Households in Aotearoa New Zealand have seen increases in average weekly household transport expenditure on private transport, petrol, and diesel, and decreases in expenditure on short-distance bus trips and urban train trips, according to data released by Stats NZ today.
Total transport expenditure rises
Weekly household transport expenditure increased between the years ended June 2019 and 2023 from $216.00 to $251.60, up 16.5 percent. Transport expenditure accounts for 15.7 percent of total net household expenditure for the year ended June 2023, no significant change in proportion from 2019.
| Year | Expenditure ($) |
| 2007 | 141.3 |
| 2010 | 131.9 |
| 2013 | 158.2 |
| 2016 | 189.7 |
| 2019 | 216.0 |
| 2023 | 251.6 |
| 132.0 | 150.6 |
|---|---|
| 124.0 | 139.8 |
| 147.6 | 168.8 |
| 175.1 | 204.3 |
| 204.6 | 227.4 |
| 235.5 | 267.7 |
Fuel spending rises for households in Aotearoa New Zealand
Weekly household petrol and diesel expenditure increased between 2019 and 2023.
Weekly petrol expenditure increased from $48.50 in 2019 to $53.90 in 2023 (an increase of 11.1 percent) and accounted for 21.4 percent of overall weekly household transport expenditure.
"New Zealand households, on average, spent more on diesel per week in 2023 than they did in 2019. Diesel expenditure increased from $3.20 in 2019 to $8.00 in 2023, an increase of 150 percent. While diesel accounted for 1.5 percent of overall household transport expenditure in 2019, this rose to 3.2 percent in 2023," wealth and poverty statistics senior manager Victoria Treliving said.
| Year | Petrol |
| 2007 | 38.6 |
| 2010 | 40.9 |
| 2013 | 48.8 |
| 2016 | 42.4 |
| 2019 | 48.5 |
| 2023 | 53.9 |
| 36.6 | 40.6 |
|---|---|
| 39.0 | 42.8 |
| 46.4 | 51.2 |
| 40.3 | 44.5 |
| 46.1 | 50.9 |
| 50.7 | 57.1 |
| Year | Diesel |
| 2007 | 3.1 |
| 2010 | 2.8 |
| 2013 | 3.2 |
| 2016 | 2.0 |
| 2019 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 8.0 |
| 2.3 | 3.9 |
|---|---|
| 2.2 | 3.4 |
| 2.4 | 4.0 |
| 1.5 | 2.5 |
| 2.6 | 3.8 |
| 6.6 | 9.4 |
Private transport spending rises, while spending on some passenger services falls
Weekly household private transport expenditure increased from $74.60 in 2019 to $93.00 in 2023, up 24.6 percent. While there was no overall change in proportion of all household transport expenditure from 2019, private transport expenditure accounted for 37.0 percent in 2023.
Between 2019 and 2023, the weekly household passenger transport services expenditure did not show a statistically significant change. The passenger transport services category includes both public and private transport services, such as rail, bus, taxis, and domestic and international air travel.
Changes in household expenditure see domestic travel take off has more information on household expenditure on domestic and international air travel.
However, weekly average spending on short-distance bus and urban train trips (across all households including those not reporting such expenditure) decreased. Short-distance bus spending reduced from a weekly average of $2.70 in 2019 to $1.40 in 2023 (a fall of 48.1 percent).
The proportion of household passenger transport services expenditure accounted for by short-distance bus trips reduced from 4.2 percent in 2019 to 1.9 percent in 2023.
Spending on urban train trips reduced from a weekly average of $0.90 in 2019 to $0.10 in 2023 (a reduction of 88.9 percent). The proportion of passenger transport services expenditure accounted for by such spending reduced from 1.5 percent in 2019 to 0.2 percent in 2023.
During the same period, the transport relief package saw, among other initiatives, a 50 percent reduction in public transport fares..
This is the first time since the current household expenditure series began in 2007 that weekly average spending on urban train trips has been statistically significantly changed from any other previous survey period.
| Year | Short-distance bus trips |
| 2007 | 1 |
| 2010 | 1.6 |
| 2013 | 1.9 |
| 2016 | 2.4 |
| 2019 | 2.7 |
| 2023 | 1.4 |
| 0.8 | 1.2 |
|---|---|
| 1.3 | 1.9 |
| 1.5 | 2.3 |
| 1.8 | 3.0 |
| 2.2 | 3.2 |
| 1.1 | 1.7 |
| Year | Urban train trips |
| 2007 | 0.4 |
| 2010 | 0.6 |
| 2013 | 0.5 |
| 2016 | 0.5 |
| 2019 | 0.9 |
| 2023 | 0.1 |
| 0.2 | 0.6 |
|---|---|
| 0.4 | 0.8 |
| 0.3 | 0.7 |
| 0.3 | 0.7 |
| 0.4 | 1.4 |
| 0.0 | 0.2 |
Transport-related taxes and subsidies
Several transport-related taxes and subsidies in place during the data collection of the 2022-2023 Household Economic Survey - Expenditure should be considered when analysing the data for this survey period and drawing comparisons with previous data:
July 2018 - Auckland regional fuel tax introduced at the start of the July 2018-June 2019 HES Expenditure cycle; therefore, the fuel tax remained constant for both the July 2018-June 2019 and July 2022-June 2023 survey cycles.
30 September 2018 - a 3.5-cent per litre nationwide increase in petrol tax was introduced.
March 2022 until 30 June 2023 - the transport relief package which included the following measures that co-occurred (partly or completely) during the July 2022 - June 2023 survey cycle:
- from March 2022 to 30 June 2023, the National Land Transport Fund's 25-cent per litre reduction in Fuel Excise Duty (FED) (excluded diesel)
- from 21 April 2022 to 31 January 2023, and again from 1 March 2023 to 30 June 2023, diesel road user charges (RUCs) were reduced by 36 percent across all rates
- from 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2023, public transport fares were reduced by 50 percent.
Note
The expenditure data interval between the year ended June 2019 and the year ended June 2023 is a four-year gap, rather than the typical three-year gap of this series. The difference is due to the postponement of data collection for the year ended June 2022 Household Economic Survey in response to COVID-19 restrictions. Therefore, the change in the four years may be greater than for the typical three-year gap. Apply caution when comparing trends.
