1 are that in 1999:
• Car travel was by far the most popular mode
of travel.
• Public transport’s mode share was much
higher for travel to/from the City than for
"other metro travel".
• On the other hand, "other modes" had a bigger
share of trips for "other metro travel".
The key features in Table 2 are that between 1986
and 1999:
• the share of car based travel increased by 7%.
• the share of public transport usage decreased
by 19%. 4
Table 2: Average Weekday Mode Share
Statistics, To/From the City of Adelaide.
Car Driver
Car Passenger
Taxi
Bicycle
Walk/Wheelchair
Public Transport 3
Other
Person Trips
('000)
215
75
3
4
5
122
8
196
59
5
3
5
82
6
All Modes
433 356
Source: AHTS, 1986; MAHTS, 1999.
All Figures have been rounded.
Mode Share
(%)
Mode 1986 1999 1986 1999
49.5
17.3
0.7
1.0
1.3
28.2
2.0
100
Figure 3 provides a breakdown of av weekday
mode share in 1986 and 1999.
The mode share patterns are:
• Car Travel: Av weekday car mode share for trips
to/from the City (car driver plus car passenger)
increased between 1986 and 1999 from 67% to
72%. This compares with the metropolitan car
mode share for 1999 of 79%. Av Saturday car
mode share for trips to/from the City increased
slightly from 83% to 85%. Av Sunday car mode
share decreased from 92% to 88%.
• Public Transport: Av weekday mode share
declined from 28% in 1986 to 23% in 1999.
On av Saturday it declined from 13% in 1986
to 10% in 1999. On av Sunday it increased
from 6% in 1986 to 7.2% in 1999. 4
• Walking: Av weekday and av Saturday mode
share was around 1.3% and 0.8% respectively
in both 1986 and 1999. Av Sunday mode share
increased from 0.6% in 1986 to 2.8% in 1999. 5
• Cycling: Av weekday and av Saturday mode
share was around 1.0% in both 1986 and 1999.
Av Sunday mode share was around 0.3% in both
1986 and 1999.
Source: AHTS, 1986; MAHTS, 1999
3 Public Transport (PT) is a combination of train, tram, school bus, metro bus and other bus (chatered and community buses).
4 Note that there has been a consistent turnaround in recorded patronage in Adelaide over the last 3 years (Passenger Transport
Board Annual Reports).
5 Walking mode share is much higher (Wkday 13%, Sat. 9%, and Sun. 12%, in 1999) for the whole of Metropolitan Adelaide.
TRAVEL TO/FROM THE CITY OF ADELAIDE RESEARCH SUMMARY TP-03/1 2
54.9
16.6
1.3
1.0
1.4
23.0
1.8
100
Total Metro
Travel
2,850
162
596
3,608
Figure 3: Average Weekday Mode Share (%)
To/From City of Adelaide, 1986 & 1999
Other
Walk
Bicycle
Public
Transport
Taxi
Car
Passenger
Car Driver
Travel To/
From City
71.4
23.0
5.6
100
Other Metro
Travel
79.8
2.5
17.7
100
Total Metro
Travel
79.0
4.5
16.5
100
1986
1999
0 20 40 60
Mode Share (%)

Mode Share
• Taxi: One interesting travel behaviour change
was the use of taxis. Taxi trips increased quite
significantly per av weekday (3,200 in 1986 to
4,700 in 1999), per av Saturday (4,400 in 1986
to 9,700 in 1999) and per av Sunday (700 in
1986 to 2,600 in 1999).
Figure 4 provides a further perspective of av
weekday mode share. It does this by first
showing a breakdown of trips by Work6 vs Non-
Work, and then the further split into mode share.
Figure 4: Average Weekday Trips To/From the City of Adelaide by Work vs Non-Work and by
Mode, 1986 & 1999.
Percentage (%)
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Car PT Other
Source: AHTS, 1986; MAHTS, 1999
6 See Box 1 on page 4 for definition.
Trips per day ('000)
1986
1999
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
TRAVEL TO/FROM THE CITY OF ADELAIDE RESEARCH SUMMARY TP-03/1 3
0
It shows that:
• Av weekday Work trips in 1999 accounted for
about 35% of trips to/from the City. By
contrast, Work trips accounted for about 18%
of Other Metro Travel trips.
• From 1986 to 1999, car mode share increased
most for Work trips to/from the City.
