Iran war: How much could you save by ditching the car? Our calculator crunches the numbers
Saturday, 21 March 2026
ANALYSIS: With fuel well over $3 a litre and likely heading even further up, many Wellingtonians will be wondering if it is time to save some cash by switching their drive to work to taking the bus or train.
But the bus is not free ‒ Metlink peak fares can run at $9 a day for a commute from Lyall Bay to the CBD and back.
And that cost is per-person ‒ while a car can take two to work happily. On the other hand, the cost of parking in the CBD can make public transport far more attractive.
To help commuters decide when the bus or train might save them relative to driving in, we built a calculator (below) that allows peopleto work out how rising petrol costs make the commute more pricey.
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Just enter the kilometres you drive to work, put in how much you pay for parking (if you do), and select which zone you’re in. If you’re not sure, the Metlink map is available here. You can also select whether you drive in alone or are sharing the costs with someone else.
We’ve set petrol at $3.20 as it was in many Wellington stations when writing this. But you can drag the slider up or down to see how those costs will change as fuel gets more expensive, as most expect it will, working out exactly when public transport becomes cheaper.
Like any calculator of this nature, there are some big caveats and assumptions ‒ please scroll past it if you want to see those.
The fine print
Now, there are some big assumptions and caveats to this analysis.
The car cost shown is fuel only, calculated at 8.5km/L — a conservative figure for an older petrol car on short urban trips. You may have a far more efficient car, a diesel car, or a far less efficient car.
It does not include depreciation, WOF, insurance, tyres, or registration. We’re assuming you already own a car so will have already paid for all the upfront-costs of owning a car, and depreciation and maintenance is so variable that it is hard to estimate here confidently. It does include parking ‒ if you want it to. Parking is likely to be the biggest cost to your commute and will not change as the fuel price changes.
Bus and train fares are Metlink adult base fares at the peak rate, which is when most but not all people commute. Using public transport off-peak is significantly cheaper. It also does not include the savings one might get by buying a 30-day transport card ‒ as we are looking specifically at whether this might be a cheaper option for someone deciding to drive next week. The public transport comparison assumes you have a job within the CBD (zone 1).
It also doesn’t include the cheapest way to get to work, for those who can: Walking or biking.