Back Issues: Remembering NZ’s failed 1979 tactic to combat rising fuel costs

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The phrase “carless days” is bound to provoke a reaction from a certain generation of New Zealanders.

The term describes a scheme introduced by the Muldoon-led National Government on July 30, 1979.

Everyone in the country had to nominate a day in which they would not drive their car, hence a ‘’carless’’ day. You could choose which day you would leave your car at home and each car was meant to have a sticker which displayed the carless day.

Certain professions could apply for an exemption, and they were given a special sticker. The scheme also allowed for temporary exemptions if someone needed a vehicle on their carless day.

The purpose of carless days was to reduce petrol consumption. The 1979 Iranian Revolution had caused a second oil shock, which led to a sharp increase in the price of petrol.

New Zealand’s economy was already struggling with inflation, and the government explored innovative ways to decrease the amount the public was spending on petrol. Initially the government tried to limit consumption by banning the sale of petrol at the weekend.

Manawatū Standard staff showing how riding bikes could save petrol.

Manawatu Heritage/Stuff

Manawatū Standard staff showing how riding bikes could save petrol.

The Manawatū Standard reported in June 1979 that this move had led to a considerable drop in sales for some rural service stations, with the owner of a service station in Sanson saying his sales were down 40%, and he had to lay off forecourt attendants.

However, it seems preventing people from buying petrol was not reducing petrol consumption.

Carless days had been discussed since the beginning of 1979, with an outline of the scheme and early images of the stickers published in the Standard in March 1979. Yet in mid-June there was speculation about whether petrol rationing, rather than carless days, would be introduced.

The Standard editorial on June 19 reflected the confusion, with the editor quoting Bill Birch, the Minister of Energy, and the person in charge of petrol supplies, as saying carless days were only a contingency plan if consumption did not drop.

Yet, as the editor pointed out, Prime Minister Robert Muldoon, had said that the introduction of carless days was a certainty. Adding to this was the adverts which had been appearing in the paper explaining the scheme and saying it would begin on July 1.

Carless days were meant to discourage the use of petrol, but they did little to reduce petrol consumption.

Manawatu Heritage/Stuff

Carless days were meant to discourage the use of petrol, but they did little to reduce petrol consumption.

Despite the confusion about when carless days would begin, they officially started on July 30. The local chief traffic officer, Chas Croft, told the Standard he had been instructed to enforce the rules from 2.15am that morning.

The same article reported that the law to implement carless days had not been passed by Parliament and Auckland’s chief traffic officer was planning to drive his car on Wednesday, the day he had chosen as his carless day.

On July 31 the Standard highlighted an issue that would plague the carless days scheme. The Levin Police station had been extremely busy with applications for temporary exemptions. With Levin having no public transport, and the nearest hospital being in Palmerston North, the police had been inundated with people who needed to drive to Palmerston North for appointments which were on their carless day.

The exemption scheme proved very popular and a black market in exemption stickers quickly developed. Another way around the scheme was to have two stickers, and apparently wrapping them in gladwrap enabled them to be swapped for the appropriate day.

For those families with two cars the scheme had very little effect as they just had different carless days for each car.

Ironically carless days also provided a headache for the Palmerston North bus service. Diesel had been allocated to the bus service by the government at the beginning of the year. But due to extra demand generated by carless days the allotment was running out faster than expected and would not last until the end of the year unless cuts were made to services.

John Galbraith, head of the city bus service, made a pointed remark about the scheme: ‘‘It seems foolish to me to try and save fuel in cars, but then not provide enough fuel to run public transport.’’

Another side effect was an increase in the sale of bicycles and small motorcycles, which despite using petrol were exempt from the scheme.

Some bicycle shops in the city sold out of bikes and blamed bicycle manufacturers for not producing enough. Perhaps the oddest shortage was of bicycle trouser clips, which the Standard pointed out were needed to keep the fashionable flowing trouser legs out of bike chains.

With the shortage of diesel the council began investing in buses which ran on alternative fuels. The first CNG bus arrived a year after carless days began in July 1980.

Manawatu Heritage/Stuff

With the shortage of diesel the council began investing in buses which ran on alternative fuels. The first CNG bus arrived a year after carless days began in July 1980.

The choice of mid-winter to begin the scheme would not have helped its popularity. In a column entitled ‘Carless on Wednesday – and very wet too’, a Standard reporter described their experience of walking to work in the rain.

The reporter didn’t think the scheme would have much effect on petrol consumption and instead had just resulted in extra administration for the police and traffic officers.

The Standard’s reporter was quite correct in their estimation of the scheme. When carless days were officially ended on May 13, 1980, the Standard reported that government officials estimated there had been a 3.5% drop in petrol consumption between July 1979 and May 1980.

This small decrease of petrol use and the ease with which carless days was subverted has led to the scheme being considered a failure.

As New Zealand once again faces inflation coupled with rising petrol prices, the government might be faced with similar issues as that of the late 1970s. Maybe our current government might consider carless days as an ‘‘innovative solution’’ to inflation.

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