sustainable living programme table 1 a car’s falling value really · sh8_travel2_actions 1...

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SH8_Travel2_Actions 1

Sustainable Living Programme 2009 Edition Travel Actions – Escaping the car habit Statistics from the 2006 census showed us that 15.9 percent of households in New Zealand have access to three or more motor vehicles. Is the secret of reducing car travel’s environmental impact simply that we could become satisfied with wanting to travel by car less often? These 6-step action notes aim to give you some ideas on ways to save money and improve your lifestyle quality! Step One - If you live in a city with alternative transport available, can you still afford to own cars? For $200 cost each week of owning and running a 5 year-old car (1,600 to 2,000 cc engine) for an average 230 km you could instead make: • Two journeys by taxi home from the

shops with shopping, after walking there, @ $15 = $30, AND

• 10 ‘commuter’ bus journeys @ $2 to

$4 each way, total = $25 to $40 • Other journeys made on foot or

bicycle: so allow a fund for cycle repair and shoes @ $10/week

• AND to reach somewhere away from

bus routes on one day at the weekend: Hire a car @ $50+$40 for fuel = $90

Total cost for week: $170 = Still less than the cost of running a car.1 Money saved per week (can use for food, clothes, gifts, leisure, savings, etc): $30 PLUS what you save each week in car-parking costs, or in fines you avoid! The car you travel in may cost less than this per week to own (it could be older, yet still not too expensive to maintain), or, it might be a new four-wheel drive, gas guzzling sport-utility wagon and therefore cost significantly more to run! Why not repeat this calculation for your own particular circumstances? Step Two shows one way to keep a simple record of the cash costs of your car.

Cars are parked most of the time, but they’re still costing you money daily, to own and run them. What did your current car cost to buy and when? (Can you remember)

1 For an online journey calculator, see www.gosmarter.org/journeyest.asp



Step Two - Start keeping a record of what your car really costs you to run Work out the annual depreciation for the past 12 months (that’s the expected loss of resale value over that time, see table alongside, at right) based on a 20% drop per year?

• Depreciation: $ Then add the other costs of ownership:

• annual interest cost of your loan, if you borrowed money to buy the car:

$

• annual insurance premium:

$

• Warrant Of Fitness fees (1 or 2):

$

• annual car licence fee/ road user

fund if diesel: $

• add other annual costs, such as

AA membership, parking space. $ What’s your total cost to have this car available to you? $__________/year. Divide this total by 52 to give a weekly cost of car ownership. $ per week, before you drive or maintain it

Table 1 A car’s falling value – calculating the effect of depreciation at 20% per year:

Cost price(new)

After 3yrs (new05)

6yrs from new 03

9yrs from new 00

12yrs from new 97

$25,000 12200 5954 2905 1418$30,000 14640 7144 3486 1701$35,000 17080 8335 4067 1985

Then calculate running costs based on your car’s fuel consumption. (Petrol at around $1.60 to $2 per litre, for about10km. Diesel fuel is cheaper, but remember that it’s also more polluting in city driving, whilst LPG burns cleaner). $ per year for fuel $………..per week for fuel Add the annual cost of tyre and screen-wiper replacements, oil, damage repairs and maintenance, such as brake linings, shock absorbers, tuning, sparkplugs, filters, lubrication; these can then be divided into weekly costs. $ per year for maintenance divide by 52 for: $ per week for maintenance Total cost per week of current car use: Ownership + fuel + maintenance: $ total cost per week, in use, before daytime car parking, fines, cleaning, etc!

