6.6% —
Higher than 69% of council (lga) areas.
- 2016: 6.7%
- 2021: 6.6%
Share of occupied private dwellings with no registered motor vehicle.
Northern Beaches · Council (LGA)
Transport & Vehicles in Northern Beaches
How households get around — the vehicles they keep and the journey to work.
A massive 37 percentage point jump in working from home since 2016 has reshaped how people in Northern Beaches get around. While the area has a huge number of public transport stops and services, nearly half of the workforce now avoids a daily commute entirely.
Vehicles
Motor vehicles per home, and homes with no car.
Most homes have at least one car, with 38.4% owning two vehicles. Only 6.6% of households have no motor vehicle, a figure that has barely changed since 2016.
Motor vehicles per home
View on map →Northern Beaches splits fairly evenly between 2 vehicles (38%) and 1 vehicle (37%), with 3 vehicles at 12%.
Getting to work
How people travel to work.
Working from home is far more common here than in the rest of the state, with 44% of people doing so. In contrast, the share of people commuting by public transport has fallen sharply from 13.6% in 2016 to just 2.7% in 2021.
44.0% —
Higher than 98% of council (lga) areas.
- 2016: 7.1%
- 2021: 44.0%
Share of employed people aged 15+ who worked at home on census day.
2.7% —
Higher than 73% of council (lga) areas.
- 2016: 13.6%
- 2021: 2.7%
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.
Public transport services are among the highest at this level, with 2,206 weekly departures per 1,000 people, which is far above the New South Wales figure. The network is made up entirely of buses, across 48 different routes.
1,274
Higher than 88% of council (lga) areas.
Scheduled public-transport stops (bus, train, tram and ferry) located in the area, from the state GTFS feeds.
4.83
Higher than 70% of council (lga) areas.
Public-transport stops per 1,000 residents — a measure of how densely an area is served (GTFS stops; population from the 2021 Census).
2,206.1
Higher than 93% of council (lga) 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).
48
Higher than 86% of council (lga) areas.
Distinct public-transport routes serving stops in the area (GTFS feeds).
Getting around
Walking distance to transport and driving time to the city.
The typical drive time to the city is 24 minutes, which is lower than most areas. Residents generally face a 7-minute walk to their nearest transport stop.
7
Lower than 57% of council (lga) 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.
24
Lower than 68% of council (lga) 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 Northern Beaches
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Transport & Vehicles in Northern Beaches [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/lga/LGA15990/northern-beaches/topic/transport