West Australian commuters are the most satisfied with public transport while Tasmanians are the most unhappy, a new survey has found.

The survey, conducted by the Tourism and Transport Forum and released at the Australian Transport Summit this month, found 82 per cent of Australians are happy with public transport in their state.

The findings were released just days after an Infrastructure Australia report warned that gridlocked capital cities are feeling the crunch of the population boom, with the costs of crowding on public transport and congestion on the roads set to grow from $18.9 billion to $38.8 billion in 2031.

But the TTF research, which surveyed 1,000 commuters nationally, found Aussies are largely unfazed by the transport squeeze, with more than four out of five saying they’re satisfied with their state’s public transport.

Levels of satisfaction with public transport, however, vary substantially across states, according to the survey, with Tasmanians coming in as the most disgruntled with a 46 per cent satisfaction rate and Queensland and NSW recording 77 and 81 per cent respectively.

West Australians are the happiest commuters, with 92 per cent enjoying their public transport services followed by 86 per cent of Victorians and 84 per cent of South Australians.

TTF Chief Executive Margy Osmond says there is a parallel between investment in transport and satisfaction of commuters.

“What these figures tell us is that governments appear to be on the right track in terms of improving public transport infrastructure and commuters are happy to enjoy the ride,” she said.

“In terms of improving the services, after several years of construction it looks like NSW has turned the corner with the delivery of a number of transport projects as part of the nation’s largest ever transport infrastructure program.”

Trains an Aussie favourite

Rail is the most popular form of transport, according to the survey, with almost half of commuters saying they prefer trains for their commute.

But the survey also found that the usage potential of trains is largely untapped, with a number of Australians saying they would use public transport more if there were more mass rail projects in close proximity to them.

Ms Osmand said that the findings indicate that the desire for public transport among Australians is strong.

“We have entered an era where whilst the car may be king, public transport is definitely queen and with so many public transport infrastructure projects taking place across the country, service options are on the upward trajectory,” Ms Osmond said.

Australia’s peak transport body says there’s a correlation between in investment in public transport and customer satisfaction.

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