Fuel might be affordable per km, but total car ownership is expensive. Does your household need the cost of several cars? (Photo: Rhys Taylor)



Step Three – Sample your household travel for a week! In the table below, first note your odometer reading at the start of the week, then record the actual return distances you often travel (on work,

shopping, sport participation, visits to relatives and school or study trips) and also how often these occur in the week. The regular journeys – are you car travellers by habit? Include use of all the cars in your household to calculate this, if possible:

Who’s usually in the car on a regular trip

Place visited or purpose Trips made to here per week

Return journey km from home X no of trips/wk

e.g. Mum or Dad Food Stores at Mall Two 2X 7km each trip = 14km (as example)

X km = X km = X km = X km = X km = X km = Total of all our regular trips in the sample week

Work, shopping, sport, school, evening study, church, relatives, etc:

____ return journeys made by car

Total* ____ km/week (excluding example)

Km at end of sample week: __________________ from car odometer at end Km at start of sample week __________________ from car odometer at start (subtract for difference) Km total traveled in the week __________________ Was this a ‘typical’ week? If not, add/deduct a few km for the special circumstances, to give a typical weekly km travel by car:__________________ (adjusted figure) Regular journeys (Total) ___________________ What proportion of week’s travel was on regular journeys? ____________ Consider - Did you need to use a car for all of these regular journeys? Could some trip destinations be combined or better planned? Also, is there scope to share journeys with other travelers? By circling around the destinations, note which of the regular journeys were under 3km return, and which under 8km return distance. Those under 3km are within ‘walking distance’ of home for a healthy adult and those under 8km might be easier by cycling or by bus,

depending on the route involved. Do you know if these alternatives are available to you? It’s not hard to find out. Environment Canterbury found that otherwise walkable journeys of under 2km may be as much as 11% of urban car use and those under 5km (which suits cycling) as high as 28%! This helps explain the noisy city streets, slow traffic 'congestion' and the fumes.



In Western Australia, efforts to encourage switching from car to walking, cycling and bus, through a ‘Travel Smart’ programme, have: • reduced car use as a driver by 10% • decreased cars’ weekly kilometers -

travelled by 14% • raised public transport use by 21% • increased cycling use by 91% (i.e.

almost doubled it), and • lifted walking numbers by 16% (24%

after two years) within the participating households. A similar experiment is under way in Christchurch, led by Environment Canterbury. See www.gosmarter.org.nz Step Four - Reduce your unhealthy or inefficient short car journeys, first Before getting into the car, ask your self ‘Do I need to make this trip at all?’ If not, stay at home or consider other options. Can the errand be done another way? Use the internet or phone to ‘do the walking’. If physically being there is necessary, ask whether the right time is now – is it peak travel time, will you get caught up in traffic, or make it worse. Finally, if all systems are go, can you combine errands on your journey, whether or not you need to take the car. Here’s some alternatives. 1. Try walking. Were any of the

regular return journeys under 2km? Do you have much to carry on those trips: perhaps a newspaper, a letter, milk bottle, a lunch-box? Provided you are still mobile, try walking these short trips instead of car travel, for some healthy exercise. It’s good for heart and limb muscles, for retaining bone strength, clearer breathing and mental alertness! 2 www.pushplay.org.nz

2 Short car journeys cause maximum air pollution and are bad for car engines too. They do not allow the engine to warm up

You can walk 1km in about 12 minutes.

Thanks to pavements and light-controlled crossings, walking in the city feels safe. When did you last walk to the local shops or school? (Photo: RT)

These days half of NZ primary-age school children are driven to school. They are becoming unfit; tend to be overweight and out-of-touch with their neighbourhoods. If you have children who could walk to school in groups on a regular route, guided by two ‘rostered’ parents each time, find out if your local Council promotes the ‘Walking School Bus’. It has been pioneered in Auckland City and Christchurch. This is a way to help release parents’ time, reduce traffic around schools, aid children’s road safety education, encourage local community life and keep everyone fit – including the adults. A kit of information, including guidance, promotional materials (in print and as artwork on CD) is available to parents and teachers from Land Transport NZ http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/travel/school/walking-school-buses/resource-kits.html

fully, fuel burns inefficiently, and condensed acids speed the corrosion of exhaust pipes.



