Leverage your efforts. When I discuss the issue with family and friends, I ask them to imagine that gasoline is $10/gal. How much would that impact them? Then I point to the patterns of gasoline prices over the past few years, and argue that the odds are very high that gasoline prices will continue to go up. Therefore, they should plan ahead by making sure to put fuel efficiency at the top of the priority list the next time they look for a car. I have managed to talk several people into downsizing vehicles, and I don't know anyone who regrets it.

Well, I

1. Work four days a week. This was genuinely to spend more time with my family. That was more valuable to me than the extra money.

2. Share one (compact) car with my family of four. Does 45 (UK) mpg average.

3. Have kids (age 4 and 5) that walk or cycle to school most days.

4. Have a disabled wife who uses an electric tricycle for short journeys.

5. Cycle to work every day, all weathers.

6. Use the bus at the weekends as it is cheaper than the car parking charges (for one or two people staying more than a couple of hours)

7. Have hired a large vehicle once in the last five years to carry more people in comfort.

8. Get bulk groceries delivered once a month by the supermarket.

but I

9. Moved further away from work (from two to four miles) because the area was better to bring kids up in. (and has a strong green movement). At least that way I get more exercise cycling...

Any other suggestions?

In August 2005 I began using the new "express bus" service that was offered (in addition to the fact that my employer is an underwriter of the program and gives me free access to the bus as a benefit). At the time I was also carpooling and so, on my non-carpooling days I usually rode the bus.

My two two carpool buddies have both had babies and altered their work-schedules (more teleworking) and I have been riding the bus much of the time. I can typically go about 4 weeks on a 16 gallon tank of gas (though I can stretch that even further).

When I do drive my car to work, it is usually to be able to run a collection of errands at lunch all at once and because there are some places the bus or the bus schedule does not allow me to reach fairly easily.

It has made a remarkable difference in my gasoline consumption and our buses are running about 2/3rds to 3/4ths full on most of the runs. In a couple of years, when our offices move, it will become even more convenient as it will require just a single bus from the park-and-ride without the connection to the city bus at the end of the express bus route.

I have noticed a tendency for our County (probably the largest local employer) to centralize services near the major city. This has reduced overhead costs for local government, but increased the cost to County employees and the people they serve. Similar trends have occurred in business, a kind of externalization of transportation costs. This puts everyone in a pickle now because County (and other) social services are in greater demand than ever and yet those needing them most have the hardest time getting to distant offices.

In the short term I would say that 1 and 2 are the best bets, but decentralization is needed over the long term. Local businesses and governments need to look at the needs of each population center and try to meet them where they are. Some good examples include Cuba placing a health clinic within every neighborhood and the ubiquitous neighborhood grocery store in Europe. Also, busing kids (or more likely driving kids) to large schools might need to give way to neighborhood schools.

Some points to consider:

1) Telecommuting is fine, but remember that heating costs for the home will likely rise as it has to be kept comfortable for longer. Local home-based 'telecottaging' can be better, and more social.

2) Flexi-time and missing the queues of traffic can cut costs for those that have to drive.

3) VR/video conferencing rather than physical meetings can cut long journey, and in particular flying.

I live close to work and I also have an option to work at home. So I am among the lucky ones. Some days I am required to travel to an alternate office. I also am more conscious about the trips I make to the grocery or other stores. Can I combine the trip for other needs, can I delay the trip until a later time when I am in the vicinity the desired destination for some other reason. Since becoming peak oil aware, and more so the price of gas, I don't make frivolous trips in the car. My son does despite my scolding.

I am one who certainly could bike to work...but lack the discipline to make my kids get up early enough and ready for school so that we can all make it to where we need to be on time. I think that for a lot of folks, this will be the case. The busy life does not allow them to make the correct choice when it comes to energy consumption. Call it lazy if you will, undisciplined, or just the way it is.

It all comes down to a way of life for most of us I think. Education, awareness, and ultimately...the realities of energy prices and availability will change us.

In February of this year, I took a job 3 miles from my home, and ended 9 years of a 50 mile each direction commute.

I bicycle to work 3 days a week, although I'll probably drive more during the winter.

This involved about a 10% paycut, but, between the reduction in gas usages (from a 10 gallon fillup twice a week to once a month), the elimination of the need to replace my commuter car (and the elimination of a car payment), I'm breaking even expense wise, and I have close to 2 hours a day of my life back.

My concern is that, facing peak-oil, peak-credit, and worldwide peak food, my job itself (along with the overall economy) is at risk. I suspect we'll be seen energy savings in commutes because far fewer people will be making any type of commute in the coming economy.

