Chapter 5
This chapter provides information on passenger transport activity, including nationally, by city pair, by capital city and by method of travel to work. The data in this chapter comes from a variety of sources, being from BITRE’s estimates, the ABS’ Census Basic Community Profiles Series and from Tourism Research Australia.
- 158 billion passenger kilometres were travelled by car on capital city roads in 2022-23.
- 10.5 billion passenger kilometres were travelled on heavy rail networks in 2022-23.
- 164 billion passenger kilometres were travelled by car on capital city roads in 2018-19, prior to any COVID impacts.
- 14.8 billion passenger kilometres were travelled on heavy rail in 2018-19, prior to any COVID impacts.
Figure 1 Australia’s National Passenger travel, 2022-23
Passenger transport activity (Figure 1) is measured by passenger kilometres (the number of kilometres travelled by passenger vehicles multiplied by the number of occupants in the vehicle).
Figure 2 Australian domestic passenger task, by mode of transport
The Australian domestic passenger task is dominated by road transport, mainly passenger cars (Figure 2). Passenger travel on other modes has generally been increasing, albeit with a dip over the pandemic period. Air travel expectedly fell most significantly, however in 2022-23 it had recovered to near its pre-pandemic level.
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Chapter 6
This chapter provides the following information on Australian roads: road distances, road length in kilometres, licence registration transactions over different vehicle types, electric vehicles attributes and registration transactions.
A variety of sources are used for this data, including data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), VFACTS, BITRE estimates and State and Territory Governments.
- Australia’s total estimated paved road length was 427,000 kilometres in 2022.
- An estimated 254 billion vehicle kilometres were travelled on Australia's roads in 2022-23.
- In 2022-23, Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) comprised 55% of new motor vehicle sales (excluding motor cycles) compared with only 28% 10 years earlier.
- In 2022, there were 33 000 electric vehicle sales in Australia, up from 17 000 the previous year.
Figure 1 Map of national road network
Figure 1 shows Australia’s national road network. The lines and dots shown here are the roads and town points that were open for traffic at December 2021.
Figure 2 Sales of electric vehicles
Figure 2 shows the sale of registered battery electric vehicles and Plug-in Hybrids over time. Fully battery electric vehicles sales increased by 93 per cent between 2021 and 2022.
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Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics Yearbook 2023 and Rail chapter
Chapter 7
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Chapter 7 provides information on rail lengths, rail interstate non-bulk freight, public transit patronage on rail and rail related expenditure. The data is sourced mainly from BITRE and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
- People in Melbourne use light rail more than any other city with 205 million passengers in 2018-19 (before COVID impacts).
- People in Sydney use heavy rail more than any other city with 379 million passengers in 2018-19 (before COVID impacts).
- 18.2 billion dollars was spent by all government on rail related projects in 2021-22.
Figure 1 Australia’s railways, by gauge
The lines shown in Figure 1 are the railways that were open for traffic at October 2022. The only change since 2021 was the opening of the Forrestfield-Airport Link (Metronet) line in Perth.
Figure 2 Public transit patronage on heavy rail, Australian capital cities
Figure 2 shows rail public transport patronage by million passenger movements. Passenger movements were trending upwards in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide before starting to fall sharply in 2019-20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While Melbourne’s passenger numbers began to recover in 2021-22, Sydney’s continued to decline rapidly, recording a larger proportional fall than in each of the two preceding years. This refers to all trips on suburban rail networks and is based on reporting from train operators.
Chapter 8
This chapter provides data on airline activity, aircraft numbers, on time performance and airfare price indexes. Information is provided for both international and domestic airlines, as well as a breakdown of airport traffic by state.
- 595 118 Australian domestic flights occurred in 2022-23. As with internal activity, the full recovery of the aviation industry to pre COVID levels has not yet occurred. At the height of the pandemic, domestic flights fell to 324 616, fewer than flight numbers in 1977-78.
- 11 020 Piston aircraft were registered in 31 December 2022 which is 1 011 more than the year before. This is the greatest increase recorded. The number of helicopters registered fell from 2 467 to 2 351 over the same period.
- Sydney had the most aircraft movements with 282 251 in 2022-23.
- International flights from Australia are steadily recovering from the impacts of COVID. In 2022‑23 there were 150 684 flights, up from only 45 172 two years earlier.
Figure 1 Australia’ top 40 airports in 2022-23, passengers
Since 2019-20, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have remained the airports which experienced the most activity, with some regional airports outside of the top 30 entering and exiting the list.
