QuoteThe American car culture is running out of gas
John Timpane
Call it a change of plan.
Across the nation, the price of gasoline is sending more and more Americans to public transit.
This ridership surge points up three things: (1) These millions of new riders can do it. Most of them always could have. They just didn't. (2): We're not at the end of car culture yet . . . that's a few generations off . . . but (3) it's clear, in not-quite-hindsight, that the U.S. car culture does not work.
Meanwhile, more people are parking the car and hopping on the train or bus. Just ask the people at SEPTA. Director of public affairs Richard Maloney says: "It's been a steady upward curve for the last 18 months, 14 percent growth in that time and 24 percent in the last three years, driven primarily by gasoline prices." Growth is greatest, he says, in regional rail, among suburban communities, and among people with long car commutes.
On the eastern side of the Delaware, New Jersey Transit's Trenton-to-Camden River Line had its best-ever quarter ended in September, averaging a record 7,900 riders a day, and followed that with another record quarter through December. And the Delaware River Port Authority says ridership on the PATCO High-Speed Line is up 7 percent from a year ago.
All of which fits a big national pattern. According to a May 10 New York Times survey, metro Minneapolis, Dallas, Seattle, and San Francisco all are seeing ridership spikes, with big gains both where public transit is long-established (New York, Boston) and where it is comparatively new (Houston, Charlotte, N.C.).
Clarence W. Marsella, chief executive of the Denver Regional Transportation District, told the Times that gasoline prices had brought on a "tipping point" regarding ridership. Maybe so. Or is this just momentary, and once we get used to higher prices, we'll backslide into former habits?I can imagine a reasonable objection: "The car culture doesn't work? The car has made our lives possible! It has made this country great, made contemporary life what it is today. Life without cars - without the unquestioned right to personal mobility at will - is unimaginable. You couldn't have the suburbs without the auto. Didn't Frank Lloyd Wright design his modern suburbs based on the car? And Levittown . . ."
Agreed. All true. Car culture got us where we wanted when we wanted - for five generations. Much has been spectacular, beyond what could have been dreamed 100 years ago.
How, then, can I say that car culture doesn't work? Because the cost to individual and communal life, and to the environment, has been too high. And the bill is just now coming due.
It's not evil, just heedless. People take the opportunities they're given. They have the right. The car symbolizes freedom, rights of passage, career, sexuality. We've created the national road system, bought hundreds of millions of cars, based hundreds of millions of lives on the assumption that Hey, we can just drive. But all that time, we've been burning resources, replacing none. (How much steel have we put back in the ground? How much oil?)
We've basically laid the environment to waste, millions of acres never to return, all because there was no plan B. Roads are good things - but where you build a road, you outrage an environment, and no one ever rectifies it. The sad sprawl of the 1980s and 1990s, when people let towns metastasize into hastily planned and built exurban strips - that worked well, didn't it?
And does anyone think the morning and evening rush is good for us? Individually and as a society? Single drivers (70 percent and more in many metro area traffic jams) in single cars, edging ahead, until sometimes it seems as if the ambient blood pressure is about to blow? (Studies show traffic jams do contribute to stress and high blood pressure. But you knew that.)
And wasteful: The car commute amounts to a willing sacrifice of billions of hours of precious, productive time. U.S. Census figures suggest the average U.S. driver spends 100 hours commuting a year (the standard vacation, 10 work days of eight hours apiece, is only 80 hours). Philadelphia ranks fifth among cities with a long one-way commute (29.4 minutes); New Jersey ranks third among states (28.5 minutes). Traffic jams waste time, and therefore bucks: A 2007 Texas Traffic Institute study said that in 2005, folks wasted an average of 38 hours a year stalled, for grand totals of 4.2 billion hours, 2.9 billion gallons of fuel, and a loss to the economy of $78.2 billion. That's what I call not working. (At least you can work on a train or bus.)
This has wrecked family life for many who live farther and farther from work - and so work farther and farther from home. It has created the commuter suburb, whose residents have little to do with their towns except, just about, the bed where they happen to sleep between commutes. How great is that?
We will all put up with it, as long as we can get where we're going.