Michael

How about more neighborhood coworking sites for telecommuters, freelancers, and others? See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking

I work for a metropolitan transportation planning agency as a bicycle & pedestrian & "smart growth" planner. I've been using bicycling as my primary mode all my life, so I haven't changed much. I did purchase a bike with much better cargo capacity (see: http://www.xtracycle.com/ )

For most American cities bicycling is going to have be a major part of the solution. Transit simply cannot efficiently serve the suburban sprawl surrounding our cities. The street network connectivity is awful; most people will have to walk over a mile or more to a bus (if there's a bus available). Reconstructing our cities -- from auto-oriented to transit-oriented -- is expensive work, and with the economy going the way it is, counties and municipalities will be struggling just to maintain the necessities.

#9 Drive more slowly, inflate tires, tuneup engine, etc ...

In view of problems with bicycles being stolen, and the difficulties of storage at work, I am surprised more people don't consider skating.
If you do look at this option though, be very particular about investigating the many options available.

If anyone lives in a densely populated city, and has access to the levers of power, this Taxibus system sounds the best way of getting around I have heard of, and the capital costs would be low compared to a greatly extended bus fleet:
http://www.taxibus.org.uk/

Hi Gail,

As I have posted earlier, I have been vehicle-less for over a year now. I live 70 minutes away from work by bicycle, and I can cycle about 6 months of the year. Some truly dedicated folks will cycle all 12 months in our snow and ice - hats off to them.

The other thing I have done is slowly move all my banking and other transactions to businesses who are in my neighbourhood or along my major bus routes. This has not been as easy as it might have been because my bank of 20 years recently decided to improve service by consolidating functions, closing neighbourhood branches, and moving to a "big-box" mall. It is still on the bus route, but harder to get to. I have been slowly changing things over to the neighbourhood credit union. This has required a fair bit of determination on my part - but I like the results of the changes in my life - more time and more money are now mine.

Regards,

Al

Drive Slower.

What is the point of owning a Prius if you drive it at 80mph? I see it all the time on the interstate. Unless your highway miles are balanced with a good portion of city miles, you probably are not doing much better than a Suburban being driven at 60mph...

Alternative transp. - longboard skateboards are the rage on campuses.

We used to live about 10 miles from where I work, but with traffic it was taking me close to 45 minutes. At the time gas was "soaring" to $1.40 even $1.50. We moved to a neighborhood just a few miles from my office.

Telecommuting isn't an option due to the type of work I do (my physical presence is needed). However my employer is very supportive of alternative transportation and I ride my bike everyday, rain or shine. It's allowed us to go down to one car. My wife and share it and we've not once had a contention problem. It's always there when one of us needs it.

I live too close to make mass transit a viable option. I'd have to talk about half the distance to work just to get to bus stops and riding my bike is much quicker.

I live in the sprawling Houston Texas suburbs, 20 miles from work, there is no local bus service where I live.

I use these options:

1. Carpool. I ride my folding bike to/ from our carpool meeting place. Bike comes with me in the trunk of the car

2. Drive 1/3 of the way to a police station, park the car, ride bike 2/3 of the way to work

3. Bike ride 2/3 of the way, then when I am in the city limits, take the bus to work (bike comes with me... bike racks on buses)

There are many ways to drastically reduce one's fuel consumption. All it requires are imagination, innovation, and a bit of skill.

http://sustainable77095.blogspot.com

Gail
I think an important consideration is the technology which can substitute for physical presence. video plus collaboration tools.

all of your options are less convenient for people, so they will only do it when they are forced to

assuming gas goes to $10 and they are forced to, we have to mitigate loss of productivity. this is critical

Most cities and towns ONLY think of cars when it comes to transportation. Madison, Alabama is clearly that way. As a family we would very much like to ride to work, school, grocery and run other errands on our bicycles. We have both two-wheeled bicycles and a three-wheeled trike that can carry quite a good sized load.

The crux of the problem here, as well as most everywhere I've visited in the southeast, is the city and town planners only set up infrastructure for cars and for cars only. To attempt to ride a bicycle, especially a trike carrying groceries on the streets and roads of Madison and most other towns is to put your life in grave danger. Even when the street is wide, with four lanes and a turning lane, cars will come two abreast and force the bicyclist off the road with a loud horn rather than simply slow down and move over a little. I saw it on County Line road, a wide five-laner, just three days ago. Most drivers consider bicycles a toy!!!

Building wider roads does not help bicyclists, pedestrians or riders of small electric bikes. It only paves the way (literally) for a more car-centric future which unfortunately, due to impending oil shortages and peak oil, may not come to pass. I'm afraid hard earned taxes are being wasted to build an infrastructure that is totally misallocated in terms of what is coming in terms of peak oil. Those large funds, if only a portion, could be put into building bike lanes and bike/pedestrian "paths" across our towns and cities, linking subidvisions to other subdivisions, to schools, shopping, church, etc. Instead, our city leaders and planners only think of building more roads for more cars.

