Public transport use hits record high in Western Australia, satisfaction soars

Public transport patronage soared and long-standing records were broken last financial year as more people in Western Australia made public transport a part of their regular travel pattern.

More than 144.2 million train, bus and ferry boardings were recorded in 2023-24, a 17 percent increase on the previous year and the best boardings total in almost a decade, falling just short of 2015-16’s 145.6 million.

Buses continued to be the most popular mode of public transport with 83.6 million boardings – the best since 2014-15 (84.1 million) – while ferries recorded their best year ever with more than 871,000 boardings, a 16.5 percent increase on the previous record of 747,881 in 2016-17.

Trains in Western Australia also had a big year, notching 59.7 million boardings – the best since 2018-19 (61.5 million). All lines, except the partially-closed Armadale Line, experienced significant growth in patronage numbers when compared to the previous 12 months.

This includes:

• Airport Line: 69.3 percent increase on 2022-23;
• Fremantle Line: 10.3 percent increase;
• Mandurah Line: 23.8 percent increase (record total patronage of 21.88 million);
• Midland Line: 10.2 percent increase; and
• Joondalup Line (now Yanchep Line): 14.9 percent increase.

These numbers outline the success of several State Government policies focusing on reducing public transport fares to help ease cost-of-living pressure – including free weekday travel for students, free travel every Sunday, and the ongoing two-zone fare cap.

Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said, “What this record-breaking year shows is that people in Western Australia are choosing to make public transport a regular part of their travels to work, school and leisure activities. Our Government has implemented several policies within the public transport space over the past few years and it is encouraging that passengers have shown their ongoing appreciation by jumping on a train, bus or ferry. We expect to see those numbers continue to grow in the years ahead as more people use public transport, and access grows through major projects like the METRONET Morley-Ellenbrook Line and Armadale Line transformation.”

As patronage climbs, so does customer satisfaction, with about 90 percent of passengers reporting very high satisfaction levels across all modes of public transport.

Thousands of passengers were surveyed in Transperth‘s annual Passenger Satisfaction Monitor (PSM), an independent survey of regular public transport users that covers all elements of their travel experience.

Now in its 35th year, the PSM is the most comprehensive and longest-running benchmarking survey of its kind in Australia, conducting more than 43,00 face-to-face interviews during a four-week period in the first half of the year.

Satisfaction levels across all modes remain high, with 9 in 10 respondents expressing their satisfaction with Transperth services, including 97 percent of CAT bus users and 99 percent of ferry users.

“We’ve long known that Perth has one of the best, most affordable, cleanest and safest public transport networks in the country, and it’s really encouraging to see within the PSM results that the vast majority of our passengers feel the same.”, continued Transport Minister Rita Saffioti. “These patronage numbers and PSM results show that our public transport continues to meet the needs and expectations of passengers, and of course it is their opinions which matter the most.”

Off the back of the ongoing hard work of the Public Transport Authority’s more than 390 transit officers, the perception of safety among train passengers also reached record levels this year.

Ninety-nine percent of all train passengers said they felt safe on board a train during the day and 82 percent responded similarly for night services, the best outcome since 2019.

Train station safety also received a record 80 percent satisfaction rating at night and held steady at 98 percent for perceptions of safety during the day for the sixth year in a row.