Dave Mollard's Change is Constant: Time to face the fumes - Palmy's in a jam

Tremaine Ave is more of a carpark these days due to extensive roadworks. Photo / Judith Lacy

OPINION:

It's that time of year when I blow the cobwebs off the old Honda motorcycle, take the rego off hold and start commuting to work on two wheels rather than four.

I do it because I love riding my bike, I love saving money on gas, I love free parking and mostly, I love being more nimble in traffic. It reminds me of my days riding a Royal Enfield Bullet in New Delhi, overtaking, and sometimes undertaking, hundreds of cars that were stuck in gridlock, their owners saving money by turning the car engines off as they waited for the change of lights that would see them get 300m further ahead on their way to the market.

It was the same last week as I hit peak hour in Palmy of 9am. Tremaine Ave from Bunnings to the hospital was a carpark, due to a series of roadworks. The Honda purred as I crawled past the gridlock. I could feel the death stares from the single occupants of most of those cars as I snuck past (while keeping my wheels on the left side of the centre line, of course!).

While I felt sympathy for the drivers, I did not feel guilt. I reasoned that if more of those fuming four-wheel motorists were on two wheels there would not be a traffic jam in the first place. It also made me realise the growth of our city's population and the growth of the size of our vehicle fleet have meant we have something now that we used to boast about not having - traffic jams.

Which brings me to buses. I hate buses. I hate waiting for them, then when you are on them having to stop multiple times because other people dare to use the same bus as me but with different pickups and destinations. But buses are good! They are logically the best way to get our commuters to their destinations. They are cheap, they are flexible and when they are full they take tens of cars off our roads each journey.

If there was a direct bus that left exactly when I wanted to and was between Kelvin Grove where I live and Cuba St where I work, I would be on that shuttle 10 times a week! But the reality is that public transport is a very complex piece of our transit solution.

For public transport to be effective it needs to have well-thought-out routes, regular services, be fast and cheap. To get this level, we need more people using buses; it's kind of like the chicken and the egg, we need them both to have a good filled roll!

Horizons Regional Council is asking your opinion on the best kind of bus service for our thriving metropolis. Take some time and think about what it would take to get you out of your car and on to a bus. Check out if any of the options suit you. If we don't get this right, we are destined to sit in traffic jams more often in the next few years - until the robots take over and do the driving for us.

The only constant is change.

• Dave Mollard is a Palmerston North community worker and social commentator.