Catherine Delahunty Green MP www.greens.org.nz

Traffic surveys by language students at Waikato University and the Concordia Business Institute have shown that in Tauranga, the car is still very much king.

The vast majority of journeys we take are under seven kilometres and could be either walked or taken by bicycle, yet 82 per cent of vehicles on the vehicles in the town centre (Elizabeth St) surveyed last week were cars.

This compares to buses (largely empty), bicycles and foot traffic at around two per cent each, or six per cent in total. Contrast this with Auckland, a city whose alternative transport doesn't compare internationally. There 13 per cent of people walk, cycle or take a bus. The city's passion for driving rules supreme.

The latest World Energy Outlook report released last week says governments need to act now to reduce demand for fossil fuels.

'The energy world is facing unprecedented uncertainty,” said Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the International Energy Agency at the launch of the latest edition of the IEA's annual report on the WEO.

Yet our Government has no plan for how high oil prices will affect our transport sector and economy. New Zealand's economy is extremely vulnerable to high oil prices because our transport sector is so reliant on imported oil. Oil and vehicles make up 30 per cent of our total imports.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce has admitted no explicit analysis has been undertaken of the risk of oil shocks within the business cases for Roads of National Significance, new motorway projects that will cost at least $11 billion over the next 10 years.

Traffic volumes on State Highways fell significantly in 2008 and 2009 due to high oil prices, and the New Zealand Transport Agency's 2008 research report on rising oil prices demonstrated that demand for walking, cycling, trains and buses would increase significantly over the next few decades.

Our co-leader, Russell Norman, says it is irresponsible that this Government is throwing billions of dollars away on projects that will not help the economy, in a time when economic recovery is perilous and the country is deeply in debt.

'The $11 billion it is spending on motorways is $11 billion we won't have to invest in our rail network and bus services. We need to future proof our transport system and economy now. If the Government needs practical ideas, we have plenty.”

Research shows that using alternative transport is about breaking habits. Perhaps it's time to think about walking, jogging, cycling or relaxing on a bus when we next go to town.