Has The Price Of Gas Changed Your Habits?

My MSA is 250,000. We've got about the same. A city bus that goes from the shopping centers to downtown to the main library. Basically a big loop. It would be easier to walk the six miles to the office, than riding that bus line.

And I'd walk the six miles ... if we had sidewalks.

 

I'm thinking about taking the bus three days a week. I so cannot wait for the Air Car to arrive: http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4251491.html?series=19

 

I don't care how ugly that thing is. I'd buy the hell out of it.

 

My sentiments exactly. I saw this thing on Modern Marvels a few months ago and have been following its development every since.

 

Actually, there's a long history of interurban streetcar lines in places like Missoula and Bozeman and Lincoln and Cheyenne and Reno and Boise and Denver and Los Angeles and every other population center large or small in the American west. Go down to your local historical society and I'll bet there are some old photos of your local lines, horsedrawn or electric. Those lines were all going concerns a hundred years ago, but were later dismantled in favor of the culture of cars and buses. There's lots of debate to this day whether or not a consortium of General Motors and the oil and tire companies bought up the LA trolley lines simply to destroy them. If you take Santa Monica Boulevard west to the beach, you're driving along the original Red Line, which used to take people all the way from downtown to the sea for a nickel. You can still see the trackbed in West Hollywood.

There's also a long history of rail travel between all those places, which could be restored tomorrow if anyone was interested enough in restarting passenger rail service as a meaningful business in this country.

If people in this country had any interest in efficient, sustainable mass transit, we'd have it. But they won't be interested in mass transit until gas in this country costs what it does everywhere else.

 

For me, I can spend $63 a month on a bus pass. Or spend $74 in gas driving back and forth from work. It's worth the $11/month extra for the convenience and time saved.

There are plusses to riding the bus to work. I did it for six months a few years ago. Got a bike and sometimes rode to work (13 miles round trip), then took the bus home, or vice versa. Plenty of time to read on the bus. I was in great shape.

So right now, gas prices haven't forced me to make a lifestyle change. But I don't know if the trends are going to reverse themselves. I read too much about Peak Oil and our unsustainable way of life. I know in my own life I need to make changes. So I'd like to motivate myself to go back to the bike riding/busing just because it's a good lifestyle change.

Too many others will be forced into doing it simply because they can't afford the other way anymore.

 

Nova this week sent Click and Clack (NPR's Car Guys) around the globe looking for a new, fuel efficient car. I fell asleep about 15 minutes in, but one thing I did notice:

When the brothers went to Iceland, the gas there was about $8 a gallon, and the streets were jam-packed with cars -- decent sized cars -- with one person each. Makes me think American roads will be just as packed at $5 - $6 a gallon this summer as they've ever been. Especially if Jones' buddy McCain replaces the two oil men in the White House now.

 

Yep. And those Western cities are so spread out, it would cost X amount more to create a system that gets everyone in Kansas City, for example, and its surrounding areas. And most cities simply don't have the money to do it.

If I lived on Staten Island, I would love to take the ferry across to Manhattan, then pull out the Metrocard and ride the subway wherever I needed to go. But that's simply not an option a majority of cities right now.

 

It hasn't really changed my habits.

 

I've cut down on my molotov cocktail production a good bit.

 

jgmacg knows this guy ...



Seriously, the answer is yes, I've had to change my habits. I bought a bike this week because gas hit $3.50 per gallon. I live in a small town of 40,000, and there is zero chance of public or other methods of transportation. No trains, no trolleys, no taxis. People walk, bike or drive.

In 2002, gas here was $1.25, so it's more than doubled in six years. In another six, will it double again to $7 or more per gallon? Is there a point at which it's cheaper to quit a job and stay at home because all the wages are going toward gas?

 

Another item, regarding the possibility of cars powered by something like the Air Car ...

So, even though we could have autos powered by something other than gas, for example, a hydrogen fuel cell.

What's going to stop the manufacturers of said fuel cell from charging a price equivalent to what we're already paying for gas? So what if it's a different form of fuel? The problem remains that it could still cost more than we can comfortably afford.

If someone has a link to a story addressing this or can set me straight, I'd like to hear about it.