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August 9, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n A divisive study has laid bare the true price of Australia\u2019s huge number of private cars, finding they cost the country at least $316 billion a year \u2013 and the public foots half the bill.<\/p>\n University of Queensland researchers say they are the first to fully quantify the \u201ccar economy\u201d across five states, and expose a whopping annual estimated cost of $158 billion to the wider public.<\/p>\n The huge public bill is the total of everything from congestion<\/a> to the cost of car parks<\/a> and roads, emissions<\/a>, pollution<\/a> and collisions<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cCars impose all these costs on society,\u201d said Associate Professor Dorina Pojani of the university\u2019s School of Architecture, Design and Planning. \u201cPeople think of automobility, and they just think of the actual car that they drive. But automobility is a whole system.\u201d<\/p>\n Pojani said she was motivated to investigate the cost of Australia\u2019s car use after robust discussions with her students, who were adamant that drivers paid their way. \u201cThey\u2019d say: \u2018Yeah, but drivers, we pay lots of fees and taxes, and for fuel, etc.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article The study, though, revealed drivers directly paid only half the annual cost of the vehicle economy (49.82 per cent, or an estimated $157.48 billion) in fuel, parking, tolls and buying vehicles.<\/p>\n The wider public, including people who, like Pojani, don\u2019t drive, bore the remainder of the cost (50.18 per cent, or an estimated $158.64 billion).<\/p>\n The public cost outweighed the private cost in all states except NSW.<\/p>\n \u201cTo this day, I just never got used to cars,\u201d said Pojani, who grew up in communist-era Albania when private car ownership was banned. She now lives in Brisbane.<\/p>\n The direct cost to drivers includes expenses such as buying vehicles and paying for fuel, parking and tolls. Drivers also help foot the public bill.<\/p>\n Most people living in cities have a choice to drive or catch public transport. The same can\u2019t be said for trucks, which are necessary to move food and other goods around Australia, Pojani said. They were excluded on that basis from the study, which looked at cars and light commercial vehicles only.<\/p>\n But the point of the research wasn\u2019t to cast blame on drivers, for many of whom cars were also a necessity, Pojani said. Instead, the study used a Harvard University-tested method to encourage Australian governments to \u201cput their money where their mouth is\u201d on sustainability.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cIf [governments are] going to subsidise transport<\/a>, they need to subsidise the right kind of transport, which is public transport, micromobility, meaning bicycle lanes, bicycle parking,\u201d Pojani said.<\/p>\n \u201cMy hunch is that the whole car industry knows that they\u2019re getting a pretty good deal in Australia. The figures are clear.\u201d<\/p>\n The subsidisation point rang true for Melbourne resident Luke Sapwell, who supports his tax dollars going to the likes of schools, although he doesn\u2019t have children, or hospitals, even though he\u2019s healthy.<\/p>\n The difference with cars was that, for many, driving is a choice, the 34-year-old finance broker and business owner said. Sapwell doesn\u2019t have a car, works mainly from home and relies on public transport and shared e-bikes to get around.<\/p>\n That was until his local council, the City of Yarra, voted last month to tear up a deal<\/a> with US-headquartered hiring company Lime, ordering e-bikes off the area\u2019s streets in inner Melbourne.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving half of car user costs being borne by other people \u2013 that\u2019s unfair,\u201d said Sapwell.<\/p>\n \u201cThe least vulnerable people in our community can afford to use cars.<\/p>\n \u201cSo really, I just cannot even comprehend why we would be further disadvantaging vulnerable people in our community by taking away such an obvious mode of transport [share bikes] that has minimal impacts on the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n National Roads and Motorists\u2019 Association spokesman Peter Khoury said the University of Queensland research had a fatal flaw. While it analysed the costs of Australia\u2019s car economy, it was silent as to its benefits.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t let your kids set up a lemonade stand without doing a cost-benefit analysis,\u201d Khoury said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe benefit to 100 years of investing in infrastructure for the combustion engine has helped basically carry Australia to one of the best standards-of-living nations on the face of the earth.<\/p>\n \u201cBureaucrats are not going to look at a report that quantifies the cost without quantifying the benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n Different approaches could quantify the cost of Australia\u2019s car economy differently, Pojani said. But, even if there was a margin of error, the researchers were talking about billions of dollars.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about pennies,\u201d Pojani said.<\/p>\n The researchers\u2019 findings were published in <\/a>the peer-reviewed scientific journal Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ebf08e7e6fdf646e2767ae144c31162112b50ac4.jpeg\")
The study found drivers directly paid only half the annual cost of the vehicle economy.Pat Scala<\/p>\n![\"Cars](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/773e2e2a7635347d48e2bc32a309d2995f330769c4725168ddf5b08c07ab9758.jpeg\")
Cars impose hidden costs on society says urban planning expert Dr Dorina Pojani.<\/p>\n![\"Yarra](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/a8101c757c9fa1a57de7e9344761b4237f6c2f30.jpeg\")
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Melbourne resident Luke Sapwell, who relies on public transport.Joe Armao<\/p>\n![\"Afia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/50589537c495065f71d9ccd31442e56e1eb80c4e.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Sapwell](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/cbdff31ae2c138597669e998a8c70bef365525d5.jpeg\")
Sapwell says governments should consider taxpayers\u2019 subsidisation of cars when weighing up whether to support greener alternatives, such as shared e-bikes.Joe Armao<\/p>\n![\"Jeremy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/e7c428bf4d2f3126d6e0a4c190a436df30fe2006.jpeg\")
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