Figure 2 International and domestic airline revenue passengers
Since 1977-78, the number of fare-paying passengers uplifted and discharged in Australia was steadily increasing both domestically and internationally, before a sharp drop beginning in 2019-20. 2021-22 shows some evidence of an improvement as border restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic ease.
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Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics Yearbook 2023 and Shipping chapter
Chapter 9
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This chapter provides information on Australian ships, cargo, ports and fleet including mileage, tonnage and number of vessels. The data is sourced from BITRE’s Australian Sea Freight publication, BITRE’s Waterline publication and BITRE estimates based on Lloyds List Intelligence Data.
- There were 55 Australian registered vessels in the Australian trading fleet, including small vessels, and 73 overseas registered vessels in 2021-22.
- Queensland had the largest discharged volume with 40 million tonnes in 2020-21. Following Queensland, was New South Wales and Victoria with 33 million tonnes discharged each.
- Western Australian ports loaded 1 004 million tonnes of maritime cargo in 2020-21, the largest volume in Australia. Next, Queensland and New South Wales loaded 289 million tonnes and 176 million tonnes respectively. Together the ports in these three states loaded 94 per cent of Australia's maritime cargo by volume in 2020‑21.
- 8.6 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) were exchanged at container terminals in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Fremantle and Adelaide in 2022-23.
Figure 1 Principal Australian ports, by commodity
Figure 2 Number of cargo ships involved in coastal or international voyages that made port calls, by state/territory
Figure 2 provides a state breakdown of the number of cargo ships on coastal or international voyages who made port calls, from 1999-00 to 2021-22. The majority of states saw increases during this time period. Queensland and Western Australia experienced the largest numerical increases and were consistently Australia’s two most visited states by cargo ships.
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Chapter 10
This chapter provides data on Australian safety for road, aviation, rail and maritime transport types. This includes data relating to crashes, fatalities, injuries and their rates of occurrence, as well as how this can differ for different demographics, states and territories (subject to data availability).
- In 2022, 1,180 people died in road crashes in Australia, down from 1 737 in 2001.
- 34 aviation fatalities occurred in Australia in 2022.
- Road crashes caused 40 000 people in Australia to be with hospitalized injuries in 2021 up from 27 000 in 2001.
- On Australia’s railways, 13 people died and 47 were seriously injured in 2022 (excludes suspected suicide).
Figure 1 Number of fatal crashes, by transport mode
This graph shows the number of fatal crashes over time, by transport mode (with road crashes on the left axis and marine and aviation crashes on the right axis). Fatal road crashes (the number of crashes or accidents which resulted in at least one death) have been slowly trending downwards between 2010 and 2022, falling from 1 229 to 1 105, with an average of 1 112 over this period. There were 33 fatal aviation crashes in 2013 and they have remained between 14 and 23 since 2016. Marine fatal crashes have remained between 2 and 6 from 2010 to 2022.
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Transport Energy and Environment
Chapter 11
This chapter provides information on the Australian measures of transport energy and the environment. Data is sourced from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s petroleum statistics and BITRE estimates.
- Road vehicles made up 84 percent of full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions from all domestic transport modes in 2022-23, compared to 9 per cent from aviation.
- The national average price for petrol was 182.9 cents per litre in the 2022‑23 financial year.
- In 2022-23, domestic road vehicle full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions estimates (carbon dioxide equivalent) reached a record high level of 106 000 gigagrams of CO2 equivalent.
- In 2022-23, there was an estimated 56 billion litres of transport petroleum sold in Australia.
Figure 1 Selected refined petroleum products—Australian production
Figure 1 shows the change in production of selected refined petroleum products in Australia since 2009-10. It highlights how Australia’s production of these selected refined petroleum products is declining with time.
Figure 2 Selected refined petroleum products—imports to Australia
Figure 2 depicts the change in selected refined Australian petroleum imported for various transport industries as at June of each financial year.
Figure 3 Selected refined petroleum products—exports from Australia
Figure 3 shows the change in selected refined Australian petroleum exported for various transport industries as at June of each financial year.
