Luke Kirkness: Air pollution data another reason for Government to pick a lane

Does the Government want people on buses or in cars? Photo / George Novak

COMMENT:

We need to find a different way to encourage public transport.

Government-funded research has shown air pollution in 2016 generated by humans resulted in 3300 deaths nationwide.

These included 107 deaths in Tauranga for that year, 59 in Rotorua, 22 in the Western Bay, 18 in Whakatāne, five in Kawerau, and four in Ōpōtiki.

The research, commissioned in 2019, found about 2000 of the national deaths were linked to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution, mostly from motor vehicles, while about 1300 were associated with fine particulate pollution (PM2.5), mostly down to domestic fires.

Those figures show why we need to take pollution seriously and it's a good thing so many people do already.

What they tell me is that we need fewer cars on the roads and that people need to find different ways to heat their homes.

There are a number of ways to tackle the latter, from installing low emission fires or using a heat pump. These are not perfect solutions, as they use power, but they are a start.

Getting fewer vehicles on the roads is a trickier prospect.

Public transport is a great idea and works in cities all over the world but for some reason, it does not seem to resonate with a lot of Kiwis - especially those outside of our largest cities.

In March 2021, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council said Tauranga's urban bus patronage experienced its strongest month since March 2017 with 145,469 trips. It didn't have the exact number for Rotorua but said it had numbers similar to the same time in 2020.

And yet, from what I've seen in Tauranga, most buses appear to be driving around empty or with only a handful of passengers. Compare that to Auckland where I often struggled to find a spare seat.

Hopefully, the Government's decision to extend half-price public transport fares until January 31, 2023 will encourage more people to think about how they commute - if $3-a-litre fuel had not done that already.

But I wonder how much of an incentive the reduced fares will really turn out to be given the Government is also extending its 25 cents per litre fuel subsidy, which makes it less painful for people to keep using their private gas guzzlers.

It seems counter-productive. Do they want people in cars or on public transport?

We are fast approaching an election year, so trying to keep as many people happy as possible is par for the course for the Government.

But on this issue, it may help if they picked a lane.