I sure did. It's with us for the foreseeable. But no one has to love it. Many are now finding there are other ways. As oil gets scarcer and pricier, people may start to work closer to home, based on resources. They're starting to, it seems. That may benefit cities, with people increasingly opting for "elegant density" and closeness to work and amenities. We should have been doing this all along. We just weren't paying attention.
So, no, we haven't reached the tipping point - we've reached a pocketbook point. When things really tip, we'll discover - gasp - we don't have enough trains and buses for those who need them. (Already, says Maloney, SEPTA "has every available car in service" and is "searching internationally" for more train cars.)
Life will change. The roads will start getting lonely. It's a while off - but worth thinking about. Maybe then we'll make a plan B.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080518_The_American_car_culture_is_running_out_of_gas.html
good article Lunican. you should look at getting a (road) bike to lessen your dependence on gasoline. :D
Perfect. I love the comment the author made about how we all always "could have" traveled by other means, we "just didn't." That's what happens when you build a society around the premise that what you have is directly related to who you are as a person. If you don't have a car, you're nothing. And if you're not driving the biggest, newest car, you're really nothing.
I remember when I was young, looking at the people waiting for the bus and whizzing past them in my boyfriend's new sports car and thinking, "...what a bunch of losers having to ride the bus." A few years later, I found the bus was the greatest thing created because I could get all the way from Arlington to the Beach to hang out with my friends without being dependent on my parents or others. It made me look at things a whole lot different. And of course, now that I have my bike(s) and am not afraid of traffic so much,there's an entire world of possibilites:-)
It's a very idealistic article, but I think people may under-estimate America’s love of the automobile. I doubt even with gas costing 6-8 bucks a gallon (if that actually happens) will convince enough people to park their cars.
As for not having a car completely, the thought has crossed my mind mainly due to the cost, but my love of travel and spontaneity makes me cringe when thinking of having to rely completely on taking a bus or renting a car to go anywhere. Especially in this town...1.5 hour bus ride to the beach? No thanks! I'm talking about having a car for weekend trips or to see relatives across town, not for commuting to work 50 miles from the suburbs every day.
I think you can own a car and cut down on contributing to the problem if you choose not to drive as often, live in a pedestrian friendly area, give friends rides, ride with them and balance it out with public transportation. We don't have to give it up completely, this isn't NYC and it's just not practical to ditch your car all together especially if your life, friends & loved ones are spread out over this 800+ sq mile blob of a city.
The anti-car movement is on though, I especially noticed it gaining momentum in my visit to the Northwest recently, but i'm just not ready to part with my ride and depend completely on other elements to get around.
I was going to take the bus to the beach to see some family last week, so i figured up my cost on the JTA website, and then I figured up my cost in gas on the AAA gas calculator website, I could drive there and back cheaper than I could ride the bus, and I could go on my schedule.
Quote from: David on June 05, 2008, 05:17:29 PM
As for not having a car completely, the thought has crossed my mind mainly due to the cost, but my love of travel and spontaneity makes me cringe when thinking of having to rely completely on taking a bus or renting a car to go anywhere. Especially in this town...1.5 hour bus ride to the beach? No thanks! I'm talking about having a car for weekend trips or to see relatives across town, not for commuting to work 50 miles from the suburbs every day.
SCOOTER people, SCOOTER. 70 mpg. and for shorter trips: BICYCLE.
keep your spontaneity.
Quote from: Driven1 on June 05, 2008, 09:41:59 PM
Quote from: David on June 05, 2008, 05:17:29 PM
As for not having a car completely, the thought has crossed my mind mainly due to the cost, but my love of travel and spontaneity makes me cringe when thinking of having to rely completely on taking a bus or renting a car to go anywhere. Especially in this town...1.5 hour bus ride to the beach? No thanks! I'm talking about having a car for weekend trips or to see relatives across town, not for commuting to work 50 miles from the suburbs every day.
