For anyone who has ever had to stay back in the office to meet a deadline, the commute home can feel like travelling home in an alternate universe where you keep wondering, "where is everyone?"

There is no doubt that we need more capacity in our transport network – the Sydney Metro and CBD Light Rail projects will help to address this – but as a whole community we also need to take action to spread peak demand to ensure we getter better use out of our trains, buses, ferries, light rail and indeed the road network.

Last week's IPART report on Opal fares proposed increasing fares to recover some of the costs of operating an expanding network but also, more importantly, proposed increasing the savings for off-peak travel. The government should seize this opportunity with both hands. Using price to change behaviour can be an effective and necessary tool, but it needs to be used alongside other tools to support commuters.

The biggest driver of peak demand for public transport is undoubtedly driven by the retention of traditional core office hours occurring between 8.30am and 5.30pm. Rethinking our approach to working hours – staggering starting and finishing times and encouraging flexibility for employees – shouldn't be dismissed as nice to have but too hard to implement.