• Public transport mode share declined
considerably for Work travel to/from the City.
Trips per day ('000)
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
1986
1999
Work Non-work
0
Percentage (%)
To/From City All Other
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1986
1999
1986
1999
Car PT Other

Trip Purpose
Trip Purpose
Table 3 and Figure 5 present av weekday trip
purpose statistics (see Box 1 for definitions).
Av Weekday trip purpose patterns were as follows:
• The biggest purpose share was Work trips at
around 35%.
• Between 1986 and 1999, Education trips to/
from the City increased by 9%. There was a
decline in all other trip purposes.
• Expressed in terms of purpose shares7 , there
were declines in Employer’s Business and
Table 3: Average Weekday Trip Purpose
Statistics, To/From the City of Adelaide
Person
Trips ('000)
10
Source: AHTS, 1986; MAHTS, 1999
All figures have been rounded
1
43
53
86
77
28
137
435
8
1
24
48
72
48
30
126
357
Purpose
Share (%)
Purpose 1986 1999 1986 1999
Medical
Social Welfare
Employer's Business
Personal Business
Social & Recreational
Shopping
Education
Work
All Purposes
7 Where purpose share (%) is the proportion of trips undertaken for each trip purpose.
Shopping, and increases in Personal Business,
Education and Work.
Weekend trip purpose patterns were as follows:
• The largest trip purpose share was for Social
and Recreational trips, around 50% on both
av Saturdays and av Sundays.
• Education trips increased significantly from
1986 to 1999 for av Saturday (by 59%) and
av Sunday (by 66%).
• Av Sunday trips to/from the City increased,
due mainly to an increase in Shopping trips.
They increased by around 230%, from around
13,000 trips in 1986 to about 43,000 trips in
1999 (see Figure 6).
Box 1: Trip Purpose Definitions*
Medical trips are those undertaken for
medical or dental needs.
Social Welfare trips are those undertaken
to Government Agencies involved in welfare,
including collecting pensions and
unemployment benefits (eg. Centrelink,
Guidance Counsellors).
Employer’s business trips are those carried
out as part of a job (other than journeys to
and from work).
Personal Business trips are those undertaken
to transact personal business where no goods
are involved (eg. banks, hairdressers,
solicitors, government offices, repairs, bill
paying, post offices, and childcare).
Social and Recreational trips include:
• visiting people (eg. at their homes, or in
hospital),
• community activities (eg. church,
hobbies, barbecues)
• active and passive participation in
sporting activities; and
• all entertainment.
Shopping trips are those to and from
premises that sell goods (rather than
services).
Education trips are those to and from
schools, colleges and universities.
Work trips are those to and from main and
secondary places of work.
* In this analysis no distinction has been made between
home-based and nonhome-based trips.
TRAVEL TO/FROM THE CITY OF ADELAIDE RESEARCH SUMMARY TP-03/1 4
2.2
0.1
9.9
12.2
19.8
17.8
6.4
31.6
100
2.3
0.2
6.8
13.4
20.1
13.4
8.5
35.3
1986
1999
100
Figure 5: Average Weekday Trip Purpose
Share (%) City of Adelaide, 1986 & 1999
Medical
Social
Welfare
Employer's
Bus.
Personal
Bus.
Social & Rec.
Shopping
Education
Work
0 10 20 30 40
Purpose Share (%)
Source: AHTS, 1986; MAHTS, 1999.

Trip Purpose
• This growth in av Sunday Shopping trips to/
from the City is substantially greater than the
4.5% increase in "Other Metro" av Sunday
shopping trips. It also contrasts with the
significant decline in av weekday Shopping
trips to/from City of 38%.
Figure 6: Average Sunday Trip Purpose
Share (%) To/From the City of Adelaide.
Medical
Social
Welfare
Employer's
Bus.
Personal
Bus.
Social &
Rec.
Shopping
Education
Work
Mode Share Within Each
Trip Purpose, 1999
Figure 7 illustrates av weekday mode shares within
each trip purpose for travel to/from the City.
Notable av weekday patterns were:
• Car driver was by far the most dominant mode
of travel for Employer’s Business and Work .
Medical
Social welfare
Employer's Business
Personal Business
Source: MAHTS, 1999
0 20 40 60 80
Social & Rec.
Shopping
Education
Work
Purpose Share (%)
Source: AHTS, 1986; MAHTS, 1999.
