The car commute taking Aussie drivers the most time
Aussies spend more of their week in the car than most other countries, a new study shows, with one type of trip chewing up the most driving time.
Australian drivers spend an average of 1 hour and 49 minutes a week driving to and from work – more than those in any other country – a new global study has revealed.
The survey, conducted by UK car leasing company Autotrader, asked more than 1000 respondents from 15 countries how much time they spend driving each week in total. It also asked them to break down that time by their drive to and from activities such as work, school drop-off/pick-up, errands, holidays and social visits.
Despite Australia coming in third for total weekly drive time, behind South Africa and Ireland, Australian drivers clocked the most time commuting to work than those in the other 15 countries assessed.
South African drivers spend the second-longest on their drives to and from work at 1 hour and 48 minutes, while Ireland came in third at 1 hour and 46 minutes.
The countries where drivers spent the least time behind the wheel included the Netherlands at an average of 4 hours and 38 minutes a week, the UK at 4 hours and 48 minutes a week and France at 5 hours and 10 minutes.
How much time you spend driving each week can inform the type of car you need for your lifestyle, Autotrader car leasing expert Tom Roberts said.
"Wherever you are in the world, the time we spend in the car adds up to something significant," Roberts said. "Comfort, space and reliability mean more, the longer you spend on the road.”
Aussie commutes have decreased in recent years
Despite being high when compared with other countries globally, Aussie commute times to their workplaces have significantly reduced in the years since the pandemic, the most recent Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey showed.
The HILDA survey was released in October last year and captures data from 2001 to 2023, and includes all commute types – including active and public transport as well as driving.
It showed Australians' mean weekly commute times to work dropped by more than 20 per cent between 2019 and 2021, from 4.6 hours to 3.6 hours.
Though that time increased to 3.8 hours a week in 2023, it was still about 17 per cent lower than in 2019, owing to a significant proportion of workers continuing to work from home for at least some of the week post COVID.
"One way of offsetting lengthy commutes is working from home for part or all of the work week," the 20th Annual Statistical Report of the HILDA Survey stated.
It showed that in 2019, about a quarter of Aussie workers did some days from home while just 5 per cent did the majority of their work from home.
By 2021, 38 per cent did some work from home and 23 per cent did most of their hours from home. Those figures were lower in 2023 – 35 per cent and 15 per cent respectively – but they were still significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels.
The table below shows the correlation between the proportion of Australians commuting to a workplace either sometimes or every day compared with mean weekly commute times, using the HILDA Survey data.
