Opinion: To fix Tauranga's traffic, we need better alternatives to cars

We need to make other forms of transport more attractive and convenient than driving a car. Photo/File

Tauranga is the most car-reliant main centre in the country.

According to the New Zealand Transport Agency, 91 per cent of us primarily use cars to get around, 2 per cent of us take the bus,3 per cent bike and 4 per cent walk.

Dunedin, which has a smaller population to Tauranga, has a much lower car-use rate, with 82 per cent of residents taking the car.

Wellington aces the stats with 54 per cent car use.

Why is Tauranga so addicted to cars? I would argue that it's because we don't really have any other viable options that work for a large portion of the population.

We have a small but keen cycling contingent who bravely take to our roads to get to and from work in the morning, but I say brave for a reason. I've seen so many close calls between cars and cyclists, sometimes the cyclist's fault, more often the car driver's.

I would love to see more resources put into making the city a safer and more enjoyable place for cyclists, like the cycling hub the city council is planning to create in the upcoming new parking building, but cycling isn't for everyone.

The public transport system we have now is perfect for certain sectors of the population but it's much nicer and more convenient to drive to work in your air-conditioned car, listening to the music you like, travelling with the people you want to travel with, arriving when you want to arrive, leaving when you want to leave.

The extra time it takes to travel by bus doesn't feel worth it when bus fares are comparable in price to all-day parking - especially when you have to share your ride with a busload of other people including noisy school kids.

When I look at Wellington's car-user rate of 54 per cent, I immediately think of the city's excellent public transport service.

It's easier to get the bus around the central city than to take a car and people who live in the outer suburbs have a train service they can take advantage of.

Tauranga is growing at a rapid rate and our car addiction is going to be hard to break. Adding and widening roads will alleviate the problem for a time, but as more people arrive and bring their cars with them, the roads are going to keep filling up.

If we want to do something about our traffic issues, we need to make other forms of transport more attractive and convenient than driving a car.