Editorial: Petrol hike is painful

The price hike at the petrol pumps are to big to ignore.

I have never filled a car with petrol. It surprises some, perhaps as New Zealand is such a car-reliant country.

So my choice of petrol station is driven by which ones serve you, rather than price. I am more interested in the cost of shoes than petrol.

I might find myself walking on these shoes soon. The spiralling costs at the pump are hard to ignore. Prices are at almost record levels this week, as the second petrol excise rise of 3c a litre kicked in due to a government tax hike.

On Tuesday, Amy McGillivray reported that petrol hikes were prompting Tauranga residents to consider other modes of transport, including electric cars and bikes.

Welcome Bay resident Rob Sanders sells electric bikes and drives an electric car and said the petrol savings were a big plus.

Few electric cars are seen on Tauranga roads as the price point is high.

Last week, motoring reporter Colin Smith reported that the Nissan Leaf electric car dramatically slashed its price by $30,000, indicating the rapid development of the electric and hybrid car sectors.

At $39,990, it is still pricey. And let's face it, electric cars are not that sexy.

But neither is paying a fortune for petrol.

Bikes might be an easier option to take to work. Cycling has lots of things going for it - it is good exercise, cheap and easy on the environment.

Yet a surge of cyclists could bring more problems than those at the pump.

While many cyclists abide by road rules, some I have observed in Tauranga do not, and flout the law by riding side-by-side or on pavements.

If we are to welcome more cyclists on the roads, then they should adhere to the same rules as car drivers - including passing road rule tests and paying road user charges, including ACC.

This would ideally encourage a greater volume of responsible cyclists on the roads.

If we are really to avoid over-reliance on cars, it is not just alternative vehicles we should be seeking, but an answer lies in a good public transport system within cities and a network across New Zealand.

Unfortunately, New Zealand seems to have missed the boat - and the train and the tram and the bus - in devising such a system.