We ride our bikes in our subdivision and are able to get to only one grocery store. I have ridden to work once. It is only six miles and would normally be an easy feat but it proved to be far to dangerous. On the narrow Wal-Triana road with no shoulders and traffic going 40 or 50 MPH in those narrow lanes I can see it only a matter of time of ending up in the hospital, or worse. It isn't worth it.

Our city planners, in our cities and towns, need to be told and told again loudly to start thinking about a future in which alternative forms of transport will be required. This future is coming now. Simple paths connecting neighboring subdivisions would be a start. Bike lanes along otherwise narrow and congested roads would help.

I'm confident many more people will get out and walk or ride to many places in their communities if safer provisions were made. It would improve the health of citizens by providing needed and practical exercise, reduce the smog and reduce our dependence on oil. Until the city planners see this and start building these lanes, unfortunately, we are marooned in our subdivisions or apartment blocks with only our cars as the only viable transport.

In our political world today, we mostly hear "drill baby drill" and "pave baby pave" as in paving and building more roads and highways. When will we finally kick the oil habit? Only when Peak Oil forces the issue? I would like to think we could start changing and doing things now in terms of infrastructure investment that would head off the complete, total fall of industrial civilization that would be certain to come if we continue "business as usual".

Let's try to get our city governments on board to start planning for more bike paths. Thats a start, anyway. Then we can start talking about commuting to work and grocery and other places and keeping the car parked for longer periods.

I commute about 7 miles. I'm in a slightly different position: my presence here allows a lot of other people to stay home. I used to think about trying to work from home occasionally. But for the moment, I am one of the employees who live closest to work, and I've kind of embraced my roll as "enabler." It really helps a number of other people to have me here.

We'll see how it goes. I've talked with my neighbor about sharing errands once gas hits $5.

Another option not on your list: Commuting on foot.

I have been walking to and from work for about five months now. I am fortunate in living just 1.7 miles from my workplace. That is a fairly long walk - it takes me 45 minutes - and that is probably about the outer limit of what most people would consider walkable. A lot of people living that distance from their workplace would consider a bicycle instead. That would be a good option for some people. For my particular situation and the particular route I take, walking really works out better for me.

The bad news is that I'm not really saving all that much gasoline, because a drive of only 1.7 miles each way doesn't use up all that much fuel anyway. Where commuting on foot really demonstrated its value was during our recent gasoline shortages. I was not dependent upon gasoline and did not have to worry about it.

A couple of brief suggestions for those walking more than just a few blocks to work:

1) Invest in good footwear.

2) Invest in a good pack; you'll probably be wanting to pack a change of clothes, and maybe a lunch unless there is food service at your worksite. Also get a clip-on red flashing LED light to attach to your pack (you can get these at any bike store).

3) Cache a spare change of clothes at your workplace, "just in case".

4) Invest in a good rain parka - preferably yellow for visibility - and carry it in your pack. Also get a rain cover for your pack.

5) Use a hiking staff. If you are carrying a pack, you are top-heavy, and a staff will help you to keep your ballance, especially if you trip or stumble or have to navigate unpaved, non-level terrain. A hiking staff is also very useful for fending off dogs and other animals (including maybe the human type).

6) I'd also recommend carrying a cell phone and pepper spray even in the safest of neighborhoods, just in case you encounter trouble.

During the recent gasoline shortage in the Charlotte NC area there have been fewer cars on the road. As a bike commuter I haven't been bothered by their reduced numbers. In the future both gasoline price increases and gasoline supply disruptions will mean more room for bicycles on the road. I can imagine a tipping point after which entire lanes are turned over to bicycles.

Actually it doesn't have to happen overnight. Individual communities could begin with some sort of Ciclovia, a program of temporarily shutting down certain streets or lanes to automotive traffic on weekends or holidays. This might help as a mental transition for those people unfamiliar with just how wonderful bicycles are as a form of transportation. It might also help if we find ourselves without the resources to pave lots of new bike paths or the money to launch PSA campaigns to educate drivers.

Also, for some of us it's possible to get a job closer to where we live.

I am a bicycle commuter, and have been since 2005, when gas first went over $3 a gallon. Living in Southern California and commuting by bike was what first caused me to notice how seriously broken our social "system" is. I got to the point where I would say my prayers every time I rode to work and every time I rode home. Now that I live in Oregon, I still say my prayers.

One thing about Oregon - most people commute here in all weather, unless it's an "ice day." I tried riding on ice once and only once (it didn't end well). But there are some who ride even on ice. I wonder what kind of tires they have.

