Transport costs The price of fuel is still the top transport-related cost-of-living concern for 2024 across all cities surveyed, despite a slight drop in North America. Concern about the price of fuel dropped 6% in Greater Washington and Montreal compared to 2023, but it remains the second biggest concern on overall household budgets. While in Australia, there was a small increase of 1%, with 51% of Australians also ranking fuel as the second highest expense causing stress on the household budget (Figure 9).
Of the Australian cities surveyed, the biggest concern about fuel prices was in Brisbane where 56% of people ranked it as a top cost of living concern. This comes after Brisbane recorded the highest average retail petrol prices of Australia’s largest cities in the March 2024 quarter. 3 Despite fuel being a top cost of living concern across all cities, most people surveyed do not consider, or only occasionally consider, the price of fuel when making travel choices (Figures 15-18).
In Australia, 71% of commuters do not, or only occasionally, consider the price of fuel when making decisions about their daily trips. In North America, almost half of daily commuters do not consider the price of fuel when making travel decisions.
Figure 15: INFLUENCE OF FUEL PRICE ON TRAVEL CHOICES – AUSTRALIA Influence of fuel price on travel choices – Australia Not at all Occasionally All the time I'm not sure
Commuting 2024 38%
33%
23% 6%
2023
45%
30%
21% 5%
2022
26%
35%
34% 5%
Short trips (under an hour) 2024 37%
37%
22%
2023
41%
36%
19%
2022
32%
39%
27%
Long trips (over an hour) 2024 28%
39%
29%
2023
31%
37%
28%
2022
14%
37%
46%
Q. To what extent, if at all, do you think the price of petrol/gas influenced your transport and travel choices over the last six months?
3 Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) Quarterly report on the Australian petroleum market – March quarter 2024
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