Unlock all articles by subscribing to this international offer

All Access Weekly

Herald Premium, Viva Premium, The Listener & BusinessDesk
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
See all offers
Already a subscriber? Sign in here
NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Mike Hosking: The simple truth is people love cars, not public transport

Mike Hosking
By Mike Hosking
Mike Hosking is a breakfast host on Newstalk ZB.·NZ Herald·
11 Apr, 2019 06:55 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • subtitles settings, opens subtitles settings dialog
    • subtitles off, selected

      This is a modal window.

      Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

      Text
      Text Background
      Caption Area Background
      Font Size
      Text Edge Style
      Font Family

      End of dialog window.

      This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.

      Autoplay in
      2
      Disable Autoplay
      Cancel Video
      Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking on the reality of our love of car ownership

      COMMENT: More from our theory vs reality file: This time on car ownership.

      Half a dozen to 10 years ago it was surmised in the United States that the car was dying - based on numbers that seemed to suggest that millennials weren't buying them the way they used to.

      The assumption being, they'd taken on board all the new messaging around saving the planet, not using fossil fuels by using public transport, e-scooters, skateboarding etc. The Lyft founder predicted the end of the car and the rise of the ride share.

      But in their assumption was the danger of ideology. And this is why Auckland, for example, is the most congested city in Australasia.

      READ MORE:
      • Simon Wilson: Time for bikes to slow down too

      Unlock all articles by subscribing to this international offer

      All Access Weekly

      Herald Premium, Viva Premium, The Listener & BusinessDesk
      Pay just
      $15.75
      $2
      per week ongoing
      See all offers
      Already a subscriber? Sign in here
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.
      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Despite all their efforts: the petrol tax, the cost of parking the cycle lanes. Despite all the efforts internationally (most notably the EU) on emissions, on the banning of combustion engines. Despite London Mayor Sadiq Kahn's new congestion tax that just came in yesterday. Despite all that raiding of the pocket trying to price us out of cars. It's been an abject failure.

      And the clue came from the millennials in America. The car ownership figures started to rise again. And they could not work out why - why had their prediction not been accurate?

      Well, turns out, none of the messaging and new age buzz -wording had anything to do with it. Millennials had worked out what my kids had worked out. Of our five kids, four have cars.

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Four have cars and drive ridiculously short distances in them. Why don't they catch the bus or the train? Because, they say, the system doesn't work. The buses don't arrive, and if they do they're late or early. The trains don't go where you want them to go, when you want to go. Nothing but nothing beats the convenience of the car.

      And this is what they found in America. Not just ownership rising, but miles covered rising as well. Vast swathes of America aren't covered by any major sort of public transport.

      Lives in this country are geographically sparse, they're inter-suburb. Kids and sport, kids and the school run, friends across town. None of it is conducive to us doing without cars.

      And so we are happy enough to be in the most congested city in Australasia, as indeed they are in Sydney and Melbourne who on the chart are barely behind Auckalnd anyway. We are all basically as congested as each other

      Discover more

      Opinion

      Mike Hosking: Numbers don't lie, time for the Govt to wake up over CGT

      08 Apr 08:57 PM
      New Zealand

      Mike Hosking: How to solve the fruit-picking 'worker shortage'

      10 Apr 06:03 AM
      Opinion

      Mike Hosking: Promises promises - Labour's naive habit

      10 Apr 05:00 PM
      Opinion

      Hosking: NZ needs to learn from Israel's MMP disaster

      10 Apr 06:17 PM

      And why? Convenience. As to Amercia and the millenials: why had the numbers dropped then surged again? Debt. Debt from the GFC is the only reason.

      The only time people will go without a car is when they literally can't afford one. The moment they can, they're in them. The researchers, the futurists, the virtue signallers were seeing what they wanted to see, not the reality.

      We love cars, always have and short of being broke, always will.

      Save
        Share this article

      Latest from New Zealand

      Live
      Politics

      Listen: Prime Minister faces questions on building products, immigration, road cone hotline

      New Zealand

      Fantasy books, Job Applications and NZ Prisons | NZ Herald News Update: July 28, 2025

      Watch
      New Zealand

      Pharmacy error alleged in infant's death prompts urgent review


      Sponsored

      Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

      Advertisement
      Advertise with NZME.

      Recommended for you

      'Versus': The greatest rivalries in sport - Auckland v Canterbury
      Rugby

      'Versus': The greatest rivalries in sport - Auckland v Canterbury

      NZ has hundreds of thousands of family trusts. Here's why most of them aren't needed
      Business

      NZ has hundreds of thousands of family trusts. Here's why most of them aren't needed

      England defend Euro title in shootout
      Football

      England defend Euro title in shootout

      Pharmacy error alleged in infant's death prompts urgent review
      New Zealand

      Pharmacy error alleged in infant's death prompts urgent review

      England furious at India’s refusal to shake hands on a draw, play on for centuries
      Cricket

      England furious at India’s refusal to shake hands on a draw, play on for centuries

      15% tariff on EU goods as Trump announces trade deal
      World

      15% tariff on EU goods as Trump announces trade deal



      Latest from New Zealand

      Listen: Prime Minister faces questions on building products, immigration, road cone hotline
      Live
      Politics

      Listen: Prime Minister faces questions on building products, immigration, road cone hotline

      Christopher Luxon will discuss immigration and building supplies on Newstalk ZB at 7.30am.

      27 Jul 07:08 PM
      Fantasy books, Job Applications and NZ Prisons | NZ Herald News Update: July 28, 2025
      New Zealand

      Fantasy books, Job Applications and NZ Prisons | NZ Herald News Update: July 28, 2025

      Watch
      27 Jul 07:04 PM
      Pharmacy error alleged in infant's death prompts urgent review
      New Zealand

      Pharmacy error alleged in infant's death prompts urgent review

      27 Jul 06:56 PM


      Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
      Sponsored

      Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

      06 Jul 09:47 PM

      NZ Herald
      • About NZ Herald
      • Meet the journalists
      • Newsletters
      • Classifieds
      • Help & support
      • Contact us
      • House rules
      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms of use
      • Competition terms & conditions
      • Our use of AI
      Subscriber Services
      • NZ Herald e-editions
      • Daily puzzles & quizzes
      • Manage your digital subscription
      • Manage your print subscription
      • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
      • Subscribe to Herald Premium
      • Gift a subscription
      • Subscriber FAQs
      • Subscription terms & conditions
      • Promotions and subscriber benefits
      NZME Network
      • The New Zealand Herald
      • The Northland Age
      • The Northern Advocate
      • Waikato Herald
      • Bay of Plenty Times
      • Rotorua Daily Post
      • Hawke's Bay Today
      • Whanganui Chronicle
      • Viva
      • NZ Listener
      • Newstalk ZB
      • BusinessDesk
      • OneRoof
      • Driven Car Guide
      • iHeart Radio
      • Restaurant Hub
      NZME
      • About NZME
      • NZME careers
      • Advertise with NZME
      • Digital self-service advertising
      • Book your classified ad
      • Photo sales
      • NZME Events
      • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
      Unlock all articles by subscribing to this international offer

      All Access Weekly

      Herald Premium, Viva Premium, The Listener & BusinessDesk
      Pay just
      $15.75
      $2
      per week ongoing
      See all offers
      Already a subscriber? Sign in here
      TOP
      search by queryly Advanced Search