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Traffic is costing full-time drivers in Australia’s largest cities 1000’s of {dollars} a yr in misplaced time and gas, based on new evaluation for iSelect’s Delayed Drives report.
Across the 11 largest cities, commuters who drive to work collectively lose about 212 million hours a yr in visitors and spend one other $462 million in additional gas.
The estimated value to the economic system is $9.7 billion, primarily based on the misplaced alternative value – ie the lack of potential achieve attributable to congestion.
In complete, due to this fact, visitors is costing drivers greater than $10.1 billion yearly.
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On a per-driver foundation, the examine finds the typical full-time employee in Australia’s main cities loses round 59 hours a yr to visitors, or roughly two and a half days, at a mean annual value of about $2788 in time and gas.
| Key metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total time misplaced in visitors (11 cities) | ~212 million hours per yr |
| Total annual congestion value | Just over $10.1 billion |
| Average per full-time driver (main cities) | ~59 hours a yr (~2.5 days) |
| Average per-driver value | Around $2788 a yr |
| Most costly metropolis for drivers | Melbourne – $4628 a yr, 3d 22h misplaced |
| City with most time misplaced | Sydney – $4568 a yr, 4d 0h 25m misplaced |
| Least impacted metropolis | Darwin – $1390 a yr, 1d 3h 32m misplaced |
| Highest value occupation | Medical practitioners – $6784 a yr |
Using TomTom visitors knowledge, ABS Census commuting patterns, median hourly earnings, and real-world gas consumption, the evaluation compares how congestion hits drivers in every metropolis’s CBD and wider metro space.
On value, Melbourne comes out worst. The typical full-time driver there loses 3 days, 22 hours and 5 minutes to visitors annually, with an estimated annual congestion invoice of $4628, made up of about $4457 in misplaced time and $171 in additional gas.
Sydney drivers lose barely extra time to visitors general, at 4 days and 25 minutes per yr, however barely much less cash, at $4568 a yr in mixed time and gas prices. Most of that’s the alternative value of time, at round $4406 a yr, plus $162 in additional gas.
Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide spherical out the highest 5 cities on annual congestion value, every above $3300 a yr for time and gas mixed. At the opposite finish of the size, Darwin drivers lose about 1 day, 3 hours and 32 minutes a yr to visitors, at a price of round $1390.
When the main focus shifts to CBD driving, Adelaide has the slowest inner-city rush-hour visitors within the examine.
On a typical 20km spherical journey by way of town centre, Adelaide drivers lose about 22 minutes and 10 seconds a day in comparison with free-flow situations. That provides as much as roughly 3 days and 13 hours a yr spent sitting in visitors, with a mean rush-hour congestion degree of about 66 per cent.
Melbourne’s metropolis centre is simply simply behind, with drivers shedding about 21 minutes and 55 seconds a day on the identical 20km spherical journey, or 3 days and 12 hours a yr, whereas Sydney and Brisbane comply with. Wollongong and Darwin report the smallest CBD time losses, with drivers there shedding a bit of over 7 minutes a day to inner-city congestion.
Looking on the wider metro areas, Sydney is once more hardest hit. Across the larger metropolitan area, the typical rush-hour pace drops to round 27km/h, turning a 20km return commute into greater than 44 minutes on the highway and costing drivers about quarter-hour a day in additional journey time in comparison with optimum situations.
Melbourne ranks second on metro congestion, adopted by Adelaide, Newcastle and the Gold Coast, whereas Darwin once more has the smoothest runs.
The burden isn’t unfold evenly throughout the workforce. When the info is damaged down by occupation, stationary plant operators lose essentially the most time, with lengthy common commutes, little or no work at home and 4 days, 10 hours and seven minutes a yr misplaced to visitors.
Defence pressure members, firefighters and police are shut behind on time misplaced, at 4 days, 5 hours and 12 minutes a yr, adopted by medical practitioners and several other technical and commerce occupations that additionally spend greater than 4 days a yr in congestion.
On pure greenback value, medical practitioners are hit hardest. With a median hourly wage of about $65.60 and greater than 4 days a yr misplaced in visitors, their mixed time and gas invoice involves round $6784 a yr. Air and marine transport professionals, well being diagnostic and promotion professionals, ICT managers and promoting and PR managers all face congestion prices within the $5100 to $5400 vary.
