Auckland has fewer cars driving over the Harbour Bridge and this is put down to higher fuel costs and better public transport.
A recent report shows almost 900 fewer cars a week travelled over the Auckland Harbour Bridge in 2011 compared with 2010.
NZTA figures show 1,684,601 cars crossed the bridge in the year to December, 44,545 fewer than in 2010.
Figures provided by New Zealand-owned petrol retailer Gull from local authority levies on petrol sales in the Auckland region showed 19 million fewer litres of petrol were sold in the year to June 2011 - a two per cent drop on the previous year.
And Auckland Transport Authority figures show there were 68,590,762 passenger trips on buses, trains and ferries for the 12 months to October 2011 – an increase of 6,033,457 or a 9.6 per cent rise for the year.
“That’s good news for those who want to make the city more liveable,” says Victoria Carter, co-founder of Cityhop carshare, fewer cars mean less emissions, cleaner air and waterways, and most importantly safer streets for those who walk or bike.
“All the cities in the world that are becoming more liveable are reclaiming their streets and saying the streets have to have fewer cars on them.”
Carsharing makes it much easier for people to deliberately choose not to own a car. Now that Auckland Transport has put cars on street in parts of the city with more to come it really is viable for people to sell their car and use car share when they need wheels.”
