Using The Internet To Save Fuel  

Scoop has an interesting report on some shifts in behaviour in New Zealand due to higher fuel prices - rural people are making more use of the internet in order to reduce the amount of driving they do.

Rural people are increasingly turning to the internet in response to rising fuel costs, according to rural broadband provider Farmside. During April, as fuel prices rose weekly1, the Farmside Contact Centre experienced a 97% increase in rural broadband enquiries with a similar pattern emerging through May, says Farmside sales and marketing director, Nick Carter.

"Many of our new customers are citing rising fuel costs as one of the main reasons for getting satellite or wireless broadband", he says. "They realise they can save money by using the internet for errands that have traditionally required a personal trip, like banking, shopping, vehicle registration, study or even doing tax returns.

"The average driver in rural New Zealand spends 300 hours driving nearly 15,000 km each year, with 30 percent of this travel for reasons such as shopping or to carry out personal business2. With the increase in online services offered by the retail, business and government sectors, rural people are becoming more aware of how using the internet can save on travel costs.

"If you use the AA estimation3 of 11.90 litres of petrol used per 100km for a V6 or V8 vehicle similar to that driven by many rural people, a 20 percent annual reduction in travel (3000 kms) through increased internet use for things such as business, shopping and online banking, based on today's petrol prices (95/96) of around $2.019 per litre4, would equate to an annual saving on petrol alone of $720.78