5.1% ▼ -34.7%
Higher than 74% of suburb / locality areas.
- 2011: 7.8%
- 2016: 5.3%
- 2021: 5.1%
Share of occupied private dwellings with no registered motor vehicle.
Nelson Bay · Suburb / Locality
Transport & Vehicles in Nelson Bay
How households get around — the vehicles they keep and the journey to work.
Few people rely on public transport for daily travel in Nelson Bay, where the vast majority of workers depend on their own cars. While the area has a high number of transit stops, only 0.8% of the workforce uses these services to get to work.
Vehicles
Motor vehicles per home, and homes with no car.
Most homes have one or two cars, though 5.1% of households have no motor vehicle. This is much higher than most similar areas, despite being well below the New South Wales figure of 9.2%.
Motor vehicles per home
View on map →Nelson Bay splits fairly evenly between 1 vehicle (42%) and 2 vehicles (39%), with 3 vehicles at 10%.
Getting to work
How people travel to work.
Cars are the primary way to get to work, with 51.5% of people driving. This helps explain why only 0.8% use public transport, a figure that is a little below the national average of 3.1%.
17.0% ▲ +204.4%
Higher than 51% of suburb / locality areas.
- 2011: 5.6%
- 2016: 6.6%
- 2021: 17.0%
Share of employed people aged 15+ who worked at home on census day.
0.8% ▼ -57.3%
Higher than 69% of suburb / locality areas.
- 2011: 1.8%
- 2016: 1.0%
- 2021: 0.8%
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.
Nelson Bay has 55 public transport stops and 5 routes, which is far above the state average for stops per person. However, the number of weekly departures is far below the New South Wales figure.
55
Higher than 87% of suburb / locality areas.
Scheduled public-transport stops (bus, train, tram and ferry) located in the area, from the state GTFS feeds.
8.96
Higher than 87% of suburb / locality areas.
Public-transport stops per 1,000 residents — a measure of how densely an area is served (GTFS stops; population from the 2021 Census).
779.0
Higher than 83% of suburb / locality 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).
5
Higher than 86% of suburb / locality 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 the city takes 166 minutes, which is among the longest drive times for areas at this level. The typical walk to the nearest transport stop takes around 9 minutes.
9
Lower than 56% of suburb / locality 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.
166
Higher than 93% of suburb / locality 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 Nelson Bay
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Transport & Vehicles in Nelson Bay [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/sal/SAL12932/nelson-bay/topic/transport