The bar chart compares average daily commuting times for residents of four Australian cities at two-year intervals from 2002 to 2010.
Overall, mean travel times increased in three cities, while Adelaide fluctuated and finished where it began. Sydney remained the longest throughout, and Perth recorded the sharpest late-period rise, narrowing the gap with Sydney by 2010.
Sydney rose from 35 minutes in 2002 to a high of about 39 in 2008 before easing to roughly 37 by 2010, remaining the longest in every year. Brisbane climbed from around 27 minutes to a peak of about 36 in 2008, then slipped to approximately 34 in 2010, leaving it only about three minutes below Sydney at the end.
Adelaide averaged 24 minutes in 2002, increased to roughly 28 by 2006, and then returned to 24 by 2010, resulting in no net change over the period. By contrast, Perth was steady at 26 minutes from 2002 through 2008, then jumped to about 35 in 2010—just one minute lower than Brisbane’s 2008 peak and two minutes short of Sydney’s final figure.