{"id":636964,"date":"2026-04-28T20:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/636964\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T20:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:56:13","slug":"the-vampire-index-where-australias-fuel-crisis-is-biting-the-hardest-petrol-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/636964\/","title":{"rendered":"The Vampire index: where Australia\u2019s fuel crisis is biting the hardest | Petrol prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Singh lives in a public transport deadzone, one of the most disadvantaged by the fuel crisis,
\n ranking 20\/30 on the Vampire index. Just 13% of people in her suburb live near regular transport,
\n with almost 60% driving to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a bit of a debate within the urban planning world around whether
\n it\u2019s the quality of the public transport network that leads to people using
\n public transport or whether it\u2019s the density of the land use,\u201d Dodson says,
\n referring to the density of housing and access to other services such as
\n supermarkets. Someone who lives close to shops or community centres might
\n choose to walk or hop on a tram. In suburbs without these facilities,
\n or where they aren\u2019t connected by transport, residents may have no option but to drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cInner parts of our cities tend to be the areas where the tram networks operate,\u201d Dodson says.
\n \u201cIn Melbourne, we\u2019ve still got a tram network. In Sydney, there used to be a pretty extensive<\/a> tram network, which has mostly been replaced by buses, though rail connections and new light rail are being brought in.\u201d<\/p>\n

That many outer suburbs lack access to heavy rail or trams also shapes the specific kind
\n of commute that Singh and a lot of Australians share \u2013 travelling across the city<\/a> to other
\n suburbs, rather than into the centre. Only about 20% of jobs in major Australian cities
\n are based in central business districts, according to Dodson.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd in [the centre], you do tend to get an urban form that is a bit more amenable
\n to walking and cycling because it was built in the early 20th century around tram
\n lines rather than built on the basis of people travelling by car, which is what
\n happened after the second world war. We shifted to a car-based model.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can see this in our final map below, showing transport routes across greater Melbourne:<\/p>\n

The closer to the CBD, the better the transport<\/p>\n

Showing public transport routes across greater Melbourne<\/p>\n

Guardian graphic. Source: Victorian Department of
\n Transport and Planning<\/p>\n

Even though the city has one of the largest tram networks in the world,
\n it does not reach many of the growth areas, including the west where Singh
\n lives. And many of the train lines branch out from the centre, pulling
\n further apart as they go out and making it difficult to cut across the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe radial public transport networks just don’t serve those more dispersed journeys,\u201d Dodson says.
\n \u201cParticularly what we call orbital or circumferential travel where you\u2019re going,
\n like, between the spokes rather than along them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a problem that\u2019s been well known for many years. We\u2019ve done a really terrible job
\n actually redesigning our public transport network and expanding our public transport networks
\n to improve their multidirectional functionality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dodson says Melbourne\u2019s Suburban Rail Loop<\/a> will improve these cross-city journeys
\n \u2013 \u201cat extraordinary expense\u201d given that it requires digging tunnels. It also won\u2019t
\n be completed for a decade. But while the connections will be helpful, there will
\n still be large areas relying mainly on buses \u2013 meaning Melbourne still needs to improve its suburban bus networks.<\/p>\n

For now the Singhs just want a bus so they can get around more easily and cheaply.
\n The only other option is to move closer to work, which would be expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve invested your time, effort and energy in [buying a place], how can you just move?\u201d Singh says. \u201cAnd why should you move?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Singh lives in a public transport deadzone, one of the most disadvantaged by the fuel crisis, ranking 20\/30…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-636964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}