Microcars can relieve delays to CRL
Increased traffic congestion due to delays to the City Rail Link can be relieved by investing in a large fleet of leased
electric Microcars.
Founder Toa Greening of Project Microcar is currently working on a revolutionary form of public transport in the shape
of electric narrow track Microcars. Narrow track electric Microcars have been available for some time now but Toa
Greening explains that “The true benefit of these vehicles is that they are the same width as a standard motorcycle,
therefore just like a motorcycle they can be navigated through congested traffic.”
Toa Greening adds “What Project Microcar has done is to go one step further and investigate the impacts of replacing
normal cars on congested parts of the motorway with narrow track electric Microcars. Studies on transportation shifts to
motorcycles and tramlines provided the data to calculate that 15,000 narrow track electric Microcars or 25% was required
to remove congestion from Auckland’s central motorway section.“
Toa Greening admits that the project has plenty of sceptics “but what if in addition to solving traffic congestion, the
vehicles were engineered for safety, leased at an affordable rate, had a reasonable daily commuter range, sustainable
and cost neutral over time to the funder, then surely this would be a direction to pursue?”
The project has now attracted a lot of attention and evolving at a rapid pace. “We now have three overseas narrow track
electric Microcar manufacturers onboard, a local electric vehicle technology company leading the technical aspects,
engaging University researchers to validate the findings and speaking to a business incubator on an appropriate business
model.”
Toa Greening reflects “this started off as a personal challenge to see if there was another way to solve traffic
congestion. However the further I researched the more obvious it became that we have untapped capacity on our exiting
road networks at peak times. All we plan to do is to compress vehicles into the same road space, which when you take a
step back is the logical approach to take.”
“Many other cities are embracing electric vehicles with Brisbane building charging stations, many parts of US/Europe
with charging stations, Paris rolling out shared electric vehicles, road user subsidies, government subsidies, so yes
the time has definitely come for New Zealand to play its part.”
Project Microcar hopes to release further results this year and a full project plan for funding. Toa Greenings final
word “Our goal is to solve traffic congestion in a way that is cost neutral to the funder, affordable/safe/convenient
for the customer and ultimately sustainable.”
ENDS