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Big mayoral cars are out and bikes are in, except if you are the Mayor
of Randwick.
While the mayors of Marrickville and Waverley are ditching council cars
for bicycles, their Randwick counterpart, Ted Seng, has rejected his
predecessor's fuel-efficient Toyota Prius in favour of a Holden Senator
with a five-litre V8 engine.
The Mayor of Marrickville, Sam Byrne, will ask council tonight to sell
the mayoral car, a Holden Statesman, promising to travel by bicycle and
public transport.
"Marrickville is not a big council area," he said. "It's really about
sending out a message to our community that the council is serious,
that the Green mayor is serious, about public transport and serious
about promoting a healthy lifestyle."
He thinks other mayors should follow suit.
"It's different in different areas, but in the city area ... driving
around in a V8 is excessive." Cr Byrne said. "Other mayors in Sydney
should consider it."
Yesterday Waverley's Mayor, Mora Main, also a Greens member, asked her
council to give her a bicycle. Under her plan, the mayoral car, a
hybrid-fuelled Toyota Prius, would become a pool car shared with
council staff.
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Cr Main said the percentage of trips to work by bicycle in Sydney was
woeful. Labelling Cr Seng's move dreadful, she asked: "How can you do
that in today's world?"
The green vehicle guide produced by the Australian Greenhouse Office
shows a new Prius consumes 4.4 litres of petrol for every 100
kilometres travelled; an eight-cylinder Holden uses three times as
much.
The guide rates the Prius 8.5 out of 10 on its greenhouse scale while
most large Holdens scored only 3.5.
A Randwick Council spokeswoman declined to comment, and Cr Seng did not
return the Herald's calls.
Sydney's Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, drives a gas-powered Ford Futura.
Her spokesman said it was the only environmentally friendly car made in
Australia that carried enough people for use as a pool car.