Households in densely populated capitals such as Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne were seen to attract the highest transport costs due to the expenses of tolls and public transport.
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Across the first half of 2016, the AAA found the national household average for transport spending to be around $325.
The first national Transport Affordability Index, released by the Australian Automobile Association, whose members include the NRMA, shows a two-car Sydney household faces weekly transport costs of $419 per week.
“The index initially shows around 13 per cent of an average household budget in most capital cities is spent on transport, which is remarkable when you consider that electricity, water, and telecommunications costs account for only one to three per cent of income combined”, Mr Bradley said.
“However, these cities also have lower average household incomes”. This cost was followed by fuel, public transport, registration, and licencing.
The calculations are based on a family with two cars living outside of the city centre, and their accumulated costs of fuel, tolls, public transport, vehicle registration and maintenance, along with insurance premiums and auto loans.
The exceptions to these trends were Brisbane – where public transport was the second highest cost (a higher cost than fuel); Hobart and Darwin, where vehicle maintenance and servicing recorded higher costs than registration and licencing.
The annual bill can vary from $21,700 in Sydney, to $14,100 in Hobart.
Among Australian households, it is residents of Sydney who spend the biggest amount for transportation in dollar terms and as a percentage of household income. However, where tolls were present, they constituted the second highest cost in Sydney, and third highest in Melbourne.
Auto loans in Perth were also found to be the cheapest nationally thanks to marginally lower upfront purchase costs.
Similarly to Perth, hypothetical households in Canberra spend just over 10 per cent of their income on transport or $15,600 a year. The average household pays about $38 a week on these expenses compared to Hobart where they total almost $23.
Registration, third party and licences cost about $42 a week in Sydney, $38 in Canberra and about $30 in Melbourne and Adelaide.
This shows that owning a auto is not just about the buying, but also about the maintenance and operating costs that need to be seen.
The cost of servicing both cars in Darwin is nearly 40 per cent higher than Melbourne – in large part due to servicing costs associated with older cars and the cost of tyres.
An average family spends as much as $420 a week getting around a major city.
However, when calculating transport expenses as a percentage of income, the South Australian capital ranks fifth.
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However, Hobart recorded the highest fuel costs nationally with an average of $60 per week compared to $57 in Adelaide where prices were lowest.