I started with a cheap Giant Sedona, upgraded to a Novara Safari, then finally switched to a Surly Long Haul Trucker with front and rear racks. Some day I might buy a trailer. My company also has a program where we can purchase mass transit all-zone monthly passes using pre-tax money.

I got my electric scooter a month ago. Since then, I have only used $8 of gas in my regular vehicle. I am very happy.

It's a cheap Chinese bike but it totally works as a proof of concept vehicle.

http://kaishanebikes.com/k500ws.html

Another $500 in better parts at the factory would produce a pretty amazing little vehicle. I can't wait to see how good they get when Honda takes an interest and starts making these in mass-scale.

I probably drove 40 miles on the first day, just because I was having so much fun. So the claims of 100 km range are probably true. Another couple batteries, wired up in the storage area would give you close to 80 miles range, or more speed.

I go 32 Km/hr, so I got to work in 10 minutes. With all the stops I kept up with downtown traffic. But a bit more speed would be nice. I can modify the circut board and add batteries. Some people are going 50 Km/hr on these things.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=cl7V5iHOYbQ

Nearly silent, I drive and mostly just hear the rush of the wind. For $1500 it seems a very cheap part of the solution, as I need to wear a suit and look very polished in my job. A bicycle would not work as well.

So many people (in cars or walking acrross the street) ask me about it and so far their reaction has been very favorable.

(9) Cut down to one income per family when practical. It used to be that it was not economical for a mother to work outside the home. If commuting costs get high enough, and if food and energy prices rise high enough that a lot of money can be saved through the work of a stay-at-home parent (through eliminating day care, cooking from scratch, gardening, hanging laundry, etc.) stay-at-home parents may again become economical. It certainly reduces commuting costs.

Personal ways to save gas are pretty straight-forward - with the exception of the simplistic libertarian response of "just move closer to work". This as a strategy for a majority of people is naive. It's not easy to uproot families. Most households now have multiple income earners working in multiple locations. So moving closer for one could be farther for someone else. But the biggest flaw in this as a response to rising gas prices is that the vast majority of jobs now are not long-term jobs. We have a flexible job market and the vast majority of workers no longer work a single job from graduation to retirement. It's unrealistic to expect one to move to a new home for each job change.

If one is interested in taking steps to solve the problem beyond just personal mitigation, the single biggest thing to do is reform our land development regulations to allow mixed use everywhere and set growth boundaries and public infrastructure limit lines. Densifying our urban cores and allowing new development only in infill, and creative transit-oriented or transit-ready neighborhoods is the solution to the systemic problem we face. And make no mistake, cities will continue to grow. Rural areas are by far more gasoline and car dependent than cities. Shrugging off the required retrofit of our cities as "too capital intensive" in my view is not a wise approach. If the demand is there, capital will find it with or without Wall St. as we know it today. Plenty of cities were built without the global financial system we have today.

If a car gets 25 mpg, but it's driven only have as much as another car, it's effectively getting 50 mpg. And if it is only driven half the distance and half the time, than its comparative rate increases to 100 mpg.

I suspect that commuting to work will no longer be an issue of concern. Most people, and I do mean MOST people, wont have a job (read employer) to commute too.
Yep, you read that correctly. But work wont be eliminated (sorry for those who saw an upside) No Sir Ree Bob! While you wont travel to work, you will still be surrounded by it. As soon as you get out of bed, leave the door of your humble abode, you will be surrounded by work!
Work will be easy to find in the near future...just wake up or walk out the door of your home...it'll be everywhere and it will be all yours....it just won't be for an employer...it will be for you. Besides, the coffee at the employers sucked, the toilet paper was thin and of poor quality, someone always stole someone elses lunches, no ones gonna miss the place anyway. The only regrets will be "Jeeesh, I didnt steal enough pens and pencils"

I've found if you try to change the way you get around, other people will look at alternatives as well. For example, my sister got totaled her car and my brother, my dad, and my sister had to drive one car, and I began riding my bike to friends' houses. She started riding her bike around casually and found she liked it, so she started to bike more than driving and found she liked it better. Similarly, my dad now takes the bus when he goes to the beach. It's significantly cheaper than driving and considerably more relaxing.

Hello TODers and Gail,

Thxs for this top post plus the opportunity to post my reply. Imagine you and another person are postPeak seeking ELP employment with a dairy farmer to milk his cows twice daily. If you have planned ahead and can live in a small trailer or cabover camper [please see my post near the bottom of today's Drumbeat]: then you can work for just food, thus outbidding the other person who has to minimally work for BOTH FOOD AND SHELTER.

