Transurban take profit from Melbourne’s weekend congestion

Transurban revealed yesterday a surge in weekend traffic has helped fuel an $813 million toll windfall for Transurban.

Weekend traffic on its Melbourne toll road grew by 4.6% in the past financial year as more motorists flock to City-Link to avoid congestion.

Senior Manager of Transport at RACV, Peter Kartsidimas, says we need a fresh comprehensive transport plan to deal with “chronic” congestion as the working week evolves.

“There’s just a lot more people living in the city, Melbourne is growing at a rapid rate,” said Kartsidimas.

“People need more options.”

Each week 2000 extra cars go onto our roads in Melbourne, that’s 100,000 every year.

“Unfortunately people in the outer suburbs feel they have to drive to get somewhere, and we’d like to see those outer suburbs developed with more public transport,” said Kartsidimas.

“If people can find alternative ways to avoid having to pay the tolls, it will help alleviate any costs impending on families.

“Car driving is a popular Australian past time and necessity to get around that’s just reflecting in their numbers.”

Click PLAY to hear more on the rising toll revenue