Tram Route 112 Extension Summary Report Prepared by: Business Improvement Branch City of Darebin October 2010 1 Introduction 3 Methodology 3 Demographics 4 Findings 9 Comments 24 Appendix 1 Survey Map 65 Appendix 2 Questionnaire 66 Contact Details This report was prepared by Business Improvement Branch at Darebin City Council For more information, please contact: Jim Barrett Senior Research and Project Officer Business Improvement Unit 274 Gower Street PRESTON VIC 3072 (03) 8470 8590 [email protected] Karin Linden Senior Research and Project Officer Business Improvement Unit 274 Gower Street PRESTON VIC 3072 (03) 8470 8492 [email protected] 2 Introduction Tram route 112 runs from St Kilda/Victoria Docklands, through the City, and terminates at the corner of Gilbert Road and Regent Street in West Preston. A desire for an extension of Tram Route 112 has been an issue for the community for many years. Darebin City Council has advocated on the issue for decades. A survey was undertaken to gauge community attitudes towards the extension of Tram Route 112 along Gilbert Rd and Edwardes St to Reservoir Station. The survey explored the frequency of intended travel, most important benefits of the project, willingness to replace car with tram travel and preferred form of public transport. This report summarises the findings from the survey. Methodology The survey was distributed to 8200 households using Council’s delivery system with prepaid return options. The sample was drawn from GIS and delivered within a 800m boundary around the proposed route (Map appendix 1). The questionnaire had information about the proposal, 8 questions and a demographic section (Survey questionnaire appendix 2) In total 1714 hard copy surveys were returned and a further 168 were completed on line. The total number of surveys completed was 1884 providing an unusually high response rate of 23% 3 Demographics Age The analysis of the age groups of people participating in the survey shows that people aged under 35 are under represented people in the aged 46 and over are over represented. This survey was distributed to households and younger people are commonly under represented in surveys of this nature. Which one of the following age groups do you belong to? No Percent under 18 18 1.0 18 - 35 years 339 18.6 36 - 45 years 355 19.5 46 - 60 years 452 24.8 61 - 75 years 380 20.9 76 years or more 275 15.1 Total 1819 100.0 Missing 65 1884 Age groups 30.0 24.8 25.0 20.9 19.5 20.0 18.6 15.1 15.0 Percent 10.0 5.0 1.0 0.0 under 18 18 - 35 years 36 - 45 years 46 - 60 years 61 - 75 years 76 years or more 4 Gender The survey had a greater proportion of females than males, also a common finding in most self select surveys. What is your gender? No Percent Male 780 43.5 Female 1015 56.5 Total 1795 100.0 Missing 89 1884 Gender 60.0 56.5 50.0 43.5 40.0 30.0 Percent 20.0 10.0 0.0 Male Female 5 Disadvantage Around 45% of respondents said they had a healthcare card. This finding is likely to include respondents with Pension Cards and possibly also Senior Card. Do you have a healthcare card? No Percent Yes 762 42.3 No 1020 56.6 Unsure 20 1.1 Total 1802 100.0 Missing 82 1884 Healthcare Card 60.0 56.6 50.0 42.3 40.0 30.0 Percent 20.0 10.0 0.0 Yes No 6 Diversity Corresponding with the 2006 census of Darebin residents 40% of the respondents spoke a language other than English at home. Do you speak a language other than English at home? No Percent English only 1090 60.0 Other language: 728 40.0 Total 1818 100.0 Missing 66 1884 Language spoken at home 70.0 60.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 40.0 Percent 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 English only Other language: One percent (17) of the respondents identified as being from Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background. Darebin has the second largest population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents in Metropolitan Melbourne and the demographic make up of the survey respondents corresponds to the findings in the census. Are you of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background? No Percent Yes 17 1.0 No 1758 99.0 Total 1775 100.0 Missing 109 1884 7 Disability The survey showed that roughly 16% of the respondents identified as having a disability. The 2003 Ageing Disability and Carers survey reveal that roughly 20% of the Darebin Population has some form of disability. The understanding of “having a disability’ in this survey could mean a vast range of interpretations and poses some difficulty in portraying the respondents as a unique group. This must be kept in mind when the survey data is cross analysed with the groups of respondents who said that they had a disability. In short, the data includes analysis of the respondents loosely grouped around “having a disability’ but caution should be exercised in the interpretation of these results and trends that it may reveal. Do you have a disability? No Percent Yes 290 15.8 No 1544 84.2 Total 1834 100.0 Missing 50 1884 Do you have dependent children living at home? No Percent Yes 562 29.8 No 1276 67.7 Total 1838 97.6 Missing 46 2.4 1884 100.0 8 Findings Question 1: If the Tram 112 was extended along Gilbert Rd and Edwardes St to Reservoir Station, please indicate the benefits (if any) that it would bring to you personally. The results show that the most valuable benefits include “more frequent public transport” and “closer public transport options” which was selected by three quarters of the respondents. However, “connection to Edwardes St shops”, “faster access to the city”, “connection to the train” and “better access to local shopping” were also selected by more than half of the respondents. Analysis of the same set of responses, but broken down between respondents with and without Healthcare cards, over and under 60 years of age and by car ownership shows some differences. • Respondents with Healthcare cards value the better access to health services the tram extension would bring. • Respondents without a car particularly valued better access to health services and also valued more frequent public transport options and better access to local shops and Edwardes St shops. • Respondents with disabilities and respondents aged over 60 particularly identified the benefit of having better access to health services .People with disabilities also identified the benefit of increased access to local services, to the city and to the train. Percent Benefits brought by project No. respondents More frequent public transport 1377 74.9 Closer public transport options 1376 74.8 Connection to the Edwardes St shops 1135 61.7 Faster access to the city 1088 59.2 Connection to the train 1036 56.3 Better access to local shopping 1030 56.0 Better access to health services 741 40.3 Greater access to employment opportunities 520 28.3 Greater access to education 479 26.0 The project will have no personal benefit to me 132 7.2 Total 8914 484.7 9 Benefits brought by project more frequent public transport 74.9 closer public transport options 74.8 connection to the Edwardes St shops 61.7 faster access to the city 59.2 connection to the train 56.3 better access to local shopping 56.0 better access to health services 40.3 greater access to employment opportunities 28.3 greater access to education 26.0 the project will have no personal benefit to me 7.2 0 1020304050607080 10 Benefits brought by project 0 102030405060708090 74.8 more frequent public transport 75.2 72.6 closer public transport options 76.5 greater access to employment 23.7 opportunities 31.5 60.4 faster access to the city 57.3 49.2 better access to health services 32.5 connection to the Edwardes St 63.9 shops 59.9 55.5 better access to local shopping 55.8 56.6 connection to the train 55.9 22.0 greater access to education 28.7 Have healthcare card the project will have no personal 6.1 Have no healthcare card benefit to me 7.7 11 Benefits brought by project 0 102030405060708090 74.6 more frequent public transport 77.6 76.1 closer public transport options 69.2 greater access to employment 30.1 opportunities 21.2 60.1 faster access to the city 56.4 38.1 better access to health services 51.3 connection to the Edwardes St 61.7 shops 63.5 55.7 better access to local shopping 59.0 56.3 connection to the train 57.4 27.4 greater access to education 20.5 the project will have no personal 7.6 Have car Have no car benefit to me 4.8 12 Benefits brought by project 0 102030405060708090 77.2 more frequent public transport 71.5 78.7 closer public transport options 68.5 greater access to employment 35.8 opportunities 14.7 59.3 faster access to the city 58.3 35.3 better access to health services 49.0 connection to the Edwardes St 62.3 shops 61.8 57.1 better access to local shopping 54.9 57.8 connection to the train 54.0 31.9 greater access to education 15.6 the project will have no personal 6.5 60 and under over 60 benefit to me 7.6 13 Benefits brought by project 0 1020304050607080 76.0 more frequent public transport 74.7 74.6 closer public transport options 75.0 greater access to employment 24.7 opportunities 28.7 66.8 faster access to the city 57.6 55.5 better access to health services 37.0 connection to the Edwardes St 64.7 shops 61.2 60.1 better access to local shopping 55.4 58.7 connection to the train 55.9 24.7 greater access to education 26.1 Have a disability the project will have no personal 8.8 Do not have a disability benefit to me 6.8 14 Question 2: If the project went ahead, do you think you would be more likely to catch the tram? Two thirds (1182 respondents) said that they were much more likely to catch the tram if the project went ahead.