Motorists stung by rocketing fuel costs are paying the price for decades of growing car dependency in Australia’s major cities, where families are forced to own multiple cars to navigate sprawling suburbs lacking access to public transport.
Car ownership rates in Australia have increased 48 per cent over the past four decades – from 499 vehicles per 1000 people in 1985 to 740 per 1000 in 2025, analysis of federal government data shows.
Victoria has 744 passenger vehicles (including utes and vans) per 1000 people, while NSW is less car reliant, with 682.
Afia Khan’s weekly fuel bill has jumped from about $70 to $100 since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran – a cost-of-living increase that is multiplied across her family’s four cars.
The 22-year-old lives with her parents and two siblings in Point Cook, in Melbourne’s west, and said car ownership was essential because of the absence of regular public transport.
The closest bus connecting to Williams Landing train station comes every 40 minutes at weekends, and she would need to allow about two hours to get to her bartending job in Port Melbourne, compared with a 20-minute drive.
“I drive everywhere because I have to, unfortunately,” she said. “[Melbourne’s] west is such a car-dependent area. There are too many cars and too much traffic. It would be really beneficial if there were frequent bus routes to take people to where they need to go.”
Census data shows that among Melbourne households consisting of a couple with children, 51 per cent own two cars, 19 per cent have three cars and 11 per cent have four or more. They pay a large and growing bill for their transport.
The Australian Automobile Association estimated that, as of December, an average Melbourne family living in a middle-ring or outer suburb spent qbout $25,100 a year on car-related expenses.
That consisted of $11,194 on car loan repayments, $3637 for insurance, $1908 for registration, $1981 on servicing and maintenance, and $4896 on fuel.
Unleaded petrol prices in Melbourne jumped from on average of $1.76 a litre on February 20 to $2.50 on Wednesday this week, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. On Saturday, prices at servos across the city ranged from a low of $2.43 to $2.80 a litre.
RMIT University professor of urban policy Jago Dodson said Australian cities were some of the most car-dependent in the world outside the United States. About 73 per cent of trips in Melbourne are made by private vehicle – double the rate in London or Paris.
He said that was a legacy of a post-World War II period in which Australia established a now-shuttered automobile industry as the basis for a manufacturing economy and fuelled demand for those factories by expanding home ownership with new suburbs accessible only by car.
“Unfortunately, the time to start trying to change things was five decades ago,” Dodson said. “The first major oil shock was in 1973 … but we didn’t learn those lessons. So we’re now at a moment when fuel security has become an issue again, and we’re not very well prepared for it.”
Cars and light commercial vehicle produce more than 10 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions, and Dodson said the country already needed to reduce private vehicle use to reach its climate goals.
Car ownership levels also undermined efforts to build more and denser housing in major cities, if every new apartment needed its own parking space, he said.
“If you put all these factors together – climate, productivity, densification, and fuel security as an extra spur to action, the logics are quite strong to move away from our current levels of car dependence,” he said.
Electric vehicle makers have reported a surge in interest from Australians since the fuel crisis began.
Climateworks Centre transport lead Helen Rowe said faster electric vehicle uptake was critical to reducing emissions, but that needed to be accompanied by a significant investment to replace some car trips with walking, cycling and public transport.
“If everyone is encouraged to just drive an EV, that isn’t solving some of the fundamental issues about productivity and efficiency and livability in our city,” she said.
“Is it fair that some households need two to three cars to get around, and don’t have access to any other options? How do you actually get people around without causing congestion?”
Rowe said that while it took a long time to extend train lines, governments could respond to the fuel crisis quickly by increasing existing peak-hour services, encouraging people to travel off-peak and rolling out new or better bus routes.
Reduced fares could also be considered for underutilised buses, but could risk trains and trams becoming overcrowded, she said.
“In general, you would rather see the money being used to give more people access to public transport, rather than giving the people who already have access cheaper options,” Rowe said.
As part of its climate change strategy, the Victorian government wants to increase cycling and walking from 18 per cent to 25 per cent of all trips by 2030, but does not have any public targets for reducing car trips or increasing public transport use.
A Victorian government spokesperson said it was improving public transport services, including through its pipeline of level crossing removals, the newly opened Metro Tunnel and the upcoming Suburban Rail Loop.
“We encourage Victorians to make the most of public transport and our new Youth myki has unlocked free travel for under 18s – saving families up to $755 per child every year,” the spokesperson said.
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Patrick Hatch is transport reporter at The Age and a former business reporter.Connect via X or email.