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Media Release

September 15, 2004

Limited access makes living in some suburbs a challenge

People living in outer metropolitan Adelaide have the lowest levels of accessibility to work, activities and services, and often have to rely on private transport to get to them, a University of South Australia study shows.

In metropolitan Adelaide overall, the study reveals that predictably Adelaide CBD residents have the highest accessibility (20 per cent above average) while people from Gawler have the lowest accessibility (13 per cent below average), but research at UniSA’s Transport Systems Centre reveals some unexpected findings in several areas.

The biggest surprises are in Kensington Norwood, Munno Para and Brighton, according to PhD student, Frank Primerano.

“Residents in the Kensington Norwood area have limited access to services, although surrounded by areas with high accessibility. When compared with other metropolitan areas, Kensington Norwood has one of the highest numbers of households without vehicles, with about 60 per cent having just one or no vehicle, making this area one of the largest users of public transport.

“One of the reasons is that many tertiary students live in the Norwood area and rely on public transport for most or all of their activities. Suggestions for improved accessibility could include moving education opportunities and other facilities closer to the area or adding more public transport routes,” Primerano said.

In contrast, residents in Munno Para have a high level of accessibility to the activities and services needed in their area despite their considerable distance from the CBD, although surrounding suburbs have some of the lowest accessibility levels.

Another surprising outcome of the research is Brighton, with one of the lowest levels of accessibility when compared with neighbouring Glenelg, a highly accessible suburb linked by Anzac Highway and trams that take residents directly to the city.

“The lack of main roads from Brighton to work opportunities in the CBD or further north is seen as the main reason for poor accessibility and while Brighton has a train service, only about seven per cent of trips are made by train. Why people don’t choose the train needs further examination into issues such as comfort, safety, proximity of the train station and parking needs,” Primerano said.

Other observations from the study include the peripheral suburbs of Salisbury and Tea Tree Gully, which have a workforce far greater than the number of jobs available from within their local areas, forcing many residents to travel outside of these areas to access work opportunities.

“With one-fifth of Adelaide’s metropolitan workforce coming from Salisbury and Tea Tree Gully, increasing employment opportunities in these two areas would have enormous benefits in lifting accessibility to work,” Primerano said.

Primerano’s research to evaluate the levels of accessibility to work, education, social recreation, business activities and shopping for people living in different suburbs was based on a metropolitan Adelaide-wide travel diary survey of some 6,000 households and about 14,000 individuals conducted by Transport SA.

The survey included everything from when people stepped out of their homes, where they went, how long they took, what mode of transport, what activity they did, to when they returned home, according to Primerano.

It considered the differences between individuals, their age, the type of activities they engaged in, what stage of their life they were at from children to the elderly, the locations that they visited, opportunities there, car parking, the transport system, travel times and capacity, the impact of time availability, and shopping times that conflict with working hours.

“We used the survey results to develop behaviour models with information on the socio economics, characteristics of the households and choices made by individuals.

“Incorporating behaviour into our accessibility models enables us to see what is important to residents, where the benefits are distributed, who benefits the most and who is missing out, investigate why and recommend changes.

This valuable tool will enable the Department of Transport and Urban Planning to evaluate and develop certain policies and to test their effectiveness in improving or affecting accessibility.

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