(your tutor also has information on their resources CD) In addition check the local library for an amusing children’s picture book by Gillian Bradshaw called ‘Shock Monday’ (published by Lothian, Melbourne). It looks at the benefits of walking to school, aimed at young children already accustomed to cars. Living Streets Aotearoa is an organisation that promotes pedestrian friendly communities nationally and through local groups. They can be contacted on 04 472 8280 or visit their website www.livingstreets.org.nz

A flurry of large cars at an Intermediate School gate, presenting a hazard to young children on foot and using cycles. The supervised ‘Walking School Bus’, along pavements, reduces risks and gives healthy exercise. (Photo: RT.) 2. Catch buses or trains. Were any

of your regular trips under 8 to12km return? If in a city, you probably live within 10 minutes walking distance (under 500 metres) of a bus route or two that could take you there. Find out from your Regional or Unitary Council where the nearest bus and train routes run, and ask for the free timetables relevant to your regular trips. Bus fares are typically only a few dollars and some cities use ‘smart cards’ or 'electronic purses' with which you prepay several fares $10 at a time for a discount on each trip, such as $2.50 reduced to $1.90. Season tickets are available for cheaper rail fares: but few cities

other than Wellington & its suburbs have extensive rail passenger services. Auckland trains are improving, however.

Pocket timetable leaflets in Christchurch summarize bus routes and their frequencies: Look for local equivalent, or try websites.

Key urban public transport info: • Christchurch metroinfo: 03 366 8855 or website: www.metroinfo.org.nz • Wellington Regional Council’s website comes complete with maps of the bus & rail routes & timetables: www.metlink.org.nz • Auckland Region’s MAXX http://www.maxx.co.nz/ • Computer-savvy children aged 5 to 8 may enjoy visiting the site: www.ecan.govt.nz/buses-transport/from-a-to-b.html (your computer needs to have Macromedia Flash software added to the browser to use this)

Consider these statistics: At the 2006 Census 17% of Greater Wellington residents indicated they used public transport to travel to work. This



compares with just 7% in Auckland and 4% in Canterbury. What are the stats like in your area? For an anecdotal film comparison of car use, buses or trains in 4 NZ cities, see Close Up's May 2008 video: http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/465467/1779539 ----------------------------------------------- 3. Cycling is efficient & fast. You can cycle 1km in about 3 minutes, four times faster than walking, and only slightly slower than city buses, which average 2.4 minutes per km because of the stops. Cycling is door-to-door, has no parking costs, keeps you fit, and is often faster than queued city traffic. Maintaining a bicycle costs about $6 a week spread through the year! Using a lock and chain greatly reduces the risk of theft when it’s parked in town. Helmet, bright clothes and lights are essential for safety: but try to use re-chargable batteries and a mains charger.

Lisa's battery charger for her AAA cycle lamp batteries (NiMH type) saves many dollars, over the years.

Cycle routes and road crossings that detect bikes to trigger traffic lights are becoming more common.

Cycle commuting suits Lisa (she wears a helmet too, when not posing for photos!)

If you want to cycle but are put off by the thought of arriving at work hot and sticky, check out if your workplace has showers and clothes lockers available. If not, put pressure on employers to provide such facilities and lockable bike sheds. Form a BUG (Bicycle User Group) and provide support for cycling colleagues. The employer will eventually



see that it benefits them to have cyclists on staff, both in productivity (fitter people are generally speaking more energetic) and financially in terms of reduced need for parking space. There's an annual cycle to work challenge event too: http://www.bikewisebattle.org.nz

Recommended-route maps for Cycling are available in several cities: ask at the local Council offices. Examples include: a free printed map for Christchurch showing the cycle lanes (from the City Cycle Planner 03 379 1660 or from SPOKES/Canterbury Cyclists Association PO Box 4536 Christchurch) One for Hamilton called ‘Your Guide to Ride’ (this also mentions Cycle Action Waikato – write to PO Box 19-251 Hamilton). In Auckland City ask the Council for their leaflet ‘Making Auckland Easier to Get Around by Bike’ (09 379 2020 or [email protected] ) In Wellington see www.cycylewellington.com which includes maps and info on leisure and sports cycling It’s possible to fit panniers above and both sides of the rear wheels and even trailers onto bikes to comfortably carry loads such as the week’s shopping, without affecting your balance.

