Driven to despair?
Then take the bus
Commuting by bus could save Christchurch drivers $7500 a year but mean spending an extra two weeks in traffic.
Christchurch is the car capital of New Zealand, according to Transport Ministry figures, which shows only one-third of Christchurch commuters use public transport compared with nearly two-thirds in Auckland and three out of four commuters in Wellington.
However, our reliance on the car means motorists are spending thousands of dollars a year extra to travel by car than by bus. Travelling five days a week from Rangiora into the city centre costs about $7450 more by car than by bus, according to calculations by The Press.
From Rolleston, it costs $6750 more to commute by car than by bus over a year.
However, travelling by bus from Rangiora would swallow up an extra 11.5 days a year, or from Rolleston another two weeks.
Bus passenger numbers are up a modest 1.5 per cent over the last financial year, according to Environment Canterbury.
The AA’s Canterbury-West Coast chairman Roy Hughes did not expect them to rise significantly.
Members reported that buses and bicycles did not meet their needs.
‘‘It could be perception, but often they need to go at certain times which are not convenient with the buses, routes are not where they want to go, the time they want to go home may be different to when the buses are running.’’
Hari Nair, who drives for 25 minutes from his home in Northwood to the city centre, said travelling by bus each day would save him about $50 a month.
‘‘Parking is very limited in the city and is getting costly. This parking was about $5 but is now $7.
‘‘I am having that temptation to convert to the bus because of this factor – the price is less because we have to pay for petrol, parking, wear and tear, fuel.’’
Julie McFarland drives from her home in Canon St, Edgeware, to a Wilson car park on the corner of Gloucester and Manchester streets, a journey of 25 minutes after dropping off her daughter at pre-school in Harewood Rd.
‘‘I do like the idea of taking the bus, I’m just not sure how it would work with my daughter.’’
‘‘That would be the only catch – I’ve taken the bus before and I actually preferred it.’’
‘‘I’ve taken the bus before and I actually preferred it.’’ Julie McFarland
Drivers could make huge savings on weekly journeys to Christchurch for work, pocketing thousands of dollars a year by ditching their own vehicles for public transport.
Taking the bus would also save up to $7 a day in parking – or $1680 a year.
But the financial gain comes with the sacrifice of convenience and what for some is a frustrating caveat – spending up to two weeks longer a year stuck in traffic.
In January it was revealed Christchurch is the car capital of New Zealand, with nearly two thirds of people choosing to avoid the city’s buses in the past two years in favour of cars or vans.
Ministry of Transport analysis showed just 35 per cent of people used public transport – buses, trains or ferries – in Christchurch in the past year, compared to 60 per cent in Auckland, 77 per cent in Wellington and 40 per cent nationally.
NZ Transport Agency provides live information on journey times for some of the main arterial routes to the city, as well as estimated costs of vehicle trips based on calculations of fuel, insurance and wear and tear over journey distances compared with Metrocard bus fares for the same routes.
Accepting that insurance is a sunk cost, an analysis by Stuff/The
Press – using a snapshot of prices at morning and evening peak times last week and based on a five-day,
48-week working year – found people coming from key commuter areas around Christchurch can make huge savings by swapping their car for the bus.
Motorists commuting between Rangiora and the central city spend approximately $38.50 on their daily journeys, equating to $192.85 a week or around $9250 a year.
But if they took the same journey by bus it would cost them just $7.50 for the daily fare – $37.50 a week or $1800 a year, a massive
$7450 in savings.
But the pay-off is the time spent on the bus – an extra 276 hours a year, or 11.5 days, on top of what they would spend behind the wheel.
Based on analysis of the NZTA data, commuters can make plenty of savings on journeys to and from Christchurch:
Belfast – savings of $2061 over car travel, but with an extra five days a year on the bus;
New Brighton – bus commuters can pocket $1449 a year, but would spend another 28 minutes travelling every day;
Rolleston – those willing to spend an extra two weeks travelling on the bus to and from the satellite town, or 332 hours a year, can save a whopping $6750 on car expenses.
