Transport data shows city workers embrace the long weekend

Office workers avoiding the Sunday scaries and getting away early for the weekend may explain the lull in foot traffic in Civic on specific days, which is impacting businesses across the city.

Kelly Wang, owner of Psychedeli Cafe, said businesses that predominantly fed and caffeinated public servants were particularly affected.

"Government will say, 'They can stay and work from home as long as they want', right? They don't care about us," she said.

Bus and light rail data from the last financial year showed an average of around 36,000 people riding to work on Mondays, compared to around 42,000 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Workers were a little more inclined to head to the office at the end of the week than the start, with 40,000 making the trip on Friday.

While fluctuating, patronage of bus and light rail returned to approximately 70 per cent of pre-COVID levels during that period.

Ben McHugh, deputy director-general at Transport Canberra, said evening and weekend users were coming back slightly quicker than morning and afternoon commuters.

"I think that reflects the changes that the community are making in their decisions about where and how they work," Mr McHugh told a recent estimates hearing.

He said Mondays and Fridays were seeing lower overall trips, reflecting what many had witnessed in the workplace, with people choosing those days to work from home.

Mobility data from DSpark, comparing the three months from May 2019 to the corresponding months in 2022, found around 88 per cent of workers had returned to Civic.

Ms Wang said the city often felt like a ghost town on Mondays and small cafes around hers on Marcus Clarke Street had permanently shut down.

"We have a lot of regular customers from this building supporting us, but it just feels kind of hopeless," she said.

"I don't know how long it'll keep being like this."

READ ALSO:

Transport Canberra recently released a Transport Recovery Plan Refresh, part of a strategy to encourage people back on trams and buses post COVID-19.

A new staff member has been hired to focus on customer experience, focusing on different profiles of potential public transport users and what it will take to get them out of their cars.

"This will be even more important as major infrastructure works in and around the city get underway later this year - including Stage 2 of light rail to Woden," a government spokesperson said.

"We also want to encourage Canberra's employers to be part of the solution by supporting more flexible working hours to help spread out the peaks.

"Allowing staff to come in even half an hour earlier or later can make a big difference."

The ACT government will lead by example by providing flexible arrangements for its own workforce as well as partnering with other major employers to help drive the shift, the spokesperson said.

"Our goal is to get public transport patronage back to its pre-COVID levels and then keep growing it.

"Seeing more people choose public transport will be essential for managing congestion in the COVID recovery period and through the upcoming disruption associated with our major infrastructure builds which will have a further impact on traffic congestion and people's daily commutes."

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.