For more cycling encouragement, contact Cycling Advocates Network – a nationwide organization http://www.can.org.nz/ 09 378 0953 or visit these web-sites: www.bikewise.co.nz; www.eeca.govt.nz www.bicyclinglife.com www.ibike.org/encouragement/benefits.htm www.rideabike.com.au

Why stop cycling once you can drive - adult riders may also have car driving experience, which makes them alert & safer in traffic.

4. Share travel and take turns to

drive. According to the 2001 census, only 5.3% of car trips to work in the Hamilton Central area had passengers other than the driver. Does anyone living near you take children to the same school, or commute to the same area of town or even the same or adjacent workplace? You could share travel, taking turns to drive and halve the number of vehicle trips. The area around school gates is dangerous for children mainly because of the large number of cars moving there. Fewer cars mean more gaps in the traffic and fewer collisions. Fewer cars taken to work means more space to park when you arrive, more room on the roads at rush hour, reduced intersection accidents, and may mean sociable travel and reduced stress too (provided you are happy with each-others’ driving).

Here are a couple of organizations attempting to connect people willing to share rides – see http://www.carpoolnz.org/ and http://www.carshare.co.nz/index.html 5. Share the capital cost of owning and maintaining a car instead of (or as well as) sharing journeys. Joint car ownership is technically easy. There are no significant barriers to licensing a



vehicle to several owners, nor to insuring it for several, as long as you identify the joint owners in writing (insurers may prefer to correspond with just one of the owners). If you only need a car a few times a week and your regular trips can be negotiated - probably by phone - to not clash with another owner’s expected use, you could halve the ownership cost by shared purchase and then also reduce the maintenance costs! Records need to be kept of fuel and maintenance purchases and of distances traveled, with settling-up between owners to ensure fair sharing. Car log books are available at stationers that make this record-keeping much easier.

In some UK and European cities, clubs providing shared cars are used to replace private ownership. Computers 'on-board' read your membership card to record costs, fuelling, and arrange charging according to use. Reservations are made on the internet. A car club scheme (with $75 annual membership fee in mid 2009) has been set up in Auckland & Wellington & Christchurch airport. It's called City Hop. http://www.cityhop.co.nz/

A friendly shared car arrangement also greatly reduces the resources (metals, plastics, and energy for initial car-making) that you each demanded in order to be mobile, and has the bonus of providing an extra person to help organise the occasional chores such as WOF and maintenance visits, cleaning

and tackling rust. If you don’t live adjacent to your co-owners you have to be prepared to walk or cycle between houses to collect the vehicle (as the initial author of these notes did for two years), but that provides some healthy fresh-air and exercise... in which you can contemplate how much money you’re saving! Alternatively, take a taxi to where you want to go. Many companies are trying to reduce their carbon footprint, like River City Cabs in Wanganui, and Green Cabs in Auckland and Wellington http://greencabs.co.nz/index.html and First Direct in Christchurch, some of the first taxi companies in NZ to hit the road with the Toyota Prius hybrid model that runs on both battery power and petrol. You can hire a Prius from Avis Rental, but only at airport locations. If you have a driver’s license but don’t own a car and need to get to places not easily accessible by public transport then renting a car for the time you need it is a good way to go. Choose companies that are attempting to address sustainability issues; two doing so are listed here: http://www.jucy.co.nz/ and http://www.ezy.co.nz/ Step Five - Be a smarter driver, when you drive, to save on the fuel consumption rate! So, you have reduced the number of inefficient short car trips by a combination of shared travel, walking and using alternative ‘travel modes’ (bus, rail, cycle, taxi, etc), but you still have the longer journeys to consider, away from public transport routes, whether it is in your own car or a hired one. How can the cost and the environmental impact of these longer drives be reduced? Here’s a range of 10 well-tested methods to cut fuel use, reducing



both the cash cost and the air-pollution output: 1. Remove roof racks or boxes

unless you are using them, as the air resistance slows the vehicle.

