Readers' Views: How petrol prices will affect car use

With petrol prices standing at 161.9c a litre for 91 octane, we asked readers: "Will higher fuel prices affect your car use?" Many said they would but others - especially in Auckland - say they have no real choice. Here is a sample from yesterday's emails:

As much as we would love to say the petrol price won't affect our car use, it will.

We live in Papakura and on the weekends we like to go to the beach or go fishing but our journey to the Coromandel now is a very expensive one. We're starting to wonder if we can afford it.

What about families wanting to jump in the car and go to the beach for a day (something where money didn't used to come into it)? It'll now be a part of your planning to ask, "Do we have $80 for petrol to get there?"

With no proper public transport compared to most other places in the world, what else are we expected to do?
- Alana Hull

Of course it will. As a wage earner I only have so much money per week. As the cost of petrol increases so does the cost to fill up. The problem is, I still have all the other bills to pay as well.

Since I have only a limited amount to spend I'll have to spend less on gas, thus I'll use the car less. Here's comes the bicycle.
- Rob Pettersen

The simple answer is "No, higher fuel prices won't affect my car use". Why? I don't really have a choice. I reside in Takapuna in Auckland and work in Penrose. That's at best two buses, a long walk and a long time to get to work.

I would like to see the Government tax component on fuel put into seriously developing suitable reliable public transport alternatives, similar to what all other major cities in the world have.
- Charlotte Mills

My partner and I are both in our early 20s and have in the last fortnight moved house from Ponsonby (where we walked to work) to Mt Wellington, as my partner is finishing his studies at the University of Auckland Tamaki campus.

We own two cars (three actually, but one is being sold) and now two scooters. This morning we both filled our scooters up for less than $10 combined. Even the train costs $3.30 each way, and $20 gas only gets us about a third of a tank these days. So we are scooter converts. It only takes about 25 minutes to get into town, and even with the soaring gas prices, it's still cheaper than the train. But most importantly, we are two less cars on the road. And that is a good feeling!
- Bridget Walsh

Unfortunately, even though there have been many campaigns to use public transport or bikes or to carpool, for some of us this is simply impossible. I live in West Auckland and attend Massey University in Albany (a 27km drive each way and a close to two-hour bus trip). I am on campus up to four days a week and my petrol costs have risen from $35 last year (I own a 1.3L) to $50.

Petrol is now the second highest cost on my budget aside from rent, and the rise of $4 in my student allowance on April 4 has been a relief but still leaves me to cover $11 of that rise per week.

Unfortunately an income of $13,000 means the money must come out of the food and clothing budget. I hope energy consultant Alan Jenkins' predictions are right in saying petrol will not hit $2 - but then again, I don't think it will stop.

New Zealanders can only absorb increased costs for so long. How high will it go before these rises will begin to cause serious economic and social problems?
- Bronwyn Clark

As your article on the Clean Green Car Company (April 12) showed, one way of minimising the effect of increased petrol prices is to buy a more fuel-efficient car.

It would be great if price hikes encouraged New Zealanders to end their love affair with dangerous, polluting SUVs.

The Land Rover Vogue has a worse fuel consumption than the Model T Ford and SUVs like the Ford Explorer and Mitsubishi Pajero aren't much better.

Anyone who drives such over-sized cars should examine their own choices before complaining too loudly about how much it costs them to fill up the tank. Nicole Smith Fuel prices generally won't affect my car use. I live in Pukekohe and work in Auckland CBD, so while my cost to get to work has soared, there is no alternative (except for moving closer to the city - yuck!). The meagre transport service that runs between these locations does not accommodate my work at all.

Unfortunately, the most likely way fuel prices will impact on my use of the car will be in reducing my travel for leisure pursuits and visiting the family.
- Ian Sweeney