Melbourne Transport
Trucks carrying goods are seen in a traffic jam in outer Melbourne August 31, 2010. Reuters/Mick Tsikas

While cost of transport for Australian families keep on rising – with Sydney families spending around $22,000 yearly to move around the city – it is different for Melbourne residents. A new report from the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) says Melbourne is defying the national trends for city transport costs.

News.com.au reports that the average annual transport bill of Melbourne families went down to $18,056.11 from $18,136.02. The $80 reduction was caused by lower fuel and insurance charges and public transport fare not rising.

But across Australia and on the national level, transport cost went up by $116 a year to $16,894, making it one of the largest single expenses of Aussie household. As a result of the higher transport cost, its share in the family budget went up to 13.4 percent from 13.3 percent.

On a weekly basis, Sydney families spent $416 a week on transport. For Brisbane families, it is $377, for Melbourne $347, Perth $308, Canberra $302, Darwin $288, Adelaide $287 and Hobart $273

Other family expenses rose at a slower pace such as telecommunications, electricity and water went up from one to three percent. Given the higher cost of transport, AAA is pushing the government – at federal down to city levels – to help families by cutting taxes and charges totaling almost $28 billion in 2013-14. It translates into CTP and licence charges costing the average Aussie family almost $2,700 annually, up by $50 in the third quarter of 2016.

The AAA commissioned SGS Economics and Planning to design and develop the Transport Affordability Index to give Australians a snapshot of the cost of transport for a typical Australian household living in capital cities.