2. Remove excess weight from the

boot – for example, do you need a large toolkit , folding seats and the BBQ in there or just the tyre-change kit? Each extra 50kg of load increases fuel consumption by 2% says EECA (whose free leaflet 7 habits of highly efficient drivers is one of our information sources. Website: www.eeca.govt.nz )

3. Avoid engine idling, such as when

starting up from cold, don’t over-rev or leave the car stationary with its engine running.

4. Limit cruising speed on the open

road to about 90km per hour where it is safe to do so. Compared to 110km/hr, this saves at least 20% of fuel. Similarly, don’t fight a head wind - simply drive a little slower!

5. Keep tyres correctly inflated –

check the pressures when cold – soft tyres can waste 10% of fuel and are also dangerous. Check for uneven wear across the tread width as a sign of incorrect wheel alignment, which also wastes fuel.

6. Tune the vehicle, so that it gets the

optimum air and fuel mix; keep air filters clean; and if using spark plugs ensure they are clean. Older diesels should be tuned twice a year. The Government is considering introducing air emissions testing at WOF check – but there’s no need to wait. Waitakere City Vehicle Testing Station is among sites offering this service already. Remember you can be prosecuted now for having a smoky exhaust! A new company aiming to reduce emissions is Zero

Emissions Ltd NZ http://www.zeroe.co.nz/. You can take you car into their testing stations to determine the emissions of your car.

7. Drive smoothly, avoiding sudden

acceleration or braking. Don’t tailgate or cut in and out of fast traffic if you want to save fuel. Change up to ‘cruise’ or 5 th gear if available, on the open road, to reduce engine revs. In an automatic, ease back on the accelerator once the car is at cruising speed, or as you approach hilltops, which encourages the auto-transmission to change up sooner.

8. Plan trip timings to avoid

congested urban traffic and its aggressive commuters on the open road – leave earlier or later than the rush. Stop-start queues really waste fuel. Aggressive open road driving (e.g. accelerate hard, brake hard, tailgate other vehicles) may save 5 minutes in a 60 km trip but cost 30% more in fuel used. Start 5 mins early and drive smoothly for less stress!

9. Don’t use an air-conditioner for

cooling if you can comfortably use ventilators instead – save up to 10% of fuel on a hot day. Cool the car with open windows when you first move off after parking in sunshine. Wide-open windows create air drag at speeds over 50 km/h, however.

10. Turn off the rear window de-

mister after a few minutes, once it has done its job, to save 3% of fuel. Electrical power to that de-mister is drawn from the battery, which is being charged by the car engine.

Step 6 - Choosing a fuel-efficient vehicle, for next time… Regular preventative maintenance will assist longevity of a car and usually



prove cost-effective. There are guide books available to help the non-mechanic know what to seek from their garage workshop and to know what can be done at home: such as ‘Keep your Car Alive’ by Mort Schultz and Robyn Grice, published in 1991 by Choice Books (Aus. Consumer Association). It’s a sad fact that most cars rust and show wear-and-tear in use, even if you don’t dent them. The choice of any replacement (after a sale or scrapping) is a crucial moment, affecting the household’s annual environmental impacts for several years ahead.

NZ is a scrap-yard for Japanese, Korean and Australian second hand cars! Our fleet's average car age is close to 12 yrs, and they're fuel hungry Then is the time to ask some hard questions. Begin with: If this was the household’s second car, is there really need for another vehicle at all? Can you afford the full costs of another vehicle: that’s the purchase cash, loan interest, user health impacts and environmental costs? Could walking, taxis, buses, cycles or a combination of other arrangements meet your travel needs, affordably? In a small town or rural community, do you and your neighbours together need a ‘community mini-bus’ for efficient group travel into larger towns, such as the four buses run successfully in Geraldine, South Canterbury?