Congestion on key routes from Christchurch suburbs to the city centre could mean a switch to the bus is even more fruitful, despite lower savings.
People coming in from Bishopdale down Papanui Rd would have to spend just 20 minutes longer on their daily journey when taking the bus, but would save $1291 a year in costs.
And those commuting from Halswell would lose an hour-anda-half a week on the bus, but would save $1902 a year on car costs.
HOPPING ON BOARD
The promise of cash in the bank from a simple swap of their car for the bus was a tempting carrot for some commuters in Christchurch.
Hari Nair, who drives for 25 minutes from his home in Northwood to the city centre, said travelling by bus each day would save him around $50 a month.
‘‘Parking is very limited in the city and is getting costly. This parking was about $5 but is now $7.
‘‘I am having that temptation to convert to the bus because of this factor – the price is less because we have to pay for petrol, parking, wear and tear, fuel.’’
Julie McFarland drives from her home in Canon St, Edgeware, to a Wilson car park on the corner of Gloucester and Manchester streets, a journey of 25 minutes after dropping off her daughter at pre-school in Harewood Rd.
‘‘I do like the idea of taking the bus, I’m just not sure how it would work with my daughter.’’
‘‘That would be the only catch – I’ve taken the bus before and I actually preferred it.’’
CONGESTION COSTS CITY $440 MILLION PER YEAR
While bus use is gently increasing, a detailed picture of traffic movements across the city, including vehicle numbers on key routes and congestion levels, is difficult to come by.
But the cost of congestion is clear.
Analysis by the Christchurch Transport Operations Centre (CTOC), a joint venture of the city council, the NZTA and ECan, shows congestion cost the economy $440 million in the 12 months to April, fluctuating between $40m a month and around $27m a month.
Based on data from specific monitored routes between the hours of 6am and 7.30pm, the study suggested the morning and evening peak times contributed roughly the same to the financial burden each month, but the hours between cost more.
About $48m of the congestion over the year – 11 per cent – was associated with specific incidents, CTOC found.
COULD NEW MOTORWAYS ADD TO TRAFFIC WOES?
Two major projects intended to address traffic problems are well under way.
The southern motorway, which authorities hope will halve travel time at peak hours between Rolleston and Christchurch to just 15 minutes, is taking shape, with construction of the southbound lanes beginning this month.
Improvements are also being carried out on the northern corridor, which NZTA hopes will reduce traffic by about 10 per cent – around 300 vehicles – during the morning rush hour to get traffic moving again.
The Belfast Road bridge is on schedule to open in October, and two new lanes of QEII Drive will be ready by the end of the year.
But Professor Simon Kingham, a transport expert at Canterbury University who was recently appointed chief science adviser at the Ministry of Transport, believes part of the answer to congestion may actually appear counterintuitive – to build fewer roads.
‘‘There is evidence that congestion can suppress demand. You talk to anybody and ask them if they have changed their plans or the time they are going to travel because they know the road is going to be congested, people say ‘yes, of course I have’.
‘‘When roads get congested people either change modes (of transport) if there are alternatives, or they go at different times, or they don’t travel.
‘‘But as soon as you create more road space you actually release more people who use those roads. So if we were to build extra lanes and roads up to Amberley, we would actually find more people come and use those roads.
‘‘If you close roads, what you find is that people don’t want to sit in congested traffic, so a number of people change what they do – they either travel at a different time or by different mode, and that’s where you need alternatives.’’
Kingham says it would only take between five and 10 per cent of people switching from driving to solve congestion in the short-term, but that would require good quality alternatives.
But Canterbury and West Coast AA chairman Roy Hughes does not expect an exodus of drivers on to public transport in the near future.
He said: ‘‘At least 80 per cent of members tell us that most of the time buses and bicycles are not an attractive or usable alternative for them.
‘‘We do see that public transport could become more attractive if they could upgrade the services and make them more frequent and running for longer times, but that is a cost to the community.’’