Analysis of public transport use shows people may be spending less time at work.
Statistics post-Covid showed that some transport users were travelling later in the morning “to avoid crowded services”.
But more services after 6pm hasn’t meant more people coming home later. Rather, the evening peak has seen CBD workers still knocking off at the same time.
The analysis also showed weekday public transport use remained lowest on Mondays and Fridays.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said TransLink had been monitoring patronage across all modes, including the extra public transport services added to the south east Queensland network in August to support social distancing.
“We’re now more than six months on from the severe travel restrictions that saw patronage on trains, buses, trams and ferries plummet by 80%,” Mr Bailey said.
“October was the first month where we had 10 million trips taken on the SEQ network since Covid-19 hit Queensland.
“Even with that, we’re still operating at about 63 per cent patronage compared to pre-pandemic levels, with about 90 per cent of services less than half full.
“Before Covid, we had two years in a row of record public transport use in Queensland.
“This year, our family, work and social lives have changed dramatically and so have our transport habits to some extent.”
