| Transport
Quotes
Australians
buying more bikes than cars: Australians continue
to buy more bicycles than cars with the economic downturn, health
issues and climate change driving sales, the Cycling Promotion
Fund (CPF) says. Figures released on Tuesday put total vehicle
sales for 2008 at 1,012,64 while bike sales were 38 per
cent higher at 1,401,675. "The economic downturn
and the affordability of cycling is one of the key reasons for
the continued surge in bicycle sales," CPF policy adviser
Elliot Fishman said. "The sluggish economy, coupled with
concern over climate change, health, congestion and petrol prices
have strengthened interest in cycling as an option."
- The Chronicle (Australia), 7 January 2009
Rising
oil prices and higher aircraft leasing costs are taking their
toll on airlines. Oasis Hong Kong this week became the latest
casualty of rising oil prices. The long-haul budget carrier went
into liquidation, leaving hundreds of British
travellers stranded.
- The Telegraph, 18 April 2008
High
fuel prices dent airline shares. The world's top airlines warned
that soaring fuel prices were hitting profits,
prompting some to increase fares, and global
leader American Airlines announced thousands of job
cuts to counter higher costs. The airline industry
is struggling to cope with oil prices that have surged
170% since the start of last year as
economic uncertainty threatens growth. In Australia, Qantas Airways
increased air fares for the second time in less than a month in
response to record fuel prices.
- One News, 22 May 2008
Hawke's
Bay ratepayers will almost certainly end up shouldering the cost
of rising road-maintenance costs resulting from fuel-price increases.
- Hawke's Bay Today, 11 March 2006
Prices
surge for oil-based goods: the price
of asphalt is up about 65 percent so far this year. Another
10 percent price increase is expected in the next two to three
weeks.
- The Christian Science Monitor, 5 June 2008
Oil
prices have jumped seven-fold since 2002.
- Reuters Africa, 3 July 2008
High
fuel prices drive up small car sales. The increase has come at
the expense of more fuel-hungry vehicles.
- Scoop Business (NZ), 29 April 2008
Possible
Solutions
Individual
Vehicles
Reassessing
your Driving Behaviour:
—
drive slowly and gently
—
don't idle unnecessarily
— keep
the tyres correctly inflated
—
use
the airconditioning sparingly
— keep
your vehicle tuned
— avoid
unnecessary trips (replacing 50% of your car trips with biking
or walking has the same effect on your pocket as buying fuel
at half price!)
Downsizing
your Vehicle:
— if
it is used only on main roads, trade in your SUV for something
more economical
— when
thinking about a motorcycle or scooter, carefully consider
all aspects as well as the much-publicised
excellent fuel economy (in June 2008 12 months registration
for any size of gas-guzzling petrol-driven car was only $183.22,
yet for a scooter as small as 50cc it was $213.03);
safety (a car door carelessly flung open in front of you can
quickly terminate your days as a bikie); and weather (will
you still use your scooter on a wet, windy winter's day?).
Changing
your Fuel Type:
— carefully weigh up the pros and cons (such as general
availability of LPG & CNG, likely price rises in alternative
fuel, cost of conversion, effects on the environment and food
supply, limitations of electric vehicles etc)
Fuel
Savers:
— searching recently on TradeMe for "fuel savers"
resulted in over 300 matches!
— do fuel saving devices and gadgets work? Take a look
at More
Fuel Saver Scams at Aardvark Daily
— you may also like to check your local library for
a copy of Fuel Savers that Really Work, by NZ author
Jonathan Eisen (also editor of The GE Sellout)
— my fuel saver certainly works: it's called a bicycle!
Hybrid
Vehicles:
— there would appear to be many aguments for and against
— because this site is concerned primarily with surviving
the immediate future, and most of us are unlikely to be able
to afford a hybrid vehicle soon (if ever), we will not consider
hybrid vehicles here
Combined
Transport
Public
Transport
— passenger train travel is no longer an option in Hawke's
Bay, but bus travel is still available
— unfortunately many of the Hastings suburban bus stops
do not seem to provide any shelter from the elements or display
timetables and route maps (which might partly explain why
so many town buses seem to travel around devoid of passengers?)
