4.9% ▼ -24.5%
Lower than 53% of council (lga) areas.
- 2011: 6.4%
- 2016: 5.2%
- 2021: 4.9%
Share of occupied private dwellings with no registered motor vehicle.
Gold Coast · Council (LGA)
Transport & Vehicles in Gold Coast
How households get around — the vehicles they keep and the journey to work.
Private cars dominate daily travel in the Gold Coast, where 62.8% of workers drive themselves to work. While public transport use remains low, the area provides a high number of weekly departures compared to the state average. This creates a landscape where most people rely on their own vehicles despite having decent access to transit.
Vehicles
Motor vehicles per home, and homes with no car.
Most households here own at least one car, with 39.2% having two vehicles. Only 4.9% of homes have no motor vehicle, a figure that has fallen since 2011 and is slightly lower than the national rate.
Motor vehicles per home
View on map →Gold Coast splits fairly evenly between 2 vehicles (39%) and 1 vehicle (36%), with 3 vehicles at 13%.
Getting to work
How people travel to work.
Working from home has become more common, rising to 13.8% since 2011, though this is well below the Australian figure. Public transport use for commuting is low at 1.7%, which is a little below the state and national averages.
13.8% ▲ +155.6%
Higher than 60% of council (lga) areas.
- 2011: 5.4%
- 2016: 5.9%
- 2021: 13.8%
Share of employed people aged 15+ who worked at home on census day.
1.7% ▼ -36.2%
Higher than 63% of council (lga) areas.
- 2011: 2.7%
- 2016: 2.7%
- 2021: 1.7%
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.
The area has a large network with 85 routes and 1,828 stops. This supports a high volume of service, with 854 weekly departures per 1,000 people, which is a little above the Queensland figure.
1,828
Higher than 89% of council (lga) areas.
Scheduled public-transport stops (bus, train, tram and ferry) located in the area, from the state GTFS feeds.
2.92
Lower than 54% 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).
854.0
Higher than 77% 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).
85
Higher than 87% 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.
Getting to a transit stop is relatively easy, with a typical walk of just 5 minutes, which is lower than most areas. The typical drive time to the city is 50 minutes.
5
Lower than 67% 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.
50
Lower than 52% 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 Gold Coast
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Transport & Vehicles in Gold Coast [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/lga/LGA33430/gold-coast/topic/transport