Figure 4 Transport full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions
Figure 4 shows full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions by transport mode in gigagrams of CO2 equivalent. Transport emissions estimates in Australia have risen steadily since 1974-75, except over the COVID-19 pandemic period, which saw them dip temporarily for road vehicles and domestic aviation. Domestic aviation emissions were most affected, almost halving from 11 116 gigagrams of CO2 equivalent in 2018-19 to 5 955 gigagrams of CO2 equivalent in 2020-21, while road vehicle emissions fell by roughly 3 per cent over the same period. In 2022-23, estimates of emissions from domestic aviation and road vehicles both increased to their new highest levels, 11 784 and 106 355 gigagrams of CO2 equivalent respectively.
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Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme Monitoring Reports
The Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme (TFES) provides financial assistance for cost incurred by shippers of eligible non-bulk goods moved by sea across the Bass Strait. More information about the operation of the Scheme can be found at Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme | Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts.
Under the TFES Ministerial Directions, BITRE provides a statistical report on all components of the Scheme every four years. The Monitoring Reports and other reports related to the scheme are linked below.
Monitoring Reports
- Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme Monitoring Report 2024
- Consultation Draft Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme Monitoring Report 2024
- Monitoring report 2020 Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme
Other Reports
- Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme - Review of the expanded component: Final Report (2018)
- Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme: A 'Landbridge' Approach to the Estimation of Subsidy Rates (1981)
- Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme: Recommended Rates of Assistance for Southbound Cargoes, Livestock and Timber at 31 January 1979
- Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme: Recommended Northbound Assistance Rates at 1 January 1978
- Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme: Discussion Paper September 1996
Tasmanian Freight Schemes Parameter Reviews
Infrastructure and the Economy
Chapter 1
This chapter provides data on the Australian economy including the value added by Australian infrastructure industries in addition to:
- employment in the transport and storage industry
- average weekly earnings for road, rail, water and air and space industries
- price indices
- 4.6 per cent of Australia's GDP was accounted for by Australia's transport, postal and warehousing industry in 2023-24.
- 297 thousand people were employed in the road transport industry compared to 46 thousand in the rail industry.
- $1 639 is the average weekly earnings for the road transport industry in 2023
- 83 per cent of people employed within the road transport industry identify as male.
The gross value added of transport, postal and warehousing as a percentage of GDP has remained relatively stable since 1974-75, generally ranging between 4-5% of GDP. In terms of employment, although employment in the transport, postal and warehousing industry has grown in overall terms, as a percentage of total Australian employment, it has stayed at around 5% for the last 30 years. Figure 1 shows employment statistics for various transport industries as at August of each year.
Figure 1 Australian employment numbers in selected major infrastructure industries
Figure 2 compares the number of leadership positions held by men and women within the transport industry for non-public sector organisations over 100 employees. In 2022-23, leadership positions in the transport industry were predominantly occupied by males, with 12,453 males in Chief Executive Officer, Key Management Personnel/Heads of Business and other managerial positions compared to 4,584 females.
Figure 2 Leadership positions held in transport industries, by gender
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- Infrastructure and the Economy—Yearbook 2024 (140 KB) - Download Excel file
- Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics Yearbook 2024 - Download PDF
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Infrastructure Construction
Chapter 2
This chapter provides information on Australian measures of infrastructure engineering construction. These are classified as: transport (roads, rail, harbours, etc), energy (electricity and gas transmission networks, etcetera), telecommunications networks, and water supply and distribution networks. Data is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Engineering Construction Activity, Australia publication.
- Transport infrastructure engineering construction work done recorded a new all-time high of $51 billion (adjusted by chain volume index) in 2023–24. This accounted for 53 per cent of the value of infrastructure construction work done in Australia (including transport, energy, telecommunications and water).
- In 2023–24, the value of road engineering construction work done was:
- $33 billion on roads and bridges
- $16 billion on railways
- $1.5 billion on harbours.
Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the change in infrastructure investment activity in Australia over time. Transport, water and energy investment increased relatively consistently until roughly 2012–13, when they each experienced a notable fall. They have recovered in recent years, however, with the Transport sector reaching its new highest point of roughly $51 billion in 2023–24 (Figure 3).
Figure 3 Infrastructure construction activity, adjusted by chain volume index
Figure 4 shows the value of engineering Construction activity on different modes of transport. Both road (including bridges) ($33 billion) and railways ($16 billion) have recorded record highs two years in a row.
Figure 4 Infrastructure construction activity, by sector, adjusted by chain volume index
Figure 5 illustrates the private and public sector changes in Australian infrastructure expenditure.
Figure 5 Infrastructure construction activity, by sector, adjusted by chain volume index
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- Infrastructure Construction—Yearbook 2024 (109 KB) - Download Excel file
- Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics—Yearbook 2024 - Download PDF