A friend sent this analysis of Auckland's petrol and diesel sales over the past 12 years or so. I'd particularly like to see the data for the last 9 months. Wouldn't you?
He sees the information as "...an economic proxy for the region, as well as an interpretation of the aggregate traffic activity..."
The data indicates that present consumption is back where it was 8 years ago. That indicates a big reversal of GDP growth - though it could just as easily indicate that people are using fuel more efficiently, or that they are cutting back on unnecessary car trips. If that was the case it would be a good thing - even if it shows up as a dip in Auckland's regional GDP.
It's about time we began prominently using other indicators that show increases in productive efficiency, and increases in efficient use of resources (land or fuel).
The Auckland Plan's simple emphasis on GDP growth as a measure of the success of the Auckland Plan (or not) is buying into the old paradigm that any growth is good growth - even if it means increasing consumption of fuels that we all know are finite in capacity, and increasingly expensive to buy.
1 comment:
Good work Joel. Would be interesting to see the contribution that improvements in fuel efficiency of vehicles is making to these results.
Matthew
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