Sponsor's Message

This is absolutely amazing! Here we are in the 21st century and the problem of moving people in their little metal boxes has reached crisis proportions, with no easy solution in sight.

Of course the long-promised "flying car" would significantly alleviate the problem but they remain just a flight of fantasy for the time being. So how could today's 21st century technology significantly reduce the effects of Auckland's (and other cities') skyrocketing commuter traffic?

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I mean, surely in this age of computers, the internet, and other technological marvels, we must be able to use our valuable petrol on something a little more productive than hauling a tonne of steel and a hundred KGs or so of flesh and bone to and from work every weekday?

There's always telecommuting of course -- but this remains the realm of only a few lucky folks who are either self-employed or working for very enlightened companies.

Yet I'm sure that a goodly percentage of those who are presently forced to sit in traffic several hours a day could just as easily do a few hours of their work at home each morning or evening. This move alone would take the pressure off what has become peak-hour traffic.

Why not check and respond to your email and inter-office memos over breakfast in your own home while you wait for the traffic to clear a little? By leaving at 9am instead of 7am, chances are many people could save themselves a great deal of commute time and have already done a couple of hours work before they get to their office.

The other option proposed by many people (including a lot of greenies) is that of public transport -- and I think this could be turned into a very attractive option for many people by making a few simple additions.

Firstly, why not equip all busses and trains with WiFi?

Instead of sitting for an hour or more, doing little more than staring out the window while being driven to work, people could log in using their PDA or laptop and do the email thing, check out the news and maybe even perform some other office-related tasks. Turn that otherwise wasted commute time into a productive activity!

We're a nation that is decidedly unproductive when compared to many of our OECD peers, and increasingly longer queues of cars on our roads are only going to make the situation worse. Why not turn that otherwise lost time into a chance to hike our productivity?

Finally, we need to look carefully at the kinds of businesses we foster.

Someone selling real-estate will probably have a hard time working from a home-office. It's hard to close a deal by email or IM. Our over-indulgence in the property market and other non-knowledge industries means that too many of us are forced to commute because we have no option.

If we placed a greater emphasis on developing knowledge industries (and I'm not talking about endless rhetoric from government as a method of such development), then a greater number of Kiwi workers could telecommute, thus easing the burdens on our roads and oil reserves.

Finally, why not focus on decentralising business operations?

If/when we finally get low-cost business broadband, it will become viable for companies to set up virtual offices far from the madding crowd of central Auckland. This will encourage people to move out of the big cities and into less densely populated regions where housing is cheaper and the need to commute is eliminated. These people would still enjoy the social aspects of working with others but would not be subjected to the same frustrations and pressures as those living and working in an urban environment.

So the answers are there -- we just need to embrace them.

Several facts are certain. Unless we take advantage of hi-tech then: no matter how much we spend on our urban roading systems, it will never be enough, oil prices are only going to go up, and commuting will become ever-more frustrating and expensive.

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