Sydney Commuters Are Driving Less And Catching More Public Transport Thanks To The Fuel Crisis

With petrol prices spiking thanks to the USA and Israel’s war on Iran, commuters look to be driving their cars less and catching more trains.

On Tuesday NSW Transport Minister John Graham revealed the Metro train from north-west to south-west Sydney had experienced its two biggest days of patronage ever in March, which he credits in part to the rising fuel prices.

As reported in AFR, since the beginning of the war, NSW train journeys were up 3.3 per cent in the week beginning March 2 compared to the corresponding week in 2025 ; then 5.9 per cent in the week beginning March 9; and 2.3 per cent in the week beginning March 16.

The Sydney Metro counted 283,321 trips on March 5 and 291,277 trips on March 12, each of them record days since the service opened in August 2024, which Graham also acknowledged was in part due to nearby Macquarie University returning.

“But it’s also people moving on to public transport as a result of fuel prices. That’s good news, with the public transport system providing cost-of-living relief,” he said.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on Tuesday that 37 out of 2,444 service stations are without fuel in New South Wales. In Queensland, the minister says among just under 1,800 outlets, 47 are without diesel and 32 have no regular unleaded petrol. Bowen says in Victoria, about 109 outlets have one or more grades unavailable, and 50 are without diesel. He says more fuel is flowing in Western Australia.

Petrol prices around Sydney have ranged from $2.40 to $2.58 per litre of unleaded 91.

Road use was down in every week since the start of the war, according to data collected by the NSW government on key arteries in Sydney. The biggest declines in the week beginning March 16 were on Pennant Hills Road (down 4.6 per cent on the corresponding week last year) and Parramatta Road (down 3.1 per cent), while southbound traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge was down 1.4 per cent, likely due to increased use of the Metro. Victoria Road traffic was down 3.4 per cent in the week of March 16, and Military Road was down 0.4 per cent.