Same thing on a urban scale: you, and your family, can live in your camper on your employer's parking lot, then use a bicycles and/or scooters to run the daily errands. Since your housing costs are practically nothing: you can continually take paycuts to keep your job.

Obviously, the above doesn't apply to those wealthy enough to have a paid-off mortgage on a house or an Eco-tech survival farm such as Richard Rainwater, Dick Cheney, the Shrub, Matt Simmons, and others.

Bob Shaw in Phx,Az Are Humans Smarter than Yeast?

My car gets 30 mpg highway. Not awsome, but better than an SUV. It is not feasible for me to buy a new car.
I would buy a better milage car if I could afford it.

I tried a bike; my commute is 34 miles. Most of the ride was fine on a bike; the last mile up hill at 30 degrees was a killer for me. Also an hour each way vs. 20 minutes was a consideration.

So recently I considered mopeds vs. motorcycles. I can afford $3500. There was a new motorcycle advertised at $1800 for 150cc model...my suspicion is the quality would not be high for that price.

I saw an excellant 150cc moped for $3500. My concern is I consider this to be a Long Decent investment IE I want it to last for more than five years. I figure road maintanence will take a hit eventually and mopeds are probably harder to control on rough pavement simply because of small wheels; probably mostly to do with gyroscopic stability...a smaller gyroscope will turn easier than a large one. MPG? about 70.

My choice is a Ninja 250R...it is the same price ($3500), aslo gets 70 MPG, the shock travel is 5 inches vs. 3 inches on the moped. Honda Rebel is comparable in all respects except the fuel tank. Rebel=2.6 gallon tank. Ninja=4.8 gallon tank. At 70 mpg the Ninja would go 140 miles farther on a tank of gas; so the reason I chose the Ninja over the Rebel is a larger fuel tank;)

I will save up and get the Ninja next year. Also need a motorcycle licsense!

A standard transmission is more fuel efficient than an automatic transmission car as one may switch to neutral more often and coast down hills or towards stop lights. Being in neutral at stop lights also consumes less fuel.

It is difficult to use a motorcycle in the winter. One had a better time on a bike in Florida or Arizona. If one slips on wet road, gets hit by a blind driver, or has a froht tire blow out going down the mountain, the ICU bills might add up, over ten thousand dollars a day.

9. Stop immigration.

Drive slower!

It requires no new investment by the individual or society. Just slowing down from 70 mph to 65 mph cuts air resistance by 25% but increases travel time by only 7%.

Consider changing the times of your commutes in order to avoid traffic jams. I have spoken with people who found that by leaving work 30 minutes later only resulted in them getting home only 5 minutes later on a 30 mile commute. They spent 25 minutes of sitting or just creeping along getting very few if not zero mpg.

Gail,
In terms of Peak Oil, the relevant question is "how can we cut our liquid petroleum use for transport". This is because gasoline and diesel use for commuting is less than 50%, probably about 30%.
It's great to see the testimonials of what the most environmentally aware people are doing but what about the other 99%, I don't see them bicycling, moving closer to work, but I can see them buying more fuel efficient cars if average fuel economy standards are improved and/ or gasoline taxes were to be raised.
In Australia it costs about $20,000 to sell a house, and if this requires moving closer to the city center probably another $100,000 for an equivalent home. Even if petrol increases X10 fold its hard to see the payback in fuel savings. However, paying an additional $20,000 for a hybrid or PHEV ( when available) would make sense, as there are savings for all VMT not just commuting.
Since most European cities have fuel prices > $US 8/gallon, and excellent public transport, compact cities AND still have more than 50% of travel by private cars, it's not sensible to think that enough Australian's or people in USA are going to embrace public transport sufficiently to solve post-peak oil shortages. Furthermore the infrastructure isn't available and will take decades to build.
CNG conversions, EV's, PHEV's, much higher fuel economy standards, gasoline rationing and use of car pools could give a very large reduction, the other proposals are really feel good measures that wont contribute much.

Cutting fuel used for commuting to work is important, but why not focus first on the lowest-hanging fruit - i.e. fuel used for recreation and amusement? Why play with gasoline-powered toys at all? Why burn billions of gallons of fuel to GET TO places where we play? If you add up ATVs, powerboats, flying places to ski or hike or whitewater kayak, driving to baseball games, driving our kids to soccer, etc. we're talking 10-20% of current US gasoline consumption, maybe more.

This is totally discretionary consumption; humans are creative and we can easily find thousands of ways to have fun that require little or no fossil fuels.

WHY ISN'T ANYONE TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING SO OBVIOUS? How can we be so blind?

The best way to cut back on oil consumption is to change the way that people get to work. Commuters drive millions of miles every day to work and back.

