Economics and Financing

This report informs both members of the public and transport planners of the full costs of travel to enable them to make rational choices about the use of travel modes - rail, road, bus and tram. The report provides indicative estimates of the cost of personal travel for the major Australian urban centres - Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Costs are reported in terms of average resource costs per person kilometre (1993 dollars) and are divided into three groups:user costs - paid by the individual traveller such as car purchase and repairs, fuel, tolls and public transport fares; provider costs -borne by the service provider (usually government agencies) including road construction, maintenance and public transport subsidies; societal (external) costs - environmental and social costs to the community including air, water and noise pollution, accidents and congestion. A comparison of the different travel modes demonstrates that the greatest user and societal costs are associated with car transport whilst provider costs are highest for public transport.