If you buy, could this be a shared car purchase, with family or friends? Could you join a car club instead, and pay as you drive? Will you need a vehicle of a similar size again – how long before your transport needs change, such as children growing up, job location changes, retirement etc. The trend in new European cars is towards lighter and smaller vehicles, taking less parking space, less fuel, and requiring fewer materials to build. The trend in North American cars was in the opposite direction, to sport-utility trucks. In which direction are you headed? Would fitting a towbar (and maybe a cycle-carrier onto this) at the rear of a smaller car make more practical difference to your lifestyle than getting a large four-wheel drive car? Now that a few ‘hybrid engine’ cars from Japan (Honda Insight and Toyota Prius, for example) are appearing in New Zealand, you have the option of using a car that runs on its own generated & stored electrical power as well as a conventionally-fueled petrol engine. It gets very much higher fuel efficiency, but at the cost of even more electronic complexity in the car. Not for DIY!

Toyota Prius - the complexity under the bonnet is daunting, but fuel efficiency gains from Japan's various hybrid petrol-electric cars bring them equal to European diesel cars, on lab tests, but not on longer runs, according to some reviews3. Drive battery

3 June 2007 test drive reviews in the UK (Auto Express) show efficient diesels such as the 5-series BMW overtaking the hybrids for fuel efficiency, at 5.6 litres per 100km. The



replacement is an expensive item for second-hand owners , too. (Photos: RT)

And there’s still a choice of fuel available in NZ – petrol, or diesel or LPG4. Some of the most fuel-efficient vehicles available since 2005 are the small European diesels, for example from BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Citroen and Peugeot. In future years part bio-diesel fuel mixes (from agricultural products such as oil seeds and tallow) will be available in New Zealand, to help eke-out the non-renewable mineral diesel fuel supply. For background information on vehicles and fuels see the website: www.eta.co.uk/fact/diesel.htm For information on electric vehicles already in use in Europe, where state petrol taxes are higher than here, making them cost effective, see www.evuk.co.uk The NZ Fuel Saver website, plus information displayed at car showrooms, indicates the relative fuel consumption of new vehicles being imported to NZ. www.fuelsaver.govt.nz or call 0800 749782 See also www.rightcar.govt.nz

VW Polo BlueMotion diesel is claimed to be even more fuel efficient. See also review in Which? Magazine, May 2006 4 LPG conversion of petrol engine cars may be cost effective if travel is over 40,000 km per year (such as delivery vans and taxis).

More new & used cars arriving at Ports daily! Until

2006 average engine sizes and vehicle weights were rising, as NZ had not woken up to Peak Oil.

If you want an independent check made on the history of a NZ second-hand vehicle, firms to consider include Autocheck Plus 0900 56056 (2002 approximate fee $22.50), Vehicle Information Report 0800 843 847 (approx $25) and AA Autoreport 0800 500 333 (AA Members approx $20, others $25). A second hand car might also have debt attached - check this online at www.ppsr.govt.nz to be sure that a previous owner's loan was repaid! Guide books such as Dog & Lemon Guide indicate fuel efficiency, frequent faults and recalls on each model of car, crash test ratings, and more. Carbon impacts of driving (& flying) A useful site with small business, travel and domestic carbon impact calculators available for free is carboNZero at Landcare Research. Sustainable Living recommends their domestic calculator in support of our energy and travel topics: http://www.carbonzero.co.nz/calculators/index.asp See the notes we have prepared on Using the carboNZero Calculator (via tutors or our website) to help you to get either one month or one year baseline information assembled, before using this site. Please create a username beginning with SL when you first log on.



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