How modal choice eased the burden of hospital visits.

Our family faced an unexpected challenge recently; an extended hospital admission for our seven-year-old. As we navigated the ups and downs of his complex medical care (A big thank you to the orthopeadic, plastics and oncology teams along with the paedeatric ward staff!), we were also faced with the related pressure of hospital visits, often with his siblings in tow.

Initial visits were, of course, by private car as we simply did not have the head space to consider alternatives. However, once we had navigated the initial urgency, we had time to consider our options and the economic reality of travel and cost to visit was quite stark.
We live in Christchurch and while there is some limited on-site parking, spaces are much sought after, and on-street parking options are only feasible around hospital shift changes or outside normal business hours.

Fortunately, there is a new hospital parking building or the Christchurch Hospital park and ride service. While the level of service provided by the new Tū Waka-Waipapa car park building is great due to its proximity (if you are able bodied) – it comes with a $6/hour charge (to a maximum daily charge of $24.00). Early-bird specials are available but somewhat impractical for those with family commitments and navigating peak-hour traffic.

The park and ride option is cheaper at $5 for four hours, but comes with its own challenges; securing a park in the area, shuttle wait time, weather conditions whilst waiting and in our case wrangling children, meaning this wasn’t the stress-free experience that we sought.

Reflecting on the fact that the New Zealand pension pays just over $400/week or sole parent support at just under $500/week, those on a low income and/or government support would be paying 4 - 6% of their weekly income to park for longer than 4 hours. Daily visits soon add up.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to afford the parking ($120 if you were visiting for 5 days), there are still other considerations. Peak vs off-peak travel time? Our longest journey time was 50 minutes in peak commuter traffic and the shortest was 15 minutes. Time to find a park? Where to park? What happens if I’m late? Will there be a time limit? If I drop off or pick up family where can they wait for me and for how long?

While the Christchurch Metro bus service is in general a good system, it would take us about an hour to get to the hospital and involve the same wrangling of kids and other stresses. What if we miss the bus? How long till the next one? How long will it take to get home at the other end of the visit; often with grumpy children?

In turned out that the segregated cycleway leading to the hospital was a game-changer for us. Often with our 5-year-old in tow and our older child alongside, we opted to bike to the hospital, and it transformed our visiting experience.

Cycling enabled a consistent travel time (meaning we knew exactly when to leave). We were able to park at the front door and best of all it cleared the mind whilst on the ride. They say exercise is good for the mind and after spending the whole day and/or night at our son’s bedside the ride was refreshing to say the least.

There has been a lot of discussion in the media about road building, congestion and how more money should be spent on roads. At the end of the day however, mobility is what we are all looking for; that is how can we best meet our travel needs? Travel when we want to? Get there when we need to arrive? We need to ensure people have choice, whether that is by car, bike, bus or on foot, so that like us going to the hospital, transport doesn’t become the barrier but an enabler. By focusing on mobility, we can get to a more sustainable, affordable and better transport system.