Public transport cost shock

It will come as a shock to some, but not to others: Australians are spending a lot more on public transport than they are on household essentials such as electricity, water and telecommunications.

Where the average family spends only one to two per cent of household income on utilities such as electricity, phone bills and water, around 13 per cent goes to public transport. The average cost works out to $14,000 a year in Hobart and can go as high, for those living in western Sydney, as $22,000.

These are the findings revealed in Australia's first Transport Affordability Index, which was commissioned by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) and developed by SGS Economics and Planning to establish the impact on household finances of getting around on the roads, or by public transport.

The index, which will be updated regularly by the AAA, tracks transport affordability "by analysing tax, tollways, public transport and finance costs as a proportion of average household income across states and territories."

The index considers the costs in Australian cities by factoring in the joint family incomes with the cost of transport to work out the most and/or least expensive places to live. A "family" is deemed to comprise a couple with children and two cars, with one income earner travelling by car and the other by public transport.

Hypothetical suburbs with a relatively high population density and accessible public transport, as well as the need to use toll roads for access to the CBD, were used to calculate the figures.

So who is paying through the nose, and who is getting a better deal when it comes to moving around in Australian capital cities?

The index says the most disadvantaged suburban dwellers were Sydneysiders, who have to face the highest transport costs in the country. In the first quarter of 2016, a typical Sydney household spent $419 a week on transport.

Perth and Canberra dwellers were better off at $301 and $300 per week respectively, while in between were Brisbane and Melbourne, where the costs worked out to $376 and $348 respectively.

Of little surprise was that the biggest cost-contributor across the country was the family car, where finance lorded it over other costs such as fuel, registration and licensing. Toll-road costs were second highest in Sydney and third highest in Melbourne.

According to AAA chief executive Michael Bradley, "Australians know transport is expensive, but they might be surprised to know just how expensive."
Picture courtesy of Bidgee/Wikimedia Commons