SCOOTER people, SCOOTER. 70 mpg. and for shorter trips: BICYCLE.
keep your spontaneity.
good points, but biking the 2.7 miles to work in summer heat means I need to shower after I get there. Scooters you trade in safety for gas milage. It's not the short trips that are straining our energy supplies though, it's the 50 mile roundtrips to work and other events that are the problem. It's possible to conserve in a car too. I burn through about 2-3 gallons a week because I balance out biking, walking and catching the riverside trolley for lunch. But I know, it's fashionable to hate cars right now!
summer heat is only "overbearing" about 5 months out of the year here. real cold winter days are about 30 a year probably. that leaves about 6 months of "bikable commuting" days for you.
But if we drill for oil everywhere in this country, we can continue our car culture unabated for another 20-30 years, maybe use even bigger cars. 12 lane JTB and build multi level parking garages in LaVilla.
The larger the vehicle, the more profitable is is for auto manufacturers. Not to mention the positive effect on the construction industry building all those roads and parking garages.
That should carry us through to our old age, then after that we don't have to worry about anything.
And that will be fine because we won't be inconvenienced, having to ride the bus or a tiny sedan size car. Behemoth SUV's will then be the wave of the future.
Quote from: Driven1 on June 07, 2008, 02:14:03 PM
summer heat is only "overbearing" about 5 months out of the year here. real cold winter days are about 30 a year probably. that leaves about 6 months of "bikable commuting" days for you.
Yea i'm just playing devil's advocate . I bike around the urban core most of the year actually, only june- august make it nearly impossible. I can take the heat up until then... September it backs off a bit and fall & spring = golden biking weather.
QuoteGas hits national average of $4 for the first time
ADAM SCHRECK
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK â€" The average price of regular gas crept up to $4 a gallon for the first time over the weekend, passing the once-unthinkable milestone just in time for the peak summer travel season.
Prices at the pump are expected to keep climbing, especially after last week's furious surge in oil prices, which neared $140 a barrel in a record-shattering rally Friday.
While Americans who have to drive will feel the biggest squeeze, the increased prices also translate into higher costs for consumers and businesses, who will be forced to shoulder increased costs for food and anything else that needs to be transported.
Full Article
http://wire.jacksonville.com/pstories/business/20080608/288036693.shtml
i was talking with my wife today about when it was $1/gallon (2001???). amazing. we were remembering that we could go to NC and back for roughly $40. That same trip is now $160.
(actually, there was one trip where we paid an average of around 75 cents/gallon - $30 roundtrip!! ah, the good ole days.)
In 1997 when I starting driving I had a 1986 Jeep CJ7 that my dad and I restored a little but....I remember getting gas at the Smile Gas in Fernandina Beach for .98 cents a gallon...
*in shaky elderly voice* I remember gas being as low as EIGHTTTTTTTY-FOURRRRRRR cents a gallon I do, summer of 99 it was. There was no war, no aids and everyone was doin the rave they were.
I remember .36 gas..... :o
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25010939
"Transportation experts who have pushed mass transit since the 1970s are getting their wish as soaring gas prices persuade Americans to abandon their cars for buses and trains in record numbers. But as the adage says, be careful what you wish for."
64 cents or 69 cents was the lowest I remember. LOL - 36 cents RoadKing!!! You are giving away your age!
.47 at Ownes on the corner of Phillips and Univ.--well, back more toward the RR tracks...before the huge overpass was built. That was probably 1975 or 1976. Mom was driving a 1967 VW bug. She was way ahead of her time. Well, actually, it's all we could afford. Everybody was miserable back then. Thank you Jimmy Carter!
How about .28 - .31 at US-17 and Timuquana? The ANCIENT ONE has spoken!
Ocklawaha
but what were you driving? a micro bus? or a magic carpet ride? haha
I think it was a Triumph, I was too young to drive but a friend had one. The floor was rusted out and nothing worked but the engine, gas and brake. The joke was, if we needed to stop FAST, everyones "SHOES TO THE GROUND!" Lost more shoes that way... Hee Hee
Ocklawaha
Jacksonville's car culture continues to thrive! Mint.com is a website that helps you track how and where you spend your money from month-to-month. The graphic linked below shows how much mint.com users in different cities spend on gas each month. Jacksonville is #3!
http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/mint-data-shows-where-the-gas-money-goes/?display=wide