An investigation of Regional Public Transport Spend in Australia

Abstract

This report presents the outcome of an investigation of the regional public transport spend in each state of Australia. Deriving reliable figures for comparison was a key objective and the core metric used is government spend per capita on country bus and rail in the respective state. In terms of results, it is observed that different states have different configurations of rail and bus transport networks and that NSW and QLD stand out as the states with the highest public transport spend per head in metro areas. While NT, TAS and regional SA completely rely on bus services, VIC is the state with the highest public transport spend per head in regional areas with robust train and bus networks which deliver healthy patronage. In the case of NT, TAS and SA there is scope for greater investment in bus network design given the absence of passenger rail operations. WA stands out as the state with highest regional bus transport spend per head ensuring a relatively high patronage despite the low population density. In terms of regional areas that rely only on bus transport, TAS could be highlighted as a benchmark due to its positioning in terms of patronage and population density.