A record 2.4 million daily trips across Transurban’s national road network earned the company $3.3 billion last financial year and helped it boost its 58¢-a-security distribution to shareholders by 40 per cent. It expects to pay another record 62¢ distribution this financial year.

The toll giant has appointed Michelle Jablko as its new boss from October this year to replace Charlton, making her one of the country’s most powerful female executives alongside Macquarie Group’s Shemara Wikramanayake, Telstra’s Vicki Brady and Qantas boss Vanessa Hudson.

Jablko said she was “thrilled” to take the top job. “I’ve got enormous shoes to fill, literally and metaphorically, and I’ll be taking over a business that’s in great shape, with world-class assets in Australia and North America.”

The company’s latest Urban Mobility Trends report shows more people are driving every day than were expected to a year ago, and fewer people are using public transport. But Charlton said he expects public transport use to recover. “It’s just taking a bit longer,” he said.

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