Australia’s slowest peak-hour commutes revealed

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By Tim Beissmann | August 03rd, 2011

The 15km drive from Sydney’s northern beaches to the CBD is officially the slowest daily peak-hour commute in the country.

If you leave Manly at 8am on a Tuesday (which is apparently the worst day of the week), it will take you on average 50 minutes to get to the city. That’s averaging an agonising 18km/h.

The data was collected by Intelematic Australia, a subsidiary of the RACV, which took hundreds of millions of speed readings over a two-year period across Australia’s capital cities.

Motorists travelling from a little further north in Dee Why would not be surprised to know their trip is the second slowest in the country. The average speed at 7:30am on a Thursday is just 21km/h. The morning commute from Parramatta to the city is another killer in Sydney, with an average speed of just 25km/h.

The situation isn’t much better in Melbourne. The slowest peak-hour journey is from Thomastown to the CBD. The 17km trip takes 44 minutes in heavy traffic conditions, meaning you’ll be travelling at a snail’s pace average of 24km/h.

Trips from Box Hill (28km/h average), Mentone (31km/h) and the Melbourne Airport (36km/h) to the city were close behind as the slowest trips in Melbourne.

Further north, the slowest trip into the Brisbane CBD was the drive from Nudgee. In peak hour, it takes an average of 44 minutes, during which time your speedo will generally hover around the 23km/h-mark.

Surprisingly, you will hit some of the highest average speeds on the drive from the Gold Coast to the CBD. The average peak-hour speed on this trip is 47km/h, although as it is a 78km journey, the whole thing will take you one hour and 40 minutes.

In Adelaide, the slowest CBD commute is from Port Adelaide (24km/h, 33 minutes).

It appears drivers travelling into Perth have the best run in peak-hour. The slowest average speed from Fremantle to the CBD is a lightning 45km/h. The downside for Western Australians is that the trip home in the evening is on average longer than the trip to the CBD in the morning, which is in contrast to the rest of the country.

As a general guide across the country, Tuesday mornings are the slowest days to drive into your CBD, while Friday evenings are the slowest trips back home.

Do you agree with the findings, or do you know a slower trip? Feel free to vent in the comments section below.

Vibe

Moggill Road and the Centenary/Western Freeway. It’s a joke. The road is abysmal, one day there will be a massive crash there.

Tom

Moggill is appalling. I recall once taking 15 minutes to travel 1km in the section on the city side of Chapel Hill Rd.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/ Alborz Fallah

They are building the Milton road bypass for those trying to get to the ICB, that should help some issues with Moggill and Centenary.

Vibe

I hope so, driving from Jindalee to Toowong is around a 45 minute journey most mornings, nearly 1 hr 20min if you want to get to the city.

http://Facebook Jerome Jackson

Yes Moggill Rd & Centenary Hwy are shocking during peak-hour. Much worse than the run from Nudgee for sure.

Toyota Guru

Most of the Pacific Motorway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast should take the cake.

Philthy

The 47 km/h average from GC to brisbane consists of 110 km/h for the first 58 ks then about 5 km/h for the last 20 ks. Much quicker to catch the train!

drama queen

I am from newport and work in Brookvale takes me 30 mins in my car and only 15 mins on my motorbike, Thank God for bus lanes.
Jimmy

This is why I ride a bike to work.

scatman

Tom, you must be full of laughs at the Pub, a real crowd pleaser

john

Here’s ago lets waste more money on Brisbane’s road system. I don’t think so. Lets try spending some money on the rest of the states roads and try to bring them up to the nice smooth and maintained bitumen roads that they enjoy.

G

I take it you have not taken a drive around Brisbane recently. If you think the roads here are smooth I shudder to think how bad they are outside the capital.

john

You have not been up north or out west recently then.

A

I think you need only head out towards the Wivenhoe Dam along the Brisbane Valley Hwy. Its horrendous for a road that is used to much..

Scott

Strathfield into Macquarie Park industrial parks. About 12-13kilometres, and around an hour during the 8:00-9:30 peak. That’s around 13kmph average speed.

I try to leave at 7:00 so I can cut the trip down to about 20-30 minutes.

just sayin..

The train between Strathfield and Macquarie Park takes only 45min in my experience.

