Over the past decade, Australia has seen significant growth in public infrastructure investment. Transport infrastructure projects have comprised the largest portion of this pipeline, accounting for 59% of the spend. In NSW alone, we have seen the delivery of the Sydney Light Rail, WestConnex, NorthConnex, a NSW regional rail fleet replacement and investment in new rail lines, including the Western Sydney Airport Line, and Sydney Metro West.
Despite this historic transport infrastructure investment, the average Australian’s commute is getting longer, not shorter. The average Australian now spends more than an hour commuting to and from work each day. This combined weekly total of 4.5 hours spent commuting in traffic has risen from 3.7 hours in 2002.
So if it’s not a lack of infrastructure that’s the problem – what is?
Australia is incredibly vast, and its cities are increasingly suffering from urban sprawl. As housing prices skyrocket and the cost of living increases, people are opting to save money by relocating to middle and outer ring suburbs that are farther away from central business districts and job hubs. This naturally extends commute times, but also challenges public transit agencies and urban planners to ensure routes and service schedules cater to more dispersed populations.
As people move further away from their employment, they become more reliant on their car as their primary mode of transport. In fact, over 70 per cent of weekday trips in Australian capital cities are made by car. A recent study by the Climate Council found that one in two residents of Australia’s five largest cities do not live within walking distance of public transport that is frequent enough for them to ditch their reliance on cars, with lower-income suburbs performing worse than wealthier ones.
Sydney performed the best in the study, with 67.2% of residents living within 800 metres or a 10-minute walk of a service that runs every 15 minutes between 7am and 7pm. Despite this, only 27% of residents use public transport to get to work, while 62% rely on their car.
Cities like Sydney and Brisbane have been leading the way with creative customer experience initiatives to win customers back from their cars and onto public transport. Both already have well-integrated public transport networks, offering access to multiple modes and operators under a single system. They also have significant investments in their payments, web, and mobile user experiences. The Queensland government made headlines recently with their 50 cent fair initiative in a bid to get more commuters out of cars.
But have these changes had any effect? We’ve spoken to riders around the globe about what would help improve their journeys, from the planning phase to updates, payment, and customer service, to help understand what could encourage them to ride public transport more. The bottom line – public transport needs to be as easy, seamless and reliable. So, how do we do this?
Make Planning Simple and Personal
Planning a public transport journey can still feel like a hassle. You open one app to check train times, another for bus routes, and a third to see if there’s parking at the station. You try to figure out if walking part of the way will be faster, and then get stuck choosing between three options that all feel like compromises. For people who aren’t regular users or who are planning trips involving multiple modes, this can feel overwhelming.
Digital tools can take out the guesswork. In cities like Sydney and Brisbane, multimodal journey planners are helping passengers navigate networks with greater confidence, offering route options, travel times, real-time arrival information, and even fare estimates, all in one place. The most useful planners take it a step further by integrating walking and cycling paths, micromobility options like e-scooters and shared bikes, rideshare pickups, park-and-ride availability. Planners can begin to personalise suggestions based on your past travel patterns or preferences, such as minimising your carbon footprint, only suggesting routes with available seats, or avoiding walking during wet weather.
A single platform that brings all of this together makes planning feel less like solving a puzzle and more like booking a trip. In Washington, D.C., for example, people can now plan and pay for trips directly from their mobile wallet, from the front door to the final stop, using a single seamless experience. When the planning experience is easy and personal, people are far more likely to take the trip.
Keep Riders in the Loop
Uncertainty is one of the biggest deterrents for public transport users. If someone isn’t sure their service will arrive on time—or at all—they’ll quickly look for another option.
Cubic customer experience research shows 82 per cent of Australians surveyed would feel more satisfied with real-time arrival updates. Live tracking, service alerts, and push notifications to help manage expectations and reduce stress. The best systems go further, offering personalisation based on regular routes, time of day, and mode, so riders receive only the updates that matter to them. Predictive alerts, especially during disruptions, can also provide suggested alternative routes when delays are too long, helping people stay in control of their trip rather than waiting in frustration.
