After having a very long sleep on Friday night (it felt like we hadn’t slept for two days so certainly needed the long sleep) we got around to exploring the place. Since then it’s been two pretty busy days, with a lot of subway catching and a lot of walking. It’s the weekend here so Manhatten has been somewhat surprisingly quiet (well, quiet by NYC standards). Here are a few thoughts that I’ve had:

• The fact that many of the subway lines are four-tracked is absolute genius. People switch between the express and local trains in way to suit them and make the trip fastest (who would have thought, transfering to save a few minutes!)
• The pedestrianisation of Broadway through Times Square is fantastic and makes the place really really welcoming to pedestrians. I can’t imagine how claustrophobic it must have been beforehand.
• Grand Central Station is…. spectacular.
• In general, the subway system is an interesting mix: highly efficient and effective yet somewhat sadly neglected in parts. It’s interesting that the subway trains are air-conditioned but the stations feel like a sauna.

A couple of photos:

So there we were, stuck relatively in the middle of nowhere. I’m not a member of the AA, because of their roads lobbying, and my State vehicle insurance very frustratingly didn’t cover “Roadside Rescue” because I only had 3rd Party insurance, because full insurance had originally been extremely expensive and my car isn’t worth an utterly huge amount of money. A $180 tow later we were back home in central Auckland, with the huge question of how much was this going to cost to fix hanging around my neck. Fortunately Leila’s parents lent us a vehicle over the last couple of weeks, for things like being able to see my daughter and get her to school, until I eventually got around to getting my vehicle fixed. Of course actually getting my car fixed entailed organising another tow from my place to the garage (although fortunately that was done by the garage itself), with the final bill for the fix-up being close to $700.

All of this rather expensive and inconvenient process has reinforced to me two things:

1. That the “freedom” you supposedly get from having a car is exceedingly fragile, and you are extremely reliant on nothing going wrong with your vehicle for that “freedom” to remain.
2. That  the “freedom” of car ownership can be pretty damn expensive to maintain.

It’s interesting to explore that second issue, of how much we actually have to spend individually for this whole car-dominated society that we have to work. What comes to mind for me is an excellent passage from the book Suburban Nation: the rise of sprawl and the decline of the American dream by Andreas Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, which talks about how the need for car ownership is having a huge effect on the ability of people to afford home ownership:

It has become increasingly difficult for the middle class to own satisfactory housing. In 1970, about 50 percent of all families could afford a median-priced home; by 1990, this number had dropped below 25 percent. There are many reasons behind this phenomenon, but the most significant factor is evident in the image on the left [shows a small house with four cars in the driveway]. In what has become a typical sight in suburbia, this family appears to own almost as many square-feet of vehicles as it does of housing. Since every single adult in the household must drive a car in order to function, this situation is unavoidable. The impact it has on housing affordability is profound.

According to the American Automobile Association, the average cost of owning a Ford Escort – one of the cheapest cars available – is over $6,000 a year. At conventional mortgage rates, that figure translates into more than $60,000 in home-purchasing power. In other words, two cars will pay for a starter home…

…This is not just a theory. The banks that qualify mortgages are well aware of the burden that cars can present to homeownership. When qualifying a loan, bankers calculate the “back ratio”, which reduces income by the borrower’s existing debt, often primarily automotive. Bankers have been known to tell borrowers to sell their car, which the borrowers do, to a friend, from whom they buy it back upon receipt of the loan. And buy it back they must, since they live in an environment where life without it is impossible.

It’s a common mistake to think of cars as economically OK because they supposedly “pay their way” through petrol taxes (if we are to ignore rates contributions to local roads), but public transport as a huge drain on finances because of the need for subsidies. What this ignores is that cars are more expensive, but that cost gets individualised and is often hidden in higher costs for land (as you must have somewhere to park your car) as well as the lost opportunity to buy a house, because you’re spending so much money on keeping the car(s) on the road. One wonders what percentage of income is spent on their cars by larger, poorer families in parts of Auckland who always seem to have two vans or people-movers in the driveway. Where’s their freedom?

I guess some could argue why I don’t arrange my life in such a way that I could be car-free, and I guess there’s the slightest opportunity that that could be possible. However, because of how slow and unintegrated and unreliable our public transport system is in Auckland, I would probably spend twice as much time getting between places (particularly as I tend to drive off-peak and catch the bus at peak-times) as I do now. So in order to retain a somewhat decent quality of life I feel that I am auto-dependent, at least in the need to own a car.

And that’s damn expensive.

Now I have some advantages:

• I live about 100 metres from a Dominion Road bus stop.
• I live 300 metres from Mt Albert Rd.
• I live within 2 stages of the CBD.
• I work in the CBD.
• I own 2 bicycles.
• I don’t have children.
• I drive up to 6 hours a day at work and have some access to small purchases by car.

So bus-wise I’m pretty golden, I generally have a bus to the CBD roll past my house every 5 minutes, I have access to Lynfield and Blockhouse Bay from the Dominion Rd routes and with Mt Albert Rd so close I have the 008 giving me access to suburbs from Pt Chev to Penrose.

The positives have been fantastic, I never thought I’d feel better about a decision than the decision I made to give up alcohol, nicotine and caffeine a few years ago but I do. I feel far less stress, an example of why is this; just after my car went, my flatmate had her car broken into and after endless hassles and quotes, wrangling with the insurance, she has ended up having to buy a new car (the insurance company wrote off her old one) and then handle a new round of LTNZ info and insurance companies. During the same period of time I’ve to fill my bus card……. once. No more WOFs, repairs or rego renewals for me, its a problem for NZ Bus now!

Another great thing is the extra energy I’ve had, in part due to focusing on fitness but in part due to the mental act of letting go. Before I used to begrudge the 200 metre walk up to shops and couldn’t bring myself to take the car, now I don’t think twice, my enjoyment of walking has increased immeasurably, ditto cycling.

The problem is of course the system. The lack of integration is noticeable when you rely on it. The Dominion Rd buses terminate at the Civic Centre which is great if I want to see a movie but not so great if I want to connect to the ferry or train system which I do almost every weekend. This means that after my bus ride I have to walk 5 or so minutes to Britomart or the Ferry Terminal and then my travel pattern starts all over again, a new waiting period, a new timetable and most importantly a new fare on a new card. Simple changes like having my bus terminate by QE2 square 5 minutes or so before the connecting trains and ferries depart and a single ticket I can buy before I get on the bus, will make all the difference and that takes integration and planning.

Reliability of vehicles you have no control over becomes an ever present thought. I guess this is why I feel more passionate about PT advocacy now than ever, I have skin in the game! For example the PTMA format makes a huge difference in my life.

As a Xmas present here’s a truly awesome video of Vancouver’s recently opened “Canada Line“: