Is it possible that we are actually changing our driving habits?  In a recent Esquire story, Nate Silver makes a convincing argument for “The End of Car Culture”.  A bad economy and high gas prices are not the only factors fueling this change.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, Americans have driven less for 15 consecutive months.  Now, I can understand the decline in driving when gas prices spiked last summer, but the trend has continued even after the gas prices fell.  This is a dramatic adjustment from our past behavior.

The bad economy and high unemployment can also be credited with a decline in driving, but there seems to be more at work here.  We seem to be trying to wean ourselves from our car dependency.  For further evidence, just look at the decline in auto sales over the last 18 months.

One other trend to follow is housing prices.  In the last 4 years, cities equipped with superior alternate modes of transportation have seen large gains in the price of housing while cities that are highly dependant on cars have seen sharp declines.

I have been reading a book by Chris Balish entitled “How To Live Well Without Owning A Car”.  Click on this link to read the book through Google books.  It is a good read and he raises some excellent points:

Save money, breathe easier, and get more mileage out of life.

You may be surprised at the actual monthly cost of owning a car and how much you could save without one.  Maybe you are a multiple car family and could get by with one less car?

Well, I hope this trend continues.  Reducing the miles driven has so many positive effects on our daily lives.  Are you driving less than a year ago?  Do you have plans to reduce your driving in the coming months?  I hope so, let me know.

photo credit: jtriefen

There has been a lot of debate lately over several proposed bills in Congress.  These bills, known as “Cash for Clunkers” aim to stimulate new car sales while retiring older vehicles.  The basic idea behind these bills sounds good, get older cars off the road and replace them with more fuel efficient vehicles.

This seems logical and makes sense on the surface, but let’s dig deeper.  First, I have been arguing for fewer cars on the roads.  This plan will not reduce traffic in any way and will encourage more car sales instead of increased alternative transportation.

Second, it rewards drivers of gas guzzlers.  This does not offer anything to the drivers who have already made the right decision and bought a more fuel efficient car.  So everyone that already cares about the planet, you’re out of luck.

Third, what about the waste from junking all of these “clunkers”?  They will try to set up a program to strip and salvage many of the parts from these retired vehicles, but it still seems like this will create a large amount of waste.

Fourth, more fuel efficient cars will encourage more driving.  So, many drivers that will now be “saving” gas will have even less incentive to reduce the miles they travel.

Fifth, there is a stipulation to buy American to qualify for the cash.  Does this violate free trade agreements?  I’m sure foreign auto makers will be angry and potentially retaliate by not importing American goods.

Sixth, this seems to benefit the auto makers more than the public.  Is this just another way for the government to give aid to the failing auto industry?

We desperately need to move away from our current car model and reduce traffic, not buy more cars while building additional roads.  That’s what we have been doing for the last 50 years and look where it has gotten us.

To me, this is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titantic.  The ship is still sinking and we need to make much bigger changes than just trading in one car for another.

photo credit: mtneer_man

Fast Company has an interesting story in their April issue entitled “10 Ways To Jump-Start the Auto Business”.  The on-line version has been expanded to 25 ways, so I guess there are a lot of opinions out there for our auto industry.  This is a thought provoking article that highlights many of the current problems and offers some potential solutions.

Some of the issues they address include:

• Higher gas tax
• Car design
• Advertising
• Social networks
• Alternative fuels
• Monorail technology
• Hybrid vehicles
• Buy American
• Sell your car

All of these ideas to get the auto business moving again are well intentioned and very valid if you agree with the premise of the article.  My problem is that I think the last thing we need is more cars.  We already have plenty of cars, we just need to make more efficient use of the existing “fleet”.

So instead of trying to improve a broken system, I believe we should go in a new direction.  We have to explore a broad strategy to get people out of their cars.  Increased ride share, car share, mass transit, biking and walking are the future.

photo credit: vieux bandit

I saw the image below on Treehugger today and thought they made an excellent point for the power of an image.  We can talk and talk about the differences between transportation types, but these pictures clearly illustrate the advantages.

In the comments, a few readers have made a good case for a fourth image to represent walking, which I agree, is a very valid position.  Wouldn’t that be nice, a clear street with just people?

Obviously, I would argue the first picture would look much different with Passenger Energy.  If each car carried 3 passengers with a driver instead of the typical single occupancy vehicle, then we could remove 75% of the cars.

The story goes on to mention an article that the author, Michael Graham Richard, wrote 4 years ago.  The story titled: Have You Reduced Your Dependence on Cars? is a very good read, again with some great comments.

We all need to make a concerted effort to move away from cars as our primary source of transportation.  Car pooling, mass transit, biking and yes, even walking are wonderful alternatives.  You don’t have to sell your car, just use it less.

photo credit: Press-Office City of Müenster, Germany

Almost every town is America has an army of school buses for transporting our children.  Just imagine every family having to drive each of our kids to and from school each day.  That would be incredibly inefficient.

