Ōmokoroa resident Midge Munro trials alternative modes of transport at the 'Shift Hub'.
Terrible traffic is not only bad news for commuters, it’s bad for businesses too.
Economic development agency Priority One, along with local councils, businesses and the University of Waikato, want to shake-up travel in and around Tauranga.
“Currently 90 per cent of our journeys in Tauranga are through private motor vehicle and it’s causing significant congestion challenges,” said Marissa Nikora, Priority One sustainability lead.
“We need to encourage people to get out of their private motor vehicles and give different modes another shot or a go.”
Until the end of this month, commuters and residents can book a free, one-hour session at the Shift Hub, a pop-up experience that lets you test-ride the growing number of options.
From e-scooters and e-bikes to mopeds and car-sharing apps, there’s plenty to mull over when trying to shave precious time off your commute.
Ōmokoroa resident Midge Munro travels into Tauranga CBD for work but has to drop her children off at daycare first.
“Sometimes it’s really bad, really congested, other times it’s okay but you never know until you leave the house. If there’s a little bit of roadworks or something it just congests the whole thing and can take people an hour and a half,” she said.
Munro had never ridden an e-scooter before attending the Shift Hub.
“It’s not like you can just go and try things out before you have to use them. I was really interested, especially in Lime Scooters, because you see them all around but I’ve never wanted to just jump on one.”
Shifting to a different mode of transport for her daily commute “would take time and planning”.
“I think there needs to be more infrastructure or a little more put into those people who have a longer commute.”
Nikora said the city is going through a transformation.
“We have to trial different ways of getting around to understand what works for our city. Until we give it go, until we get out of that 90 per cent of people using their private vehicles, we’re not going to understand what the future entails for us.”
Tauranga resident Chris Wahlstrom is lucky enough to be able to walk to work, but he still wanted alternative modes for when he has to use a car.
“I value my time and I don’t see sitting in a car as being a good use of my time,” he said. “I was aware of most of the options, e-bikes, e-scooters, but hadn’t used them for commuting. This was great to try them out and get a feel for it.”
