Belly-thanks this time for not calling me a greenie. I appreciate that our transport needs are not solely to do with commuting. This was made clear in an earlier post. What I am saying is that those of us in the cities who do practice single-person commuting by car over the same path every day should, out of regard for everyone else, cease this wasteful practice and useful alternative transport. This will begin to reduce our fuel/CO2 bill and the costs of maintaining and building expensive roads. We need to assess also our city planning and end the endless Australian sprawl that sees the cost of infrastructue balloon beyond sense. One reason we have water problems is perhaps that the stuff is stuck in pipes over huge areas, waiting uselessly to do something.

As for people in the bush (and I don't rate lifestylers-by-choice on 5-acre blocks in this category), then maybe we may have to look at some other answer to their problems in respect of rising fuel and other costs. But if we can free-up cash by changing our wasteful way of living in cities, maybe that will help it become easier to help people in the bush. Though this suggestion might get me accused of being a Latte Socialist in these happy columns.

* but do you truly think we can maintain our standard of living while peddling 20 million push bikes?*

Actually Belly, yes we could. It would perhaps just about solve the
obesity problem for starters. As a kid I cycled everywhere. Now they
drive them everywhere, when cycles worked fine and were a healthy
activity.

In the US, they are so lazy, alot of them don't even bother to make
a cup of coffee, they drive to their local Starbucks drive through.
I think that all this will change and will be a healthy change.

We really have become a fat slob society and a bit of exercise will
do us some good, if we are honest.

Yabby Bazz and Henry as a young bloke I too walked, even now I park at least 500 meters away from my stop.
The return trip makes another klm walked ,but lets be fair dinkum it can not be the answer for rural Australians.
No 5 acre farmer I live close to the coast in a small village, but I have lived in the true out back.
All your ideas have merit, I offer to take locals shopping or do it for them , mostly those who take the offer up are users but it should be in every country town but the subject is why do we pay so much?
I put LPG forward as a fill in , we do you know plan to export massive amounts.
Just 10 years ago we paid so much less, if we just took brand new cars on to LPG only we could save billions in imports.
Looking for more oil is not an answer unless we found as much as we already used we would take less than 30 years to be in trouble again.
If we use more LPG we cut the need for oil we can do both and still look for new fuels electric can be a city answer or part of it but country needs fuel maybe bio diesel is part of the answer.
It must be close to true Australians pay more in tax than oil company's profits from oil.

I guess there are two parts to this discussion-one, that OPEC is a cartel and the oil companies are in the game of maximising profits at everyone's expense. The answer to that is perhaps to socialise oil globally, but that then spins off into all sorts of problems and gets me called a Latte or Chardonnay Socialist.

The other issue here is how are we in Australia going to cope under the present system, wherein the price of oil will continue to rise, which will in turn increas the price of food and rents and house construction whilst wages are being forced to saty low, in comparison, thus increasing crime and social disruption. Which is certainly on the horizon. I put my money on oil reaching $200 per barrel and $3 per litre at the pump by Christmas . How then do we reduce our dependence on hydro-carbon fuel, whilst ensuring that people who really do depend on it for their living can still afford to keep using it till an alternative e.g. hydrogen comes on stream?

A lot rests on how we can re-engineer urban life, which constitutes about 80% of Australa. To me, the answers are obvious, as per prior posts.

Well all, what is happening is that our higher prices make it worth while
to develop the harder to get and more expensive oil, which in turn will
slow the depletion and keep us on the plateau a bit longer.
This will hopefully enable more cars to be converted to gas.
However someone calculated that the car fleet turns over in 20 years.
That is too long and the time and money to convert all of them to gas
will probably be unaffordable as the governments funds will be also
depleting by that time as will the populations available funds.

It really is a race against time. Governments are not prepared to tell
it like it is and tell the people what they face.
If they did they would be asked why they have waited so long ?
No doubt you have like me, when explaining to someone what peak oil
will mean to them, get a look of not disbelief but incomprehension.
Well politicians have been like that for a long time and anyway it
was after the next election, so don't scare the horses.

Rationing will be virtually certain when the import bill goes higher
with no sign of an end. It will be the only way we can stretch it out
for long enough to change to an entirely different mode of living.

mean

Come if every new car coming of the factory floor in Australia was LPG from now on, if governments left tax at present rates.
If it took 20 years to turn over the country's fleet we would see 20% less imported oil in 4 years.
But in the first year once savings became known we may see 40% in those 4 years.
We can afford to drop tax's on the cars at every tax point if it meant we are addressing balance of payments and using a better fuel while still searching for another.