Federal commission recommends 40-cent increase in gas tax

Yeah, my 55-mile commute will be much easier on a bike. This is not the news I wanted to hear after moving the said 55 miles away from the office less than a month ago.

 

I wouldn't have been nearly as opposed to this when I could buy gas for $.69/gallon.
Now...Hell no.

 

You sound surprised.

 

No, but they definitely make a difference in big cities.

 

Bike paths won't fix everything but it'd be a start in larger metropolitan communities.

I watched a piece on CBC a while back about Portland Oregon which I understand has the largest numbers of bike commuters per capita because of the well developed and well thought out series of bike paths.

Toronto pretends to do that but they system is a hodge-podge and doesn't encourage bike commuting.

It's like public transit.

Toronto has a pretty good system by North American standards but it still is not as good as it should be and they constantly spend money on the wrong things.

On a good day it's maybe a fifteen to twenty minute drive to my office in rush hour.

Taking publlic transportation means a bus, subway, and then a bus that takes a scenic route through a fucking residential neighbourhood. Takes an hour and ten minutes. Sorry, ain't worth it. And it's only about 19 kilometres. That's about 11 miles or so.

Oh, and they're expecting gas up here to hit $1.30 a litre by the summer. That's about $5.70 a gallon.

 

What a bunch of bullshit.

 

Bike paths will fix everything. Like that downturn in murders, rapes and muggings.

 

Sorry, what's your point?

The discussion is, if all of a sudden gas is 30% higher, what are the alternatives?

 

Pish-posh and flim-flam. the Automocar is a passing fad, like Gibson Girls and Flappers.

 

I don't know about you folks in American cities but here in Toronto it seems the topic of discussions are, in order:

1) The Leafs and How Badly They Suck
2) Public Transit and Why Are We Getting Screwed by the provincial and federal governments.
3) The Leafs and Why They'll Win the Stanley Cup

 

Ace owns the Reading and B&O companies.

 

Those bikers make trying to drive anywhere in Portland next to impossible. Pray that one does not hit you with their bike, or you'll have the crap sued out of you for daring to be on the road in a car.