Americans Driving At Historic Lows

[marmar]

from MassTransitMag:


http://www.masstransitmag.com/web/online/Industry-Announcements/Americans-Driving-At-Historic-Lows-/1$6141


Americans Driving At Historic Lows


Americans drove less in March 2008, continuing a trend that began last November, according to estimates released today from the Federal Highway Administration.

“That Americans are driving less underscores the challenges facing the Highway Trust Fund and its reliance on the federal gasoline excise tax,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Jim Ray.

The FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” report, produced monthly since 1942, shows that estimated vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on all U.S. public roads for March 2008 fell 4.3 percent as compared with March 2007 travel. This is the first time estimated March travel on public roads fell since 1979. At 11 billion miles less in March 2008 than in the previous March, this is the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history.

Though February 2008 showed a modest 1 billion mile increase over February 2007, cumulative VMT has fallen by 17.3 billion miles since November 2006. Total VMT in the United States for 2006, the most recent year for which such data are available, topped 3 trillion miles. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimated that greenhouse gas emissions fell by an estimated 9 million metric tons for the first quarter of 2008.

The estimated data show that VMT on all U.S. public roads have dropped since 2006. The FHWA’s Traffic Monitoring Analysis System (TMAS) computes VMT for all types of motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks) on the nation’s public roads. These data are collected through over 4,000 automatic traffic recorders operated round-the-clock by state highway agencies. More comprehensive data are published in the FHWA’s “Highway Statistics” at the end of each year.

To review the FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” reports, visit http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tvtw/tvtpage.htm. For “Highway Statistics 2006,” visit http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs06/index.htm.

[Jed Dilligan]

1. Good.

I always knew it would take high prices. Now we need to start demanding meaningful public transport and abandoning suburbia.

[Individualist]

14. Isn't it wonderful?

I had to cancel echocardiogram and Holter monitor testing because I can't afford the gas it would take to get there and back.

[Jed Dilligan]

15. Your life is not my biggest concern--nor is mine.

We have to change, and it is going to hurt. I would rather leave a planet that tomorrow's children can live on than prolong my life on a planet where they will not be able to live.

[Individualist]

16. How compassionate you are!

[Jed Dilligan]

18. So let me get this straight.

I'm supposed to care about you so much that I abandon all hope of a future sustainable society in favor of (I'm not sure what?) I will gladly die for sustainability of human existence on earth and an end to the oil cartels' reign of terror. What are you throwing down?

[Individualist]

19. Get this straight,

asshole! The poor will suffer and die because of hyperinflation. But who the hell cares as long as you get "I'm not sure what". The future sustainable society you're in favor of will be the haves. The have nots will have been eliminated.

[Jed Dilligan]

21. Um, that's impossible.

You can't have "haves" without "have nots." What is it you think the "haves" have other than the surplus labor value of the "have nots"? The collapse is going to pull everyone down for many years. Many will die. The America you grew up in may have promised you safety, security, and longevity. The one I grew up in never has. You should feel lucky that you even got to see the good times. If you are on your way out--feel lucky for what you won't have to witness in the next forty odd years that I can expect to live through (or not).

[Selatius]

2. This is a very good time to increase funding towards mass transit alternatives to relieve pressure.

A bus that could sit 50 people takes up less space than 50 cars driven by 50 people. It would also help alleviate gridlock as a result, which is more of a quality of life issue, but ultimately, even if that bus only gets 15 miles to the gallon, the cost of that gallon of fuel split 50 ways is far more economical than 50 gallons burned by 50 cars to cover the same ground.

[DS1]

4. and get people walking one or two blocks in the cities

perhaps a few more in the burbs, and bring down healthcare costs for everyone

[marmar]

6. Instead of driving, literally, across the street to Subway (as is the case in my 'burb) ....

..... In all fairness, it's a terribly pedestrian-unfriendly suburb, tho.

[Selatius]

8. A lot of sub-divisions are pedestrian-unfriendly by design.

A classic cookie-cutter sub-division is zoned only for residences, not a mix of businesses and residences. Each lot contains one home that can typically fit one family, and there can be as many as several hundred lots in a sub-division. The result is a sprawl of single-unit homes, and things such as Subways are going to have to relocate to the periphery. This means a longer walk or a short drive in the car, which burns gas.

In older portions of towns and cities built before cars, you often find businesses right next to homes. Apartment buildings could easily have units for rent upstairs, and there's a mini-mart on the first floor or a restaurant or some other kind of shop. This was the case when I lived in Salem, MA. Most of that city was built before the car. If you wanted some milk and bread, you didn't have to walk more than 200 feet to get it from my old place because there really was a mini-mart down on the corner.

[Jed Dilligan]

20. It's time to tear down the 'burbs

50 lots into one organic farm.

They are fortifications from the Cold War and are now irrelevant.

[liberal N proud]

3. So in theory, that should bering the demand down thus the price

RIGHT?


BULL SHIT!

[FiveGoodMen]

5. That supply-and-demand stuff only works when there's true competition

Maybe we don't have that between the oil companies.

[slackmaster]

9. No shit, Sherlock

:nuke:

[liberal N proud]

10. The supply and demand justification is a myth

[The2ndWheel]

13. If America was the only place in the world, that might be the case

Global world, global economy, global demand.

And if the price came down, we would use even more of it.

[riverdeep]

7. Unfortunately, this was the only thing that would get Americans to notice.

For years various groups have been shouting about public transportation and raising the mileage on vehicles and conservation and forming livable communities. The masses of people ignored it. Developers continued the old models, car makers ignored and bought out politicians, and the public continued happy motoring.

There are changes coming to the American way of life. You can undertake these changes voluntarily, or involuntarily. Looks like most Americans will be forced into it kicking and screaming. To be fair, the media has totally dropped the ball by painting a picture of endless sunny days ahead.

[marmar]

11. "There are changes coming to the American way of life."

Big ones. And from my conversations with people, I don't think very many have grasped how big they're going to be.

[riverdeep]

12. It doesn't help that the right thinks this is an issue of control.

I heard a right wing talk show host, Laura Ingraham say the reason the left pushes environmental issues is because they hate the American way of life and want to see it end. Rightists see issues like global warming as a threat because they can no longer continue with business as usual.

To the extent that the American way of life is killing us at this point not so slowly, including mass extinctions, damn right I want the American way of life to come to an end. It's not an issue of wanting to control, but the idea that 'anyone can do anything they want anytime' was never going to fly forever, it had to end. I don't however want other aspects like personal freedom or religious freedom or innovation to come to an end.

The right is waging an all out campaign against environmental issues, because they recognize the stakes are high.

[SmokingJacket]

17. I certainly drive less these days.

I pretty much never just go somewhere for fun. For me it started with wanting to be green, and turned into a financial thing.

It's too bad. I think it's good for people to travel, to get out and see people. But it sucks for the enviromnent.

[Indenturedebtor]

22. Depends on how you do it.

I saw half of Laos by kayak, and cicled China and much of Europe by train. Couldn't do any of that here though.

Society is up for a reorganization. It's time that the burbs ended and the vertical growth took over.