Catching the bus is my main way to get into the city centre, though on rare occasions I drive or e-scooter. I found that catching the bus is sometimes useful on short trips, such as going to the bakery (if the bus is every 10 minutes). Really great for me since I don’t have a job right now, but if I get a job again I’ll need a car, because employers insist.

I don’t like owning a car because other tenants can suddenly move in and block me off with their car, which they expect to park on the driveway too. All the nearby streets have problems with parking. An e-scooter would suit me most of the time. I could sell my car, buy an e-scooter, motorcycle helmet, rain-repelling pants and gumboots. ** Just a couple of problems:**

  1. safety - a guy I know recently had an accident in the Opawa/Sydenham area and broke his shoulder + other bones. I was told that he wasn’t hit by a car, apparently he lost traction and fell off. Maybe he was going 30 km/ph if not 40 km/ph, but I don’t know. Based on the injuries he wouldn’t have been going under 20 km/ph.

  2. winter - traction problems and visibility at their worst, potentially for months. So far, this winter has been mild. Most times 11am - 5pm are good temperature for an e-scooter, without too much moisture on the road. Next winter might be colder and less suitable for an e-scooter.

I could use the bus in winter, borrow a car from family, or rent a Zilch vehicle for 4 hours every 1-2 weeks. Everything else should be possible on a scooter, most days. Part of the trick is to buy a large enough backpack from the Army & Outdoors store!

Transport in Christchurch is troublesome, because of the city’s one storey high design. Employers expect me to pay for fuel and then drive several kilometres to get to work, because there’s no way I can find a rental that’s near a job, or which has a suitable bus route for getting to a job. With the increases to rent, fuel and food, I think I’ll give up driving before I give up anything else. To hell with what employers expect.

So I guess the reason I made this thread is to speculate that I’ll be one of the test subjects for e-scooter ownership in Christchurch. I’m not a competitive, angry person who tries to flex on other road users. I used to speed constantly in a Mazda mx5 without giving a damn but now I drive a more modest vehicle, and I notice how many people overtake me even when I’m driving slightly above the limit. Sometimes I like to drive 30 or 40 km/ph on narrow streets because I don’t want to kill a cat or someone’s child. It may be legal to drive at 50km/ph but that’s not always safe. Luckily, motorists are surprisingly courteous on narrow roads when they are forced to yield or get through a small gap.

Affordable apartments (complete with bikesheds) are still 5 or 10 years away, so I expect that public transport won’t get more routes or become much more popular. E-scooters may be the fix we require. I’d rather ride my bike but I can’t store that in my bedroom. Most boarding houses are just a bedroom and nothing else, so I think an e-scooter is the way to go.

If it makes me unemployable to some employers that’s just too bad. In the current situation I doubt I’ll save up enough money to buy a car again (cue for someone to suggest I buy a piece of shit for $1,000)

We have to move with the times and accept that not everybody can own a car and afford a place to park it, where it won’t be blocked off by new tenants moving in, who also wish to use the driveway. We’ve been warned since last year that 91 fuel could reach $3 a litre and we’re only a few months away from that. If I give up my car this spring-summer-autumn it will save me at least $1,000 on insurance and fuel. Not even that much, but I think the lifestyle change will be the selling point. I just hope I don’t get killed lol