Andrew Dickens: Are there good things coming from high petrol prices?

Well, the whole world is talking about petrol, how to get it, and how expensive will it get while the unrest in the Middle East continues. News outlets world wide are warning of hard times to come and leaders are playing a waiting game to see how the cards fall.  But it’s not all doom and gloom.  Rather than waiting for the state to take the lead, citizens are modifying their behaviour.  And it’s not all bad. In Auckland, Tuesday was the busiest day on public transport since 2019 (pre-Covid).That's 7000 trips higher than the previous busiest day, which was two weeks ago.  Looks like Tuesday has become bus day. Or train day. Or ferry day. North Shore Facebook pages are full of wonder, of people marvelling at where the congestion has gone. One wag saying that all that was needed to sort out Lake Road was a Middle East war. Why didn’t we try that sooner? It’s encouraging to see more people choosing public transport and trying it out. And it seems that people are just trying it out a day or two per week, so that it’s not too dramatic a change to a lifestyle. And what has been lost in arguments over the funding of public transport is that it helps roads and drivers. If 7000 people more than ever took public transport on Tuesday, then it’s estimated that that’s 5000 cars off our roads. The roads are then less congested and the commute for the people who have no option to take public transport, like tradies and deliveries, is easier, more efficient, faster and also cheaper. That’s good for productivity. Other benefits are a drop in online shopping from Temu, Ali Baba and the like. It’s not major yet, you can still buy stuff at ridiculously low prices - but people are counting their pennies. That is reducing the unprecedented level of shipping that criss-crosses the world, and analysts are forecasting that shipping costs will increasingly hit the prices which will temper the fever.  And that’s actually a good thing. For a long time, I’ve been wondering how you can buy a $3 t-shirt from China that somehow makes it to your letterbox in New Zealand. And how is that sustainable? And how damaging must it be with the planes and the vans buzzing here and there worldwide.  So sure, times are tough - but to be fair, we can start learning the lessons now for the days when oil runs out and we can no longer take fossil fuel transport for granted.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.