NZ RANKED AS MOST VEHICLE DEPENDANT

To those of us living in the main centres , this will come as no surprise , but a recent study by the website confused . com has revealed that New Zealand is home to the most personal vehicle-dependent people on the planet . The study , which ranked nations on metrics ranging from the price of taxi fares to the efficiency of public transport placed New Zealand ahead ( not in a good way ) of nations including Greece , Australia and even the spiritual home of automotive culture - the USA in terms of how dependant we are on personal forms of motorised transportation . While much discussion on this study has focused on cars , we checked in with the confused . com team and they pointed out that the study didn ’ t focus on cars , but all personal forms of motorised transport - motorcycles included . New Zealand had the worst scores in categories including Efficiency of public transport services , and Adequate access to public transport . It ’ s not all bad news , however . According to confused . com , New Zealand doesn ’ t quite have the title of the country with the worst rail infrastructure on the planet . That title belongs to Argentina , however , NZ still scored in the top 5 behind Argentina , Greece and Turkey . The country on this list that relies the most on cars to get around is New Zealand , with a score of 8.48 out of 10 . The Kiwi nation was the most reliant on cars for two separate factors - both its efficiency and access to public transport . This may be because transport funding in New Zealand is heavily skewed towards road projects rather than public transport . One of the main reasons New Zealand ranks worst is the lack of efficient public transport in the country , as well as the low railroad density of 1.5km per 100km ² . Additionally , public transport costs for taxis and other forms of transport are some of the highest seen in the rankings , at a cost of $ 23.54 on average for a 20-minute taxi journey and a transport index score of 139.05 . The reliance on personal vehicles in New Zealand also means that it ’ s one of the most expensive countries in the world to buy and run a car . For example , a new car in New Zealand can cost as much as NZ $ 20,000 more than the same car in the US . Despite its much larger size , Australia ranks as the 6th most car-dependent country in the world . Compared to New Zealand ’ s overall score of 8.48 , Australia comes out with a score of 6.58 . Interestingly , the price of public transport and taxis in both countries is very similar , with just over a $ 4 difference in taxi prices seeing Kiwis and Aussies paying the second and third most expensive in the ranking . And people wonder why us Kiwis are so obsessed with our cars and bikes ...