Most office workers can work remotely as long as they have support of management and adequate facilities.

Home telecommuting used to be the only telecommuting option. This has worked well for some workers, but has not been broadly adopted by many workers and employers.

Remote Office Centers offer an alternative to home telecommuting. Remote Office Centers lease individual offices, internet, and phone systems to workers from different companies in shared centers located around the city and suburbs.

By working remotely, workers save gas, time and congestion on roadways. Not all workers can work remotely, but all workers will gain benefit from less cars on the road and less overall demand for gas.

Remote Office Centers and home telecommuting have the potential to save a tremendous amount of fuel. All you have to do is look at the congested commuter roads on the way into large cities like LA, NY and DC and you can see where all the gas is going.

Remote Office Centers are fairly new, but can be found in most cities by searching the internet for "Remote Office Centers" in quotes, of by going to a free web site that lists ROCs:

http://www.remoteofficecenters.com

Our Smart Car gets approx 60 mpg (US gallon), 70 mpg (imperial gallon). Wish Smart would hybridize them.

No suggestions, but I thought I'd document what I do as other posters have done.

I've always aimed to ride to work, partly because I'm tight-arsed, partly because I live close enough to my city centre that it's quicker than the congested traffic and partly because a bit of exercise before sitting at a computer is a good thing.

I'm no fitness freak, so I aimed to live as close to the city centre as I could afford(5 km).

I work in the city centre, and my skills are such that I'm likely to find employment in or close to the centre. I didn't for a period, and put up with the train and half hour walk. When working, my partner can also find work in the inner city area. She's a bus in, walk home person.

I'm seven minutes walk from a supermarket, post office, chemist, and bank, with an extra two minutes to the train, so no car use there either.

50 metres away is a city bound bus that runs at least every 15 minutes 0600-1900, and less often 'til midnight.

Our single car does about 7,000 km a year, a large part of that on mostly optional trips away.

So, for all this convenience and low transport costs, how much would you expect to pay???

Well, thankfully for us, not many people value all these great attributes, so we could afford to buy here on not much more than an average wage six years ago.
People were happily paying more money to live in less convenient locations, and still do so!! (that is, those that can afford to buy at all in this inflated market)

I alternate between an electric bike and regular road bike. My electric bike gets over 1,000 miles per gallon in energy equivalent (actual measured value). My commute is 7 miles each way, with some very steep hills. I'm 61. Sometimes I catch the bus and put the e-bike on the bus.

You can get a high-end e-bike for $2,000 - $3,000 and solar panels to charge it for $1,000. This is cheaper than most cars and quickly pays for itself with savings on gas and parking: it costs me $4 for gas and $2 for parking each time I commute with a car.

The health benefits of exercise outweigh, by far, the danger of riding in traffic. A study in Denmark found that middle-aged men who ride a bike to work have a death rate from all causes that is 1/3 the rate of those who don't ride.

I recently bought a Bob bike trailer, which is a practical way to carry loads such as groceries without making the bike unstable.

As far as theft, always use a U-lock and lock it to a solid object (some poles can just be lifted out of the concrete). I've never had a bike stolen.

More use of public transit (4) requires infrastructure investment and a longer time frame. In a credit constrained environment, they may not be as feasible.

It is simply a matter of priorities, not "available credit".

Public transit has ranked with libraries in public priorities while new roads have ranked with police and fire in priority.

Simply change priorities, raise gas taxes by several dimes, divert all of the new road and 2/3rd of the road maintenance (yes, potholes everywhere and weight restricted bridges, but society can function with those. They do encourage rail use) and budget ALL of those monies to building new Urban Rail. No credit required. Simply a matter of priorities.

The Federal government cannot find funding for 18% of the cost of the Dulles spur for DC Metro (saving 20,000 to 25,000 b/day when completed), but can find almost a trillion for the Iraq War and $700 billion for a paper bailout. Simply priorities.

The "credit constrained" argument is a weak straw man and simply NOT valid.

You do a disservice in raising this false flag.

Best Hopes for Better Priorities,

Alan

As for time required, the French build new tram lines in 3 or so years. But they have French bureaucrats running things.

And even a broke society can build Urban rail *IF* it wants to

http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/...

http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/...

http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/...

http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/systems/toronto.arch/resource/...

I live in an intentional community. Basically, there are 36 houses on 5 acres with all parking to the sides. This means that I know all 100 of my immediate neighbors, and although I have my own house, I share some common areas. The benefits are astounding:

1.) Instead of driving in babysitters for my 3 young children, I have a variety of babysitters to choose from--and they just walk to my house, or my kids walk to theirs.

2.) Carpooling is the norm. Neighbors often ask each other, or email each other, when they are going to a concert, event, the store. "Hey, I'm going to Trader Joe's. Need anything?" Is an especially common refrain.

