I've thought long and hard about it and really there is no other option.

Petrol prices are ridiculous and the poor public transport in Wollondilly means I will soon have to make a choice to walk or pedal to my desired destination.

Last week the CSIRO warned that petrol prices could reach as high as $8 a litre in the next 10 years. If things get that bad I might have to leave a sleeping bag under my desk at work for the days I can't afford to drive home.

Paying $8 a litre for fuel could also be devastating for the 60per cent of people travelling out of our shire to get to work.

I'd like to think that the rising petrol prices would make more people use public transport but until improvements are made to our rail network that's unlikely.

Just to travel around our shire on public transport is difficult enough. It's 23kilometres just between my house in Bargo and our office in Picton.

If I don't want to drive, then there is a train from Bargo at 7.30am which would get me to work one hour and 15 minutes early or a train at 9.13am which would get me to work half an hour late.

And the only buses from Bargo in the morning are at 6.48am and 9.34am.

In the afternoon, trains aren't much better with an hour gap between the 5.02 service and the 6.01 service.

If it's this much of a hassle to find transport when I only work in Picton then I can imagine how hard it is for people working in the city.

I recently travelled to Queensland and even the smallest towns had buses drive through them so often that we were never waiting for more than half an hour to catch one.

But down here I have no choice but to drive 46kilometres a day just to get to work and back which isn't good for my hip pocket or the planet.

The only way I could reduce my carbon emissions and save money would be to spend an extra 2 hours each day at work which doesn't weigh up against spending time with the people I love.

I guess if Mr Rudd can't help by keeping petrol prices down then thank goodness there's only 166 sleeps until Christmas.

mfenech@fairfaxmedia.com.au