12.6% ▼ -17.6%
Higher than 89% of federal electorate areas.
- 2011: 15.3%
- 2016: 13.3%
- 2021: 12.6%
Share of occupied private dwellings with no registered motor vehicle.
Adelaide · Federal Electorate
Transport & Vehicles in Adelaide
How households get around — the vehicles they keep and the journey to work.
Well over twice as many people use public transport to get to work in Adelaide than in the typical Australian area. This city centre hub is defined by its high transit access and a significantly lower reliance on cars compared to the rest of the state.
Vehicles
Motor vehicles per home, and homes with no car.
Far more homes here have no motor vehicle than in most other areas, sitting at 12.6%. While this is well above the national figure of 7.4%, the proportion of car-free households has fallen by 2.7 percentage points since 2011.
Motor vehicles per home
View on map →In Adelaide, the largest group is 1 vehicle at 42%, followed by 2 vehicles (32%) and No vehicle (13%).
Getting to work
How people travel to work.
Public transport use for commuting is among the highest for this area type at 7.6%, which is well above the South Australian figure. Meanwhile, 10.4% of people work from home, a figure that is far below the national average of 21%.
10.4% —
Lower than 72% of federal electorate areas.
- 2016: 4.2%
- 2021: 10.4%
Share of employed people aged 15+ who worked at home on census day.
7.6% —
Higher than 94% of federal electorate areas.
- 2016: 9.7%
- 2021: 7.6%
Share of employed people who got to work by train, bus, ferry or tram/light rail as their only method of travel on census day.
Public transport access
Stops, services, routes and how far you can get by public transport.
Adelaide has one of the largest networks for its size, with 1,063 public transport stops and 271 routes. Weekly departures per 1,000 people are far above the state figure, with buses making up 92.3% of the service.
1,063
Higher than 87% of federal electorate areas.
Scheduled public-transport stops (bus, train, tram and ferry) located in the area, from the state GTFS feeds.
5.38
Higher than 73% of federal electorate areas.
Public-transport stops per 1,000 residents — a measure of how densely an area is served (GTFS stops; population from the 2021 Census).
3,169.8
Higher than 99% of federal electorate areas.
Scheduled weekly public-transport departures from stops in the area, per 1,000 residents — how often transit actually runs, not just whether a stop exists (GTFS schedules for a representative week; population from the 2021 Census).
271
Higher than 96% of federal electorate areas.
Distinct public-transport routes serving stops in the area (GTFS feeds).
Getting around
Walking distance to transport and driving time to the city.
Getting around is very efficient here, with a typical walk to the nearest stop taking only 2 minutes. This is much lower than most areas, and the drive time to the city is among the lowest at just 6 minutes.
2
Lower than 86% of federal electorate areas.
Walking time, in minutes, from the centre of the area to the nearest public-transport stop, along the OpenStreetMap pedestrian network (Valhalla). Blank where no stop is within a reasonable walk.
6
Lower than 99% of federal electorate areas.
Free-flow driving time, in minutes, from the centre of the area to its state/territory capital city centre, along the OpenStreetMap road network (Valhalla). Excludes live traffic.
Sources
- Census of Population and Housing — Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 (CC BY 4.0).
- Public transport timetables (GTFS) — State & territory transport agencies, 2026 (CC BY 4.0 (WA: custom PTA licence)).
- Road & path network (OpenStreetMap, via Valhalla) — OpenStreetMap contributors, 2026 (ODbL 1.0).
More for Adelaide
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Transport & Vehicles in Adelaide [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/ced/CED401/adelaide/topic/transport