The American School Bus Council (ASBC) has some very compelling statistics to illustrate the benefits. Did you know there are almost half a million buses providing rides to over 26 million students every day?  Here are some more numbers that may surprise you:

Pay4Rides could achieve similar savings if 4 people shared a ride versus 4 individuals driving their own vehicles.  Even if just 2 people share, we still cut their consumption in half.  Multiply that by some of the 250 million drivers in the U.S. and we could save a lot of gas and money every day.

Now there are not the normal car pool issues with kids since they are all on the same schedule.  So yes it is harder to group rides for our daily commutes, but it is not impossible.  We just need to work together to develop creative solutions.

Maybe we can learn a lesson from our children.  Sharing rides while someone else drives is a smart solution to many of today’s problems.  Go ahead, do your homework and let me know what you learn.

photo credit: krispdk

In our current economic slow down, there is some good news.  People are driving less which means fewer accidents.  In this article from the Los Angeles Times, they quote Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:

One of the few benefits of a bad economy is that you don’t kill as many people in motor vehicle crashes.

According to USA Today, Traffic fatalities on the nation’s roads are down nearly 10% over last year.  This is a huge difference and it means that over 3,000 lives were saved.  In addition, car accidents cost us all financially and a reduction in our driving saves us money.

The number of miles driven during spring and summer declined sharply as a result of high fuel prices.  The Department of Transportation announced that drivers in the USA logged nearly 100 billion fewer miles than in the prior 12-month period.  It is hard to calculate the impact of that many miles, but just think of all the variables:

1. Gasoline saved
2. Decrease of imported oil
3. Reduction in CO2 emissions
4. Less maintenance on our vehicles
5. Diminished wear and tear on our roadways and bridges
6. Drop in tolls paid

In a tough economy, we need to save money wherever we can.  The fact that we also can save lives and gain all of these other benefits just proves the positive effect  that Pay4Rides could have every day.  Are you driving less?  Why?

photo credit: sashafatcat

Just use a car when you need it

Zipcar is a car rental company with a twist.  Members can reserve a car and get billed by the hour or day.  This car sharing concept works well in major cities allowing its’ members easy access and convenience.

For mass adoption of this idea, the real question is would people be willing to get rid of their car?  If you do not need a car every day, this can be a very good alternative saving you many of the expenses of car ownership.

The benefits of a Zipcar members include:

1. not purchasing a car
2. selling the car they have
3. driving less
4. using other transportation

One Zipcar can replace 20 privately-owned vehicles resulting in reduced demand for urban parking and less congestion on the roads.  They offer an occasional driving plan and extra value plans.

The average car is driven just 1.5 hours a day, which means it is not being used 22.5 hours each day.  I wonder if this concept could be extended to individual owners willing to share their own cars for a fee?

photo credit: NCinDC

What would happen if you close a city to car traffic? Take a look at this video to see the positive results:

This is a great example of how to solve the problems of traffic congestion with the use of bicycles. I believe this further proves that any reduction of car usage can have a profound impact on quality of life for all us. What do you think?

Exchange points for drivers and riders

A transportation hub is defined as a location where traffic is exchanged across several modes of transport.  In our current environment passengers will switch between bus, railway and metro stations.  If every town were to establish a Passenger Energy Hub, it could greatly enhance the ability to share rides.

As a test, we could use exiting parking lots at malls and large shopping centers.  They typically have reserve parking area which is crowded on weekends, but not as heavily used during working hours.  Riders could be matched up with drivers if the parking lot was split into 4 quadrants (NW, NE, SE, SW).  First you would drive to the mall and park to get a ride or remain as a driver and pick up passengers.  Drivers could then drop you off at another hub that is closer to your destination.  A web site like this could be developed to allow people to gather and exchange daily commuting habits to organize groups for specific destinations.

As an example, if I am heading north on Route 95 and you are getting off at an earlier exit, I will stop at another hub on the way.  If you are going further than I am, I will drop you off at a hub near my exit and you can continue on.  There could be shuttles between hubs and from hubs to local stops.

Sources of Alternative Fuels include Hydrogen, Biofuels and Ethanol.

There is an article “A Cornfed Disaster - Bogus Biofuels” in the March 6, 2008 issue of Rolling Stone magazine that contains the following:

But two new studies show that biofuels don’t just suck up billions of dollars in federal subsidies and inflate food prices in the third world - they also speed up global warming.

According to the studies, most biofuels generate more climate-warming pollution than fossil fuels. 

There is more evidence of ethanol production driving up food prices around the world.  So while I agree, alternative fuel sources are a very good thing, they are not a magic bullet that will cure all of our problems.  The best solution is to simply drive less.

photo credit: Jeffrey Beall