Bay of Plenty Times reporters Samantha Motion, Kiri Gillespie and Zoe Hunter ditched their cars in favour of bussing, biking and running. Photo/John Borren
Bay of Plenty Times reporters Samantha Motion, Kiri Gillespie and Zoe Hunter ditched their cars in favour of bussing, biking and running. Photo/John Borren
World Car Free Day inspired at least three Kiwis to try an alternative to driving - and one of them was me.
While my bus experience yesterday took almost three times as long as my usual 35-minute drive, I'm not writing off public transport in Tauranga yet.
Transport has been a hot topic in Tauranga this year and complaining about congestion will not go out of style anytime soon.
Earlier this year the Bay of Plenty Regional Council asked the public how the system should look in the future and received 1200 individual pieces of feedback, transport policy manager Garry Moloney said.
He said there were plenty of challenges to address as the council worked out how to design and fund a flexible network for a growing region, as part of the upcoming Long-Term Plan process.
I'm hoping for a bus stop closer to my house than the one I used this morning, which added a 20-minute walk to my odyssey.
An earlier schedule would also help - there were no buses that could get me to work for my 7.30am start. Resigned to being late, I picked the only route with no transfers.
In all, it cost me $3.40 and took just over an hour-and-a-half to get from Papamoa East to work - an hour late - on Cameron Rd in rush hour.
The walk was lovely, coins nicked from the piggy bank jingling in my pocket.
Arriving at the stop with time to spare, I used the text system to see the next three buses expected. My bus was not on the list. Great.
Nevertheless, it arrived and I was the first passenger.
My first (non-school-kid) bus buddy was Katrina Banks. She was taking the bus to save money on petrol, car maintenance and parking while she looked for a job, and hoped to keep it up after finding work.
Celia Walker said she occasionally took the bus to work - especially if after-work drinks were anticipated - but made a point to ride on World Car Free Day.
She was pretty happy with the service but said there was room for improvement.
To combat congestion people needed to be incentivised in lots of different ways to use public transport, she said. It had to be high coverage, frequent and cheaper.
"For me, the cost of a return fare is very close to the same as parking."
The bus was half empty but I slid into the rear-facing seat opposite Anita Maniapoto - terrible Kiwi bus etiquette on my part.
She told me she quite liked the bus - she enjoyed being a passenger and had time to check emails. It cost her $25 a week, which was cheaper than parking.
My ride ended a few steps from my office a few minutes later than scheduled.
There were no bus lanes on the route so the traffic experience was as per usual - except I could ignore it.
World Car Free Day around Aotearoa
Rotorua and Tauranga: Free breakfast barbecue and free afternoon rush hour traffic. The regional council went through 15 packets of bacon and gave out about 150 bacon butties. Dunedin: Free bus travel all day. Hamilton: Prize draw for parents whose kids went to school car free.
Will Johnston and Hayley Brebner of The Hits radio station dish out bacon butties to bus users for World Car Free Day. Photo/John Borren
Taking the waewae express
By Zoe Hunter
I ran 8km to work this morning. Okay, let's be honest and call it a jog. Either way, a car was not involved and it was my contribution to World Car Free Day.
On my travels I counted hundreds of cars, about 50 trucks, 15 cyclists, one fellow jogger and a kayaker. Although I am unsure if the last two were making their way to work or not.
There were pros and cons to running to work, especially as a woman. I had to pack my make-up, shampoo, heels, an outfit and my hair straighteners.
Okay I'm totally kidding about the straighteners, but there was a lot to pack so I could transform myself from a sweaty, red-faced human in activewear to something more presentable for the office.
That bag was full and probably weighed a couple of kilograms - confirmed by a colleague - and I carried it on my back for the entire hour-long run.
Yes, I probably looked a bit silly and the bag likely slowed me down. But I made it to work on time, I was not in a rush, had time to appreciate the sunrise and probably lost a few calories on my way - bonus!
On yer bike
By Kiri Gillespie
There's something deeply satisfying about zooming past lines of crawling traffic on a bike. Until you reach the hill.
On World Car Free Day I thought what better opportunity to dust off my beloved bike and cycle to work. It's seven-and-a-bit kilometres with a couple of hills thrown in for good measure.
The morning air was frightfully cool as it cut through my leggings - I like to travel fast.
The cycle lane on Welcome Bay Rd made this easy until I reached Kaitemako Stream Bridge, where the lane just "poof" - disappears.
Fortunately, drivers around here were great and gave me space as I tried to keep left on the yellow dotted line just centimetres from the kerbing.
The lack of lane continued as I approached my cycling nemesis - the hill up to the Welcome Bay roundabout.
While I'm fit enough to make it to work in 20 minutes, that hill sucked. The utter lack of cycle space made it worse when a large quarry truck sidled up next to me at the lights.
