Rising fuel prices are a driving force for change - away from autos (LAT)

[jpak]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pennywise9-2008may09,0,5598202.story

When food and gasoline prices started climbing, Thomas Franklin started putting one foot in front of the other and -- the horror -- often walked where he needed to go.

"My friends ask me what's wrong with me," said the 29-year-old talent agency scout, who recently sold his Ford Escape and bought a Vespa scooter. Franklin relies on the scooter, public transit and his own two feet to get around town and estimates that he is saving about $70 a week by not driving to work in Los Angeles from his home in Van Nuys.

Franklin isn't typical. Cars are too ingrained in daily routines, and alternatives too scarce and scattered, for most people to give up driving. Only 7% of people in Los Angeles took public transportation to work in 2006, the last year for which figures are available, while 2.8% walked, 1.4% took a cab or motorcycled and 0.6% bicycled, according to the Southern California Assn. of Governments.

But people are cutting back in a million little ways, and even in the Los Angeles area they're cutting back on driving. Interest in cycling is growing, gasoline consumption is down and bus and light-rail ridership is up.

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[madokie]

1. There has been a local enitity that is offering rides for a buck or so a day

from the local towns to the industrial park so folks won't have to drive so many, one person in auto, miles. I spent some time in San Diego in the Navy and I could't afford an auto so I rode the buses everywhere. I loved it and wished we had bus service around here, I'd use it all the time. Right now we don't do too much driving anymore but it still cost us 70 bucks for the last week and a half. 3.59 yesterday where as the last tank a week and a half ago gas was at 3.29, 30 cents in 11 days. That in itself should be criminal if it isn't already.

[elocs]

2. I don't see much change here where I live in Wisconisn.

During drive times most vehicles have just one person. Busses run mostly empty.

I have no desire to buy a scooter or a motorcycle since here they can only practically be driven for half the year. There is nowhere that I would normally want to go to that is more than 5 miles from my house and if I didn't want to drive my 30+ mpg car I would simply ride my bicycle (it's a nice, comfortable recumbent and I even have a trailer for it).

[madokie]

3. A bicycle is not a good choice as it stands today around here

shoulder on the roads or sidewalks are few and far between. Can you imagine being passed at 65 + mph by an 18 wheeler, me either so I won't take a chance on that as I'm pretty sure what the outcome would be. Our next auto will be a hybrid at the least and hopefull an EV if I can put it off long enough to be able to find one. My wife has already gave me the ok on that.:-)

[AndyTiedye]

4. Here in CA We See More Priuses Every Day, and BART Trains are Full, Even on Weekends

Perhaps your buses run mostly empty because they run to the wrong places.
Long waits at dark, freeeeeezing bus stops tend to deter ridership.
Lack of service in the needed locations deters it even more.
Can your buses accommodate bikes?

BART ridership is way up, even on weekends.
The buses, streetcars, and cable cars in SF always look really full.
The San Mateo county buses, not so much. I think this is in part because they do not coordinate their schedules with BART or Caltrain or any other transit agencies.

What kind of 'bent do you ride?

[elocs]

8. I ride a Sun EZ Sport.

It has a 26" wheel in the back and 20" in the front, rides high and is a good city bike. It is black and has a "motorcycle" look to it. It's comfortable and fun to ride and I get a lot of compliments about it from people of all ages. I've had high school girls yell to me, "cool bike" and a little kid I passed on the bike trail just said "wow".

My city is bike friendly with bike trails and lanes. It has a lot of side streets which make it easy to travel and other than the downtown area, riding on the sidewalks is allowed. In fact, I can ride for miles and rarely have to ride on the street. The city busses here also have racks on the front for bikes. All of this combined with the fact that the city is pretty flat makes it easy to ride. Also, there are a lot of rail to trails here including the Elroy-Sparta trail where you go through the railroad tunnels, one of which is nearly a mile long.

The bus service here is good. Some years back we had a man run for mayor who biked everywhere and did not even own a car. One of the big issues in the city was that they wanted to build a highway through town which would go through our marsh area and he knew more about everything involved with it than anybody. He lost, but afterwards he took a job with the local transit authority (one of the reasons I am sure that we can put bikes on the busses). Still, the busses here go mostly empty and there are taxpayers who resent having to subsidize a bus system that continually loses money.

[madokie]

9. Good looking bike, comfortable looking too

http://www.bicycleman.com/recumbents/sun/sun_ez_sport.htm

I must say I've never ridden a recumbent though but I've always been a little intrigued by them.

[Summer93]

5. Winter changes things here

Closest public transit to my location is 15 miles away and it is the train. The train would give access to Boston or Worcester and from there it would be trolley or bus. I don't know the schedules now but I think it may be only a few times a day - anyone have a schedule?

I would not consider bicycle because of the distance.

[93ncsu]

6. I have a friend in North Hollywood ...

who now bikes to and from work to save money.

She said she is seeing more and more bikes on her daily rides. I'd do the same , but I live >25 miles from my office with no easy back roads or bike paths to get there. Fortunately, I work from home 95% of the time, so I'm not in such a bad position.

[IDemo]

7. I worked there one summer decades ago

I am back to bicycle commuting here again, but I can't conceive of doing it there. Driving was bad enough.