3.) Sharing is the norm. We literally have a wood shop, a metal shop, a ceramics and art shop, a pool, a hot tub, a big grassy lawn, gardens, fowl, common guest house, a rec room, a kid's play room, 2 kid's playgrounds, and a big common house with dinning room, lounge and kitchen that we all share. This means that when our family wanted to build a bookshelf from some beautiful lumber rescued from the dumpster, all the power tools were sit up and ready to go--we didn't need to rent or purchase anything. This means that instead of going out to eat or driving to a friend's house to share a meal, we save money, gas and time by walking over to the common house to share a meal. I could go on and on about how easy having some shared spaces with my neighbors has benefited my life, and reduced my energy consumption...

4.) Peer pressure. Many of my neighbors are one car families. They use bikes and buses and carpools and borrow-a-car in a jam strategies. We are down to one car, too, and knowing that we can easily borrow if we need to was a big factor in our willingness to give this a try. Also, we were often encouraged to ride our bikes more, and this really did have an impact on us. We ride to Sunday morning farmer's market--sometimes with other neighbors. My husband, like many in our neighborhood, rides his bike or buses to work at the University. We bike ride to the library, friend's houses (who live close by, but outside of our neighborhood). These are all places that I would have meant to bike to someday, but without the peer pressure, kept on driving my car to.

5.) Town houses. Our homes were specially designed to be energy efficient, and that is a great help. Sharing walls reduces energy needs.

Yikes, this has turned out to be long. Mainly, I just want to encourage people to try out intentional communities. After living in one for this past year, I truly believe that this is how humans were meant to live. Living outside of an intentional community, it is a struggle to reduce & reuse. Living inside of one, it is easier to borrow or share than to go to a store. It is fun to stay home, because there is always something really neat happening over here--potlucks, pirate parties, debate-watching parties, throwing a pot, gardening with the kids, feeding the ducks, wielding a trellis, biking to the market.

I have a plan that can cut US gasoline usage in half in 10 years, totally eliminating the importation of foreign oil. It's not a pipe dream. It can be done, we have all we need to do it.

The 21st Century Interstate Highway Project

We started before our girl was born, by

choosing to live in a small city (but with farms and seafood all nearby),

owning just one car to force us to find ways to do it with less, and making sure we have working bikes available to us. I also built a Bike Garage for us and our tenants, so accessing the bike is less cumbersome.

working close to home, her at the University, and I (freelance) out of the house.

I have occasional (2-3 annual) jobs far out of town, which means flying. (Sydney AU in Dec, for example) I don't have a good alternative to this yet, except to continue to develop local clients and take as much local work as possible.. However, Pre-production, Design, Scheduling, Billing, Editing, Post-Effects etc.. can all be done from my office on this Laptop, which draws about 30watts.

This week, we had a banner 'New-Commute Day', when my wife biked to work and I biked our Daughter both to and from school. The car seemed quite content to sit there and not have to work at all. I've got the parts on order now to make an electric assist for the Bike Trailer, increasing the number of days I can get the girl to Kindergarten and back. (from First grade on, we will be in easy walking distance)

Not perfect, but we're getting better. If we can keep our tenants, clients and grant-based jobs!

Bob

What about driving habits? A 5-30% reduction in fuel consumption just by changing how we drive is huge, and more or less free.

Problems I have, as a person from the Canadian Prairies, with the suggestions (at present):

3: Housing prices have gone up by 200% in the last 4 years. If you didn't buy a house near work 4-5 years ago, it's unlikely you'll be able to afford one now. If I moved closer to work, in a similar house, I'd have more than double the mortgage payments (interest rate has gone up too). Secondly, my wife and I work in entirely different locations. If one of us was near work, the other wouldn't be.

4: Although I can, and do take public transit, my wife's work isn't accessible by transit. Just not possible for her. Especially when she has to drop our child off at daycare on her way to/from work.

6: Can't afford a more efficient car. Great suggestion, but a bit of an insult to someone who is struggling financially.

7: Once again, costs money. Not an option for the seven months of year where the ground is covered by snow/ice. Not an option for my wife that has to transport a child.

8: Not an option for the seven months of year where the ground is covered by snow/ice. One cannot legally ride on the sidewalks. Also, they are covered in snow that is too loose to be ridden through. The streets have packed snow/ice that can be ridden on with studded tires, but there is no shoulder because it is filled with 3-4' high snow banks. So, one would be required to ride their bike on snow/ice in traffic with multi-ton vehicles that are also on snow/ice, driven by drivers that are already frustrated because traffic moves so much slower in winter.