Road Warrior

They need to try driving from the Perth CBD east towards Cannington during evening peak hour, preferably on a Thursday and they can see how much of a “best run” peak hour in Perth is. Driving from Freo to Perth using (presumably) Stirling Highway is bugger all.
rose

Get a bicycle you sydney fools!! I can easily average 20km an hour without breaking a sweet

F1MotoGP

Solution as you saying Bicycle. I still can not understand why people buying big car when they know they will average around 20km/h. You could save min $1200 pa than parking fees which is the 4th highest in the world….etc

Wd

It’s because most people don’t live within bicycle distance, and the trains and buses are aweful. Peak hour traffic is like centrelink, you don’t endure it unless you absolutely have to.

rose

Hahaha. Yeah right “Its because im poor”. Red Necks.

Dario

I moved from Melbourne in 1984. Saved 2 to 3 hours travel per day. Takes 5 minutes to get to work and I live interstate from my work. 3 hours means I could play 18 holes of golf every day and I live where I want to retire. Don’t miss the hustle and bustle at all.
Gizmo

Make more lanes, problem solved.. Why do Americans get to have 9 lanes on their freeways??

Tom

More lanes just means more cars will fill to take up the extra road capacity. Look at the M5 in Sydney – lightning fast run when it was new, incredibly slow now.
Philthy

Problem is all the extra lanes end up in the CBD and there’s no more room in there.

In a perfect world everyone would be able to work in a small office/ factory/ whatever in the suburb they live, or even at home..

Toyota Guru

What’s with all the bike hate?!? Sheeezzz…
Ben

Perth is quite good if you live in the south, but the Mitchell fwy north can be really bad
Sanjay

Very surprised that the slowest commute in Adelaide is from Port Adelaide, which doesn’t involve the use of the most congested road in Adelaide (South Road) at all.

I would’ve thought any route that involved South Road in Ridleyton or South Road anywhere south of Richmond Road in peak hour would be slower.
bob

I’ve got a solution: flying cars.

There, problem solved. Moderators please lock the thread.

whybob

Who are you, Bob, to suggest to the mods to lock the thread. Are you the guardian of all things righteous and good? or rather some do gooder that feels the need to impart his own ideals on everyone else.

If the mods want to lock it, they can and will, and if you think any flacid words from you will make a difference then it just shows how deluded you really are.

I know we are no longer in a free society, but for crying out loud if it’s gotten to the stage that one person can request a thread to be locked and actually expect it… well… words fail me.
lovin it….not bob either

I prefer jet packs.

Meanstreak

Bob’s special, he catches the special bus every morning and he has grown use to being spoon fed and having his bottom wiped.
notbob

Thankyou bob for suggesting to the mods to lock the thread. Lest I read something further that might make me sad, after all, I’m not capable of simply avoiding reading any further comments so I need someone powerful like you to look out for me.
spongebob

In Perth the Great Eastern hwy from the bypass heading into town in the mornings is bad all the way to the causeway. Skinny lanes, bus stops on the left lane and cars turning right in the right lane.
JonnyBravo

step back people
Jerrycan

Face the facts, as long as population and the number of cars on the road increase as they do then no matter how many new roads are built then there will be increasing congestion.
So if you don’t like slow commute, then there are many things that you can do.
Move closer to work, change your job, find alternate transport (public transport, bike or motorbike, carshare, sign a petition for reduced immigration, have fewer children, get a hybrid (no faster, but a fraction of the fuel costs in those conditions).
Or fill caradvice comments with drivel!
Wal

I agree. I live near manly and travelled to Newtown everyday for 4 years. 27km, and took about 50 mins to an hour leaving about 830am
Now I travel from manly to Macquarie park, 24km takes me about 40-45 mins
Dragan

how about this for a suggestion!!!!?

Move back School start Hours by an hour or so.!? say 9:30 am start instead of 8-8:30am

I have noticed during school holidays my commute to work instead of taking an hour is normally cut by half!!!!

anyone else notice the change??

Vibe

As a school student, I SAY YES, PLEASE START LATER!

Meanstreak

Wal? Where near Manly and where in Newtown? cause Manly to Newtown centre to centre is only 20 kilometres.
Phil A

The only way to effectively solve these problems, is to seriously decentralise.
Phil A

The only way to effectively solve these problems, is to seriously decentralise.
Peter

The lesson here is that people should not be driving to work in the CBD – Park’n ride, bus, tram and bicycle lanes, tunnels to bypass the city in each direction.

Make exceptions for trades and services, and get the rest out of the city! If your need your employer to show how important you are, they can buy you an electric car and hire a parking space for your dino burner outside the city.

(Of course – Bob Brown, Julia Gillard and Al Gore supporters should ignore all this and buy a bigger, heavier diesel burning 4WD!)