— after some considerable searching we did, however,
discover that some local bus service information can currently
be found online here.
Car
Pooling
— while waiting to be picked up in the morning by another
member of the car pool I participated in a few years back,
I did a quick survey of the peak hour stream of cars rushing
between Havelock North and Hastings
— well over 85% contained only one person, the driver!
— the often-repeated objection to car pooling is that
not everyone wants to leave work at the same time from the
same location, or return home together
— from experience, there usually are ways around these
obstacles (fuel at $3 a litre could be a great incentive):
push bike or walk to a central pickup point; choose only car
poolers with similar work hours to you; do not car pool on
days when it is not convenient for you
—
car
pooling can be used for attending many other activities, such
as shopping, sports events, school, entertainment and church
Biking
or walking with a Friend
— as
well as saving fuel, reducing pollution and getting fit, combining
your biking and walking with others can be a particularly
pleasant experience
—
when biking (or walking), be sure to also consider all aspects
of safety (helmet, bright reflective vest, good lighting,
sensible clothes etc) - pedestrians and bikers often become
invisible to motorists
Resources
These
PDF documents will require that you have installed on your computer
a PDF reader such as Adobe Reader, or the much more compact Foxit
Reader, which can be freely downloaded from here.
It
is suggested that, rather than opening a document in your browser,
you right mouse click on the button to the right, and elect to
"Save target as ..." (Explorer) or "Save link as
... (Firefox).
| Driving
Tips
A colourful two-page brochure prepared by the Energy
Efficiency and Conservation Authority (NZ). "Saving
money on petrol is easy. It's not exactly rocket science,
but there are some really simple ways you could save
a lot of money on fuel for your car, without reducing
the trips you need to make". |
 |
New Zealand Vehicle Licensing Fees - July 2008
Petrol driven private car (any engine size)
$211.84; Non-petrol driven (alternative
fuels?) private car $336.69; Motorcycle under
61cc $255.96. Food for thought before
you go out and buy a moped to save money? To ensure
you have the latest information, please check out
the Land Transport NZ website here. |
|
Fuel
Consumption Guide
This 26 page guide was produced in 2001 by the Australian
Greenhouse Office. Contents include fuel consumption
tables, how to calculate fuel consumption, 10 top
tips for fuel efficient driving, and 20 pages tabling
the top passenger vehicle performers. |
|
Mundo
Utility Bicycle
As featured in the large photo above, the Mundo Utility
bicycle is designed to promote affordable, scaleable
transportation for both cargo (up to 200kg!) and people.
Here we feature a copy of a single page brochure about
the (Yuba) Mundo, available from the Hastings Environment
Centre, or online at www.simplyliving.co.nz.
|
|
Road
Bike Maintenance Guide
Produced by the Service Department of Liberty Bikes
in the USA, the 2 page brochure covers how to keep
your bike clean, taking care of your bike's gears
and brake pads, bearings, wheel rims & spokes,
and checking the torque of the various bolts. |
|
Recycled
Bicycle Trailer - Construction Guide
The authors set out to "design a robust, low
cost,simple trailer made from globally available materials
and unwanted bicycle parts. Any moderately technically
minded person can succeed in this project." |
|
Emergency
Bike Repair
This publication, from Mike Flack of the Michigan
Biking Association, packs a lot of information into
its 4 pages: how to cope with flat tires, torn sidewalls,
a broken chain, broken derailleur, loose headset,
loose crank arm, broken handlebar, bent chain rings,
and more! |
|
Cycling
in Havana
Cuba's transportation system is indicative of the
radical turn the country has taken since the collapse
of the USSR, on which it was so dependant, in the
late 1980s. In 1993 Havana had an estimated 70,000
bicycles. Only 3 years later this had grown to around
700,000! Cuba is also increasingly building its own
bicycles. |
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Treat
the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents, it was
loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from
our Children.
-
Ancient Indian Proverb
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