With weekly transport costs exceeding $500 in some cities, a leading urban planning expert believes Australians are facing an ‘Affordable Living Crisis’ rather than a ‘Housing Affordability Crisis’.

“We’re paying too high a price for transport in terms of our hip pockets and the climate,” says Mike Day, a partner at global urban solutions provider Hatch Roberts Day.

According to the Australian Automobile Association’s (AAA) latest Transport Affordability Index, transport costs are increasing despite the easing inflation. While the CPI rose 1.4% in the March quarter, the typical Australian household’s transport costs rose by 7.4% over the same period, driven largely by the impact of rising car prices and higher interest rates on car loan payments.

For the first time ever, weekly transport costs now exceed $500 in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – an annual cost of $26,000 – while the average cost across all Australian capital cities is $23,000, the AAA says. At an interest rate of 6%, removing one car from a two- or three-car family, would service approximately $300,000 of a housing loan.

Day says the hidden costs of the housing crisis are particularly significant for residents in the outer metropolitan areas of Australia’s capital cities, because of car ownership costs and other mitigating factors including social inequity and long commutes.

This also has a significant impact on the environment – light vehicles produce 10 per cent of Australia’s harmful carbon pollution and the Climate Council says that our use of private vehicles needs to drop by more than half if we are to meet our climate goals.

To mitigate the climate impact as well as the escalating transport costs, Australians could consider switching to e-bikes:

  • An e-bike costs 25-30 cents per 60km of powered riding, and utilises more direct routes than a car.
  • Bikes can move 7 times more people than cars: a single lane of traffic can move 14,000 cyclists an hour, compared with 9000 people on buses and just 2000 people in cars.

With half of all households in Australia owning two or more cars, Day also suggests reducing one car per household and promoting car sharing and e-bike ownership.

Additionally, with the emergence of micro-mobility options such as e-bikes, e-scooters and e-cargo bikes, we need to ensure safe, separate and well-lit paths and trails for these sustainable modes of transport.

Public transport should also be made more affordable, as some countries have done, says Day.

Image: https://www.frankston.vic.gov.au/Things-To-Do/Recreation-and-Leisure/Pedal-assisted-e-bikes