For drivers in these roles, congestion is successfully an unpaid extension of the workday, and for a lot of metropolis commuters, the examine suggests visitors is now a excessive hidden value of holding down a job that depends on the automobile.
The Delayed Drives modelling is predicated on ABS 2021 Census knowledge and the ABS Characteristics of Employment 2024 for commute distances, work-from-home days and hourly earnings, mixed with petrol costs from the ACCC’s June 2025 Australian Petroleum Market Report, real-world gas consumption figures from the Real World Testing Program, and drivetrain combine knowledge from BITRE’s Road Vehicles Australia 2025 report.
Table 1: Annual congestion time and value by metropolis
(Full-time employees who drive to work, 2025 estimates)
| Rank | City | Yearly time misplaced to visitors | Annual congestion value (time + gas) | Of which misplaced time | Extra gas value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Melbourne | 3 days, 22 hr, 5 min | $4628 | $4457 | $171 |
| 2 | Sydney | 4 days, 0 hr, 25 min | $4568 | $4406 | $162 |
| 3 | Perth | 2 days, 21 hr, 35 min | $3496 | $3292 | $204 |
| 4 | Brisbane | 3 days, 1 hr, 46 min | $3447 | $3259 | $188 |
| 5 | Adelaide | 3 days, 5 hr, 50 min | $3377 | $3225 | $152 |
| 6 | Newcastle | 2 days, 6 hr, 12 min | $2587 | $2409 | $178 |
| 7 | Gold Coast | 2 days, 4 hr, 45 min | $2443 | $2244 | $199 |
| 8 | Canberra | 1 day, 16 hr, 14 min | $2244 | $2118 | $126 |
| 9 | Hobart | 1 day, 20 hr, 58 min | $1856 | $1700 | $156 |
| 10 | Wollongong | 1 day, 15 hr, 21 min | $1814 | $1574 | $240 |
| 11 | Darwin | 1 day, 3 hr, 32 min | $1390 | $1213 | $176 |
Table 2: City centre rush-hour delays, by metropolis
(Typical 20km spherical journey by way of CBD, 2025 estimates)
| Rank | City | Daily additional time in visitors | Extra time in rush hour per yr | Rush-hour congestion degree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adelaide | 22 min 10 sec | 3 days 13 hours | 66.0% |
| 2 | Melbourne | 21 min 55 sec | 3 days 12 hours | 66.6% |
| 3 | Sydney | 19 min 34 sec | 3 days 3 hours | 53.3% |
| 4 | Brisbane | 18 min 31 sec | 2 days 23 hours | 60.3% |
| 5 | Gold Coast | 15 min 39 sec | 2 days 12 hours | 50.9% |
| 6 | Perth | 14 min 21 sec | 2 days 7 hours | 53.1% |
| 7 | Newcastle | 13 min 34 sec | 2 days 4 hours | 45.7% |
| 8 | Hobart | 13 min 34 sec | 2 days 4 hours | 48.6% |
| 9 | Canberra | 11 min 29 sec | 1 day 20 hours | 44.9% |
| 10 | Wollongong | 7 min 50 sec | 1 day 6 hours | 35.0% |
| 11 | Darwin | 7 min 18 sec | 1 day 4 hours | 30.5% |
Table 3: Occupations shedding essentially the most time in visitors
(Top 10 by yearly time misplaced, Australia-wide, full-time employees who drive to work)
| Rank | Occupation | Yearly time misplaced to visitors | Annual congestion value (time + gas) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stationary plant operators | 4 days, 10 hr, 7 min | $4892 |
| 2 | Defence pressure members, firefighters and police | 4 days, 5 hr, 12 min | $4955 |
| 3 | Medical practitioners | 4 days, 4 hr, 9 min | $6784 |
| 4 | Health diagnostic and promotion professionals | 4 days, 2 hr, 31 min | $5418 |
| 5 | Electronics and telecommunications trades employees | 4 days, 0 hr, 46 min | $4574 |
| 6 | Building and engineering technicians | 3 days, 18 hr, 22 min | $4893 |
| 7 | Health remedy professionals | 3 days, 17 hr, 51 min | $4678 |
| 8 | Midwifery and nursing professionals | 3 days, 14 hr, 42 min | $4608 |
| 9 | Engineering professionals | 3 days, 12 hr, 39 min | $4953 |
| 10 | Natural and bodily science professionals | 3 days, 9 hr, 53 min | $4596 |
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