• Car passenger mode share was most
significant for Medical, Personal Business and
Social and Recreational trips.
• Public transport had its highest mode share
for Social Welfare (around 50%) and
Education (around 50%) trips.
• Walking had its highest mode share for
Education trips (about 2.5%) and Social and
Recreational trips (about 2%).
• Cycling had its highest mode share for
Education (around 3.3%) trips.
On weekends, car driver was the most dominant
mode for Employer’s Business, Work and
Shopping.
Spatial Analysis
The following section provides a spatial perspective
of travel to/from the City. For this, Adelaide has
been divided into 7 regions as shown in Map 1:
• City: City of Adelaide LGA.
• Inner: Survey zones within about 5 km
radius of GPO (excluding the City region).
• Middle: See map 1.
• Northern: Salisbury, Playford and Gawler
LGAs.
• North Eastern: Tea Tree Gully LGA.
• Near Hills: That part of Adelaide Hills
Council within the ASD.
• Southern: Onkaparinga LGA.
Figure 7: Average Weekday Mode Share in Each Trip Purpose
To/From City of Adelaide, 1999
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Cumulative Mode Share (%)
Car Driver
Car
Passenger
Bicycle
TRAVEL TO/FROM THE CITY OF ADELAIDE RESEARCH SUMMARY TP-03/1 5
1986
1999
Walk
Public
Transport
Other
Modes

Spatial Analysis
The bold figures in Map 1 show the distribution
of av weekday trips between the City and the other
Adelaide regions. They show that, in 1999, around
80% of av weekday trips between the City and
suburban regions were to/from the Inner and
Middle regions combined. These combined trips
declined by around 20% between 1986 and 1999,
even though the population has remained stable.
Hence, there was an overall decline in these trips
per person.
By contrast, trips between the City and Outer
regions accounted for the remaining 20%. The
number of these trips in 1999 were similar to 1986,
despite the majority of the 10% population growth
of Adelaide being in the Outer regions. Hence,
there was also a decline in these trips per person.
The numbers in brackets in Map 1 show the %
change in av weekday trips between the City and
all suburban regions from 1986 -1999. They show
that, from 1986 to 1999, these trips declined for
all regions, except for the North Eastern region
where they grew by 1%.
Av Saturday trips to/from the City declined
between 1986 and 1999, except for the Inner, North
Eastern and Southern Regions.
Av Sunday trips to/from the City on the other hand
increased between 1986 and 1999 by around 10%
- the exceptions being the Middle and Southern
regions.
References:
AHTS (1986) Adelaide Household Travel Survey
database, 1986, South Australian Government.
MAHTS (1999) Metropolitan Adelaide Household
Travel Survey database, 1999, South Australian
Government.
PTB (2002) Annual Report, 2002, South Australian
Government.
About About About this this this series...
series...
Map 1: The Distribution of Average Weekday
Trips between the City and Other Adelaide
Regions, 1999.
City
Region
Middle Region
34%
(-17%)
44%
(-22%)
Southern Region
Northern Region
8%
(-21%)
North Eastern
Region
Near Hills
Region
2%
(-5%)
Inner
Region
0 5
kilometres
10
Note: The figures in bold represents each region's
share of total trips between the City and all other
Adelaide regions.
The figures in brackets are the percentage change in
trips from 1986-99.
TRAVEL TO/FROM THE CITY OF ADELAIDE RESEARCH SUMMARY TP-03/1 6
5%
(-7%)
Research Summaries TP-02/8 and TP-03/1 are produced by the Policy Analysis and Research Unit,
and the Road Transport Policy and Strategy Unit. The titles of the Research Summaries are:
TP-02/8: Adelaide Travel Patterns: An Overview
TP-03/1: Adelaide Travel Patterns: Travel To/From the City of Adelaide
For further information or to provide feedback contact:
Dr Alan Perkins, Policy Analysis and Research Unit (PARU), Transport Planning Agency, PO Box 1,
Walkerville, 5081; Ph. (08) 8204 8744; Fax. (08) 8204 8216; alan.perkins@transport.sa.gov.au or
Chris Mayer, PARU; Ph. (08) 8204 8743; chris.mayer@transport.sa.gov.au.
Further information about the 1986 and 1999 household travel surveys can be obtained from Lindsay
Oxlad, Road Transport Policy and Strategy Unit. Ph (08) 8343 2985 or lindsay.oxlad@transport.sa.gov.au
7%
(1%)