Lastly, to those that would say my wife should get a different job that is closer to work: She only has a highschool education. At her current job, she makes $4/hr less than I do. I am a computer programmer with a computer science degree, a computer information systems diploma and 10 years of experience. She could only change her job if we were willing for her to take a 50% pay cut.

We are doing what we can, but a lot of things just aren't possible for most people.

So here I was reading EB and I saw this:

"Crunchy Con ... Yesterday I was driving back from lunch and listening to a radio talk show. The interviewee [Sharon Astyk] was making a lot of sense."

So somebody is "crunchy" but drives far enough for LUNCH to hear a radio talk show on the way. Puts this discussion of commuting in perspective. One of the stats that stuck best in my mind from the quadrillion words that I've read on TOD was the one quoted by Stuart Staniford that only 20% of US driving is commuting to work. 80% is driving for shopping, socializing, medical care, religious activities, etc etc. That's where the cutting back can and must be.

If somebody commutes 20 miles round trip, 250 times a year, that's only 5000 miles a year. The average US driver (? car? person?) drives about 3 times that far. (This quick sanity check does not quite reach the 80/20 level quoted above - what's the average commute distance?)

You could use one of Pinnafarina's new EV's - due out in 2009 - you could also buy me one, as I think I am in love!
http://www.pininfarina.com/index/storiaModelli/B0.html

What a beautiful car!
Of particular interest is the combination of ultra-capacitors with a lithium battery, the first time I can recall them being so paired.
The 153mile range is a great benefit:
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/10/03/paris-2008-pininfarina-and-bollo...

They are planning to offer solar panels for home or work installation to charge it.

Cost, of course, is the big question, assuming that they have the reliability and longevity right - they quote 125,000 miles without battery maintenance - the use of ultracapacitors to minimise deep discharge will help a lot in this.

I live in the Florida Keys which are surprisingly well equipped with alternatives. There is a bus service that runs between Marathon and Key West along the only highway connecting the islands. It has seen increased ridership even though the City has banned bike racks. They were too popular! Many people ride to the bus stop and leave another bike at their destinations. I am contemplating buying a folding bike to carry on the bus but I ride a motorcycle which is almost as inexpensive as a $50 monthly bus pass. I work nights and ride against commute traffic and work 14, twelve-hour shifts a month (I'm a civilan police dispatcher). I have used my car so infrequently I have taken to keeping the battery on a charge after it idled so long it went flat on me.Anyone who tells me my $8,000 45 miles-per-gallon Triumph Bonneville (very low maintenance by the way)can't carry a load should check out my saddlebags, my topcase and my cargo net (conchscooter.blogspot.com).But I've been riding for 40 years and learning all the mistakes I've made over a lifetime would be harsh for someone seeking cheap transportation. Buy an Aveo/Scion/Smart instead.
The big problem in the Keys is the cost of housing and the cost of renting. Those of us that made the move when the economy was booming (propped up by those crazy derivatives) and got solid government jobs can hang on at least for now. New arrivals,lured by the climate end up in penury. Oh and let's not talk about rising sea levels thanks! I evade that issue by not having offspring.

9. Choose a job closer to home.

10. Convince employer to set up satellite offices that reduce commute distances.

On satellite offices: I've read that some US federal agencies do this around Washington DC. Some federal government employees can work some days of the week at closer offices. They go all the way in on days they have meetings or need to collaborate more closely.

Moving closer to work is more practical than it sounds because tens of millions of Americans move every year. Over a 5 year period the amount of moving becomes substantial.

Also, I know people who live closer to work on weekdays and commute to their permanent home on weekends.

My 2006 Prius is working out very well in my situation.
I have a 72 mile daily round trip commute into center city Philadelphia from the western suburbs. I've gotten my average gas mileage up to 59.5mpg over the past 6,200 miles by practicing hypermiling techniques. My overall commuting time is about the same; maybe two or three minutes longer.

I used to drive a 1999 Ford Taurus that got around 23.3 mpg driving "normally". The take home message here is that the current technology and MINDSET employed by commuters allows a huge amount of room for improvement and everything needed to make the necessary changes is available right NOW.

The most striking thing about my current commuting situation is that it's impossible not to notice how hopelessly and needlessly inefficient people are behind the wheels of their Flintstone mobiles. They could save themselves some money even without buying a new car if they could only learn some new tricks behind the wheel. But they aren't interested. They're too... whatever; too impatient, too pissed off, too stupid, too, I don't know what all.

For me, parking is my greatest commuting expense. The city of Philadelphia just raised the tax on parking to 20% so now I'm paying $45/week to park vs a little over $20 for gas. Probably the hike in parking taxes is needed to offset rises in the cost of city services caused by Peak Oil.