Focus groups consistently highlight the value of timely notifications for detours due to construction or unplanned delays caused by weather. These features not only reduce uncertainty but also show the system is responsive to real-world conditions. These are not just nice to have, they’re core to building trust in the system.
Make Paying Easy and Fair
No one should need to decode a fare table to catch a train. In places like New York, London, Brisbane and Sydney, passengers can tap on and off with their phone or bank card. It’s fast, familiar, and removes the pressure of choosing the correct ticket.
Pricing tools, such as fare caps, off-peak discounts, and best fare guarantees, play a significant role in boosting confidence and encouraging more frequent travel. Cubic’s customer experience research shows that around 60 per cent of riders surveyed would use public transport more often if fare capping were in place. Queensland’s new flat 50-cent fare indicates just how powerful simple, transparent pricing can be in cutting through confusion and changing behaviour.
When people can pay in a way that feels easy and fair, they’re more likely to come back.
Create a Connected Network
Most public transport journeys involve a transfer between modes, operators, or fare zones. When those transitions are clunky, the entire journey becomes more difficult. Agencies like Transport for NSW and Translink are making progress in creating more connected networks. Integrated ticketing and consistent transfer rules mean passengers don’t need to relearn the system every time they switch lines or cross a boundary.
This consistency not only improves day-to-day usability, but also lays the foundation for broader Mobility as a Service (MaaS) integration in future. This backbone of account-based ticketing also creates new opportunities to add services like micromobility, tolling, or ridesharing into a single, seamless mobility payment experience.
Make it Feel Effortless
Public transport still involves more mental effort than driving. Which stop? Which line? Which fare? When does it leave? That cognitive load adds up. Reducing it, through more straightforward pricing, clearer information, and easier transfers, benefits everyone. Not just confident commuters, but also visitors, people with disabilities, non-native speakers, and anyone who relies on the system every day.
Customer Service
Even when everything is working, support still matters, and when something goes wrong, it becomes critical. Thanks to digital tools, many tasks that once required a phone call or a trip to a service centre can now be done in seconds. Riders can top up, set auto-top-ups, freeze or replace cards, and apply for concessions through apps, websites, and self-service kiosks. These platforms are also increasingly accessible, with compatibility for screen readers and other assistive technologies, making them easier to use for people with disabilities. Similarly, chatbots can offer multilingual support, helping non-native speakers get clear and accurate information without needing to call a help line.
This shift not only improves convenience for passengers but also allows agencies to redeploy staff from call centres to where they’re needed most, out in the network, visible and available to help customers in person.
In cities like New York, chatbots are verifying concession entitlements for students, seniors, veterans, and individuals with disabilities, eliminating paperwork and reducing barriers to access. AI is also being used to detect and resolve fare errors caused by tap failures or outages, helping to avoid customer complaints before they happen.
Brisbane’s growing investment in customer service and digital tools is also setting the city up for success ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The shift toward smart, responsive, and accessible public transport is not only good practice, it’s an essential step toward delivering seamless mobility for international visitors and local riders alike.
A Few Things to Consider
You don’t need to wait for the next line to open or a new system to be installed to deliver meaningful improvements. A few key areas can make a significant impact:
- Smarter, more personalised trip planning
- Real-time updates that help riders stay in control
- Easy, flexible ways to pay
- Seamless transfers across networks and modes
- Support that works, even when things don’t
Ultimately, it’s about thinking through the eyes of your users, from start to finish. Who are they? What slows them down? What makes them anxious or uncertain? Whether it’s a student catching their first bus, a commuter managing multiple transfers, or a tourist navigating an unfamiliar city, the pain points are often the same. Planning, updates, payments, transfers, and support- these are the moments that define a journey. When each stage feels connected and effortless, you create a system people want to use.
That’s where the real opportunity lies.