4.0% ▼ -29.8%
Lower than 75% of sub-region (sa3) areas.
- 2011: 5.7%
- 2016: 4.3%
- 2021: 4.0%
Share of occupied private dwellings with no registered motor vehicle.
Port Stephens · Sub-region (SA3)
Transport & Vehicles in Port Stephens
How households get around — the vehicles they keep and the journey to work.
More than half of all workers in Port Stephens drive themselves to work, reflecting a strong reliance on cars. Very few homes get by without a vehicle, and the area is far from the city, with a typical drive time of 126 minutes.
Vehicles
Motor vehicles per home, and homes with no car.
Only 4% of homes have no motor vehicle, which is well below the national figure of 7.4%. Most households own at least two cars, with 38.4% having exactly two and another 21.1% owning three or more.
Motor vehicles per home
View on map →Port Stephens splits fairly evenly between 2 vehicles (38%) and 1 vehicle (36%), with 3 vehicles at 13%.
Getting to work
How people travel to work.
Public transport is rarely used for commuting, with only 0.4% of workers using it. While 17.8% of people now work from home—a rise of 13 percentage points since 2011—this is still well below the Australian average of 21%.
17.8% ▲ +304.9%
Higher than 66% of sub-region (sa3) areas.
- 2011: 4.4%
- 2016: 4.9%
- 2021: 17.8%
Share of employed people aged 15+ who worked at home on census day.
0.4% ▼ -53.4%
Lower than 84% of sub-region (sa3) areas.
- 2011: 0.9%
- 2016: 0.9%
- 2021: 0.4%
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.
Port Stephens has 659 public transport stops, meaning there are 8.62 stops per 1,000 people, which is far above the New South Wales figure. However, weekly departures per person are well below the state average, and the network relies entirely on buses.
659
Higher than 86% of sub-region (sa3) areas.
Scheduled public-transport stops (bus, train, tram and ferry) located in the area, from the state GTFS feeds.
8.62
Higher than 95% of sub-region (sa3) areas.
Public-transport stops per 1,000 residents — a measure of how densely an area is served (GTFS stops; population from the 2021 Census).
986.2
Higher than 57% of sub-region (sa3) 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).
18
Lower than 65% of sub-region (sa3) 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 drive time to the city is among the highest for similar areas at 126 minutes. Despite this distance, the typical walk to the nearest public transport stop is about 6 minutes.
6
Higher than 57% of sub-region (sa3) 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.
126
Higher than 88% of sub-region (sa3) 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 Port Stephens
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Transport & Vehicles in Port Stephens [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/sa3/10603/port-stephens/topic/transport