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A hectic family schedule means this mother of three spends a small fortune on petrol each week.
Filling up the car and trekking across Sydney is a daily part of life for mother of three boys, Jackie Baron.
Her kids, aged 19, 16 and 13, have done it all over the years. Band rehearsals, netball, tennis, soccer, basketball, futsal, karate, judo, music lessons, band programs, public speaking and even extracurricular art classes.
It never ends, and sometimes it’s impossible to be in two places at once, which is why carpooling has made a huge difference.
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“The only way I can manage to get my kids to all the places they need to be, is to find like-minded busy parents and ask if my kids can catch a lift to get to and from where they need to be,” she says.
Mostly, the lifts are with parents from her kids’ school or sporting club who offer to help her out, and she regularly returns the favour.
“If you’ve got to be on the road at 6:20am, how can you be somewhere on the other side of the city by 7am? Carpooling is the only way,” she says.
Baron admits she would easily spend $170 a week on petrol, and drives between 80km and 90km often six or seven days a week, depending on what’s on.
She estimates her weekly petrol costs would easily exceed $200 if it weren’t for carpooling.
The mum of three spends so long in the car with stinky teens that she dreamt up a natural deodorant range for teen boys called Neon Goat.
While carpooling does save money, it’s more about logistics for Jackie, who is usually ferrying one of her other children in the opposite direction at the same time.
“Parents help each other out to get your kids to and from the extracurricular activities that they’re fortunate to do,” Jackie says.
The cost of car ownership in Australia is rising and is currently estimated to be around $431.96 a week, based on data from the Australian Automobile Association’s (AAA) December 2022 Transport Affordability Index.
In 2024, the average household should budget between $10,000 and $25,000 a year to own car, according to Jacaranda Finance.
The six main costs are fuel, car loan costs, car insurance, maintenance and service, registration and licensing. Then there are parking and toll fees, and households also need to account for the ever-changing price of petrol.
Of course, petrol prices have been high since the beginning of 2022 due to the war in Ukraine. The typical household currently spends around $4899 a year on petrol, which is almost $100 a week.
Some families like Jackie’s spend much more. She’s spending $170 a week, but her husband has his own car and is spending about the same in petrol again.
Overall, the AAA estimates that transportation costs account for around 15 per cent of a typical Australian household’s income.
The relationship between income and costs determines local affordability. Among the capitals, Hobart had the lowest total transport costs, while Sydney had the highest. But when costs were measured as a share of income, Hobart – not Sydney – ranked as the capital with the least affordable transport, the AAA estimates reveal.
“We all have these mad calendar grids pinned to our fridges and diaries, and you have to be a whiz to get these carpooling schedules working. That’s just how we roll,” she says.
“When you’re in a bind and you need your kids to get home and you’ve had to rush into a work meeting, you sometimes have to send out one of those SOS messages asking if someone can get my kid home. Sometimes, it’s the only way that your kids can partake in these activities,” Jackie says.
Some days, Jackie has to rise early and drive over an hour to take her eldest son to a soccer session. “There’s not often anyone else who lives nearby able to help, so on those mornings I have to take one for the team,” she laughs.
“For me, driving my kids around continues well into the night. My kids do activities five days a week in three separate locations, and you couldn’t do that. But that’s the way the world is for me right now.”
The post ‘Carpooling is the only way’: Sydney mum reveals the huge cost of the school run appeared first on Drive.
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