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Trying to preempt the effects of any future oil supply crisis, a report commissioned for the Ministry of Economic Development (Hi Jimbo!) has mooted a return to the carless days of the late 1970s as one option.

Of course this simply would not work.

In the quarter of a century since the last lot of carless days, NZ has prospered and we've seen the arrival of cheap Jap import cars -- things that combine to ensure that most households have at least two vehicles.

What's more, with a "cheap" roadworthy car able to be had for just a few thousand dollars these days, a large percentage of families will just go out and buy another car to use on the day (or days) when their other vehicles are supposed to be off the road.

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No, I'm sorry but carless days are a dead duck in the 21st century.

Surely a far better approach would be to encourage businesses to decentralise their operations and set up home or community-based work centres.

Teleworking is a topic I've mentioned countless times in this column but, when organised and managed properly, it has huge potential to reduce our transport fuel requirements while also boosting worker-productivity.

Just look at large urban centres like Auckland and Wellington, where countless litres of expensive petrol are wasted every day by commuters trying to get to and from work at peak hours. Surely if even 5% of those people were able to work from home or a neighbourhood teleworking centre then the savings would be enormous.

Not only would those who stayed at home or in their local area be better off, but a reduction in numbers on the motorways would also result in fewer delays and improved traffic flows.

Indeed, it was refreshing to see that the option of teleworking or working from home was considered in the report -- full marks!

Unfortunately, teleworking won't be an option for the vast majority of people so if an oil crisis really hits I believe that NZ will be in big trouble.

Auckland has a dearth of reliable, affordable public transport and it is such a geographically large area that productivity will be badly hit -- indeed we could even see a noticeable increase in levels of unemployment in this region.

Of course if we'd placed more *real* emphasis on creating a knowledge-based economy (rather than just pay lip-service to it) then we'd be a whole lot better equipped to handle such a crisis.

To give credit where it's due, I have to give Jim Anderton credit for placing a focus on regional development. If we can't afford to commute to a big city, the most effective model for our future may be in smaller, regional employment centres.

Would a fuel crisis and the resulting carless days, rationing or forced reliance on public transport affect you significantly?

And, even if we can keep jobs going and produce products for export, how will we be able to afford to ship them to foreign shores with oil heading for US$75 per barrel?

Did we really try hard enough to develop a good portfolio of knowledge-based industries here?

Go have your say in The Aardvark Forums

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