Re: The alternative transport push in Tauranga City. In my house there are five adults and one teen. The tradesman can’t use alternative transport with tools and large installations to move about. The home care worker – with a few health restrictions – also can’t use a bus or bike to get from house-to-house in a timely manner.

Another is in concrete production and with 4am starts and a bad ankle – so no good to bus or bike. I work rurally with many part-time jobs and errands for all, and there’s no buses where I go. The teen uses the bus now, but as a wee one certainly could not be relied upon to catch a bus safely – so for five years I was part of the school traffic, dropping off and picking up around my other commitments. Only one adult could currently sacrifice their car use.

We are asking the 9am-5pm workers with no ‘before’ or ‘after’ work commitments, to be the ones to sacrifice their car usage so others can necessarily, be road hogs. As humanity is inherently selfish, and many in Tauranga are elderly, I can’t envision this initiative taking off – no matter how safe the city makes it.

Andrea McIntyre, Ohauiti.

* TCC director of transport Brendan Bisley responds: Tauranga is one of the most car-dependent cities in New Zealand. We realise that for a lot of people – including tradespeople and businesses – using a private vehicle is a necessity so we’re targeting the 10 to 15 per cent of the population who have a choice to walk, cycle, scooter, skateboard or catch a bus. If we can get those people on to a different mode of transport, the other 85-90 per cent will have significantly less congestion and people can move around a lot better. We’re hoping choosing a different mode of transport will become easier with improved connections and better bus services.