I guess I've been reading a little too much peak oil stuff lately, and it's definitely been on my mind. It's quite impossible, really, to avoid it if you read any kind of science journal or the New York Times. But, I've also been steeping my brain in The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler. I'm on the last chapter and, while I think he may go a little too far on a lot of points, the background history and descriptions of where things are headed are more than worth the late fees from the library.Anyway, one of the things I want to focus on given the increase in oil and gas prices is my own consumption. The first order of business is transportation and my fuel expenditures.
Work Transportation
The most obvious way of reducing fuel transportation costs is to, well, stop driving. Since my kids are out of school and they aren't doing any camps this summer this means I don't have to drive them to and fro. Which means.... I can take the bus to work!
Now, this may not sound too exciting to the rest of y'all, but before I had kids I always took the bus to work downtown. Well, once we had kids, it was cheaper to drive than to pay a nanny extra to stick around since my commute was an hour longer (total roundtrip) by bus than driving. And then, once they started school, I had to drive them around for that and Henry starts so late I wouldn't get to work until after 10:00 if I took the bus.
Anyway, with gas being so expensive coupled with the fact that I don't have to pay for parking downtown and I get a free bus pass through work, I'm looking forward to an inexpensive summer of bus commuting! I'll have to see if there is some way to continue this once school starts up again. I telecommute two days a week so that helps considerably on the transportation end.
For the last three weeks I've been taking the bus to work and it is mostly convenient. The bus stop is about two blocks from my house and I'm one of the first people on the route so I generally get a decent seat. I get let off fairly close to work, about 1/3 of a mile, so it's not a horrible walk. The big problem is that it takes close to an hour to take the bus from house to office. When I drive it takes me about 20 minutes. So, I'm definitely taking a hit there. This is because I am going to work outside of the "express" route hours. This also means that coming home through downtown midday in the ride free zone there are a lot of sketchy people that get on the bus. So far I haven't had anyone pee on me, but there's always that fun risk.
Even over the short time that I've started busing to work, there has been a noticeable increase in ridership. By the time we get downtown we often have to turn away large groups of people since there is no room to let them on. It will be interesting to see how Metro handles the increase in riders as gas prices increase.
One final note here, the Metro buses on my route are all Hybrid-Electric articulated buses, so they run biodiesel and electric and don't stink. Alas, I can't say the same for some of the occupants.
Other Transportation
The next transportation need is noodling around town, taking the kids to playdates and going food shopping. At this point, I'm too lazy to take the bus shopping, mostly because I can't carry everything by myself on the bus. I would love to get an Xtracycle for this purpose since I can use it for kid transport as well as groceries.
Once Emma is done with preschool, she will be going to the elementary school that is within walking distance of our house and that will cut down on the little trips a lot. Right now gas is still affordable (particularly when you compare it to the price per gallon in other countries), so it's not as urgent to completely cut them all out.
Another thing I've started doing is driving our Honda CRV a lot less (it gets about 22/26 MPG) and driving our Honda Civic HX (36/44 MPG) instead. It's a two door so it's harder to squeeze the kids in and out, but the fuel efficiency is worth it. Eventually there will be better vehicle alternatives out there. I don't want to sell the CRV (both our cars are paid off and have super low miles) and replace it with something that doesn't really solve the problem. I don't feel that any of the alternative vehicles currently on the market have much longevity.
Are you doing anything or planning to do anything to reduce your gas and oil transportation dependencies? If so, what are they, how hard has it been to change and are you planning on continuing with it?
In Part 2 of "Life without oil" I'll tap into our home heating oil issues.
71 Crunchy Thoughts:
It might be a 'cop-out' but as you know crunchster- metro doesn't have the best schedule for me (or for people that work off shifts lice swing or graveyard. All though I used to take metro when I worked graveyard LOL) But for me to take the bus now I would have to start out at 1pm, because I woulsd have to start early so I could catch the last bus on the 140 route, When riding metro never depend on the last bus of the route! Anyway, until metro gets there headsouttathereasses- I try to ride my honda scooter at least 1 day a week, don't drive the Toyota Pick up to work at all(my only A/C vehicle)drive my suzuki swift (think "geo metro") and on occasion I drive my MGB- it has solar a/c. My 66 plymouth gets left out of this solution. Poor plymouth- It actually gets better gas mileage than my toyota truck- but I am afraid I am gonna sell it as I do not drive it hardly at all.
Have you ever seen any who types worser than me?
Spring and fall are much better fo rus. Heck, even winter is manageable. I was biking and walking more but with our temps at about 110 that stopped. :/
Our bus system here sucks. Bad. I don't work and we unschool so our driving mainly consists of errands and ever-changing activities. We do try to carpool when possible and of course run all our errands together.
My husband is suffering sweltering temps to ride his motorcycle to and from work for the better MPGs.
But this is something I wish I had more options for and one of the many reason I admire from afar other cities. Overall, we're stuck with just trying to drive less, driving slower (drive55.org), hypermiling when possible and skipping out when we have to.
We don't have a car. We walk, or catch a bus/train/tram.
If we're out late at night (hardly ever) we get a taxi - they run on LPG here. I've worked out that for the cost of running a car, we can both have all sorts of public transport tickets, plus two taxis a week.
There's only one bus stop in my town, and it's halfway between my house and the school where I teach. It's just very unrealistic. At least now, I'm out of school and not driving nearly as much. My husband's diesel pickup is parked in the garage, and he drives his work van back and forth to work each day. I'm beginning to research new cars, since mine is 11 years old and an SUV... time to replace it with something much more efficient.
I've been thinking about biking or walking, but I don't have a bike and the roads I take are very busy, not so good for someone lacking biking skills... So basically we just try to drive less and plan trips to save fuel.
In terms of home heating oil, prices are rising just as fast as gasoline. We're splitting and stacking wood in the basement for our wood stove to prepare for winter. We'll still use the oil for hot water, but hope to get most of our heat from the wood stove. Right now that's the best we can do.
Riding a bicycle in this rural area is taking your life in your hands so I still have to drive. What I have done is cut my work week to two days a week in town and work from home the rest of the time. I also try to combine any errands into after work time. This means I sometimes stay home for 5 days in a row which is making me feel a bit isolated.
Once we move, to a walkable town, the isolation issue will change and hopefully I can then abandon the car for all but the longest trips.
I've actually considered a horse and buggy but it's the horse thing.... giant eating machines!
I would love to be able to take the bus to work, but I live in a rural area and we have NO bus service. I only live 5 miles from work, so it is too far to walk - that would be 10 miles daily - but I am considering a bicycle. The problem with that is I'm not in good enought shape to bike 5 miles to work - all up hill. The 5 miles coming home wouldn't be too bad - downhill - but I'm afraid getting to work may be the problem.
I've been trying to bike or walk more for local errands, but sometimes it does seem unsafe. I've tried to cut out as many errands as possible - if I don't go to the store at all, I won't buy as much. I have a small car, which ought to be fuel efficient, but with my local stop and start driving in my quite hilly town, I don't get great mileage, although I can make a tank last a long time. My husband's car is a 10 year old SUV that we are trying to make last as long as we can, before replacing it with something more efficient. We are trying to drive between 55-60 instead of 75 on the highway to get better mileage, but we're not really cutting out any trips, since we don't take too many in the first place. He drives to work, since he would have to take a series of buses or trains, and the cost would be more than the cost of gas, plus it would take twice as long. So I'd say we're not really changing too much, except that we're more aware of gas prices and trying to do small things to conserve here and there.
For the past 4 years my husband has taken the bus to work which helps us use less gasoline and save money. His major complaints are: slight increase in commute time since he has to stay at work a little longer to wait for a bus and the ridership (he definitely has to make sure to check the seat for pee before he sits down and some of the people are pretty stinky). When I worked, I used to ride the bus too. I'd love to use the bus, but with my young children and the profuse use of profanity by the other riders, it's just not a child-friendly ride. Wish they'd do something to make the ride more pleasant.
My husband has always commuted by bike and bus, so that hasn't changed. I'm being more faithful about biking, especially to work, gutting it out when the weather isn't perfect. What I really see changing is my daughter and her friends carpooling more with each other when they go out together, and she is also using her bike more for short trips. I feel for her- she has a 12 year old Intrepid, and it just cost her over $68.00 to fill, which is a lot for someone working a part-time job. It's also a factor in her decision-making about whether to take an internship in D.C. She doesn't think she can afford to live close to the job rent-wise, nor afford to commute if she lives further out. I really feel for the kids that have just graduated from college and are caught in a not-so-great economy. It was like that when we first got out of school too, and it took a while to recover from it.
I carpool with one person, so I drive every other day. My commute is 66 miles, so this helps a lot. I combine errands, and on the weekends, I stay home much more than I used to. There is no bus service in the town where I live, or the one where I work.
I bring my lunch every day so I am not tempted to go out and get lunch (on the days when I have my car.) When I drive, I go the speed limit, I limit AC use, and I have taken all the extra weight out of my car. I get my oil changed every 5000 miles, instead of every 3000, and I get my tires rotated every 10000.
Also, to save gas, I let my yard go much longer between mowings. Of course, if we don't get rain soon, this next cutting may be the last I have to do for quite a while.
Same as some of the others, I live in a rural area, 20 miles from work and there are no buses in town. I looked into the train but the closest stop by me doesn't go anywhere near the direction of work. The best I can do is run errands like groceries on my lunch hour since the grocery store is 2 miles from work and there isn't even one in my town, closest is a 20 minute ride from my house. On the weekends, unless there is a family function I HAVE to go to the car stays parked. Since CT has the second highest gas prices I'd LOVE to see public transportation increased and more accessible.
I take the bus and walk, sold my car almost 2 years ago. It's worked out well. It does take me longer (15 minute drive/60 minutes for bus/1 hr and 15 min walk), but it's time to knit, read and I'm getting more exercise. I'm lucky because the community I live in is mostly easy to get around in.
Bus ridership is up a lot in this area, especially the rural routes and routes where people are commuting from communities outside of the city I live in.
We went down to one car last year, sold a mini van! We have a 4 door sentra and a scooter now. We bike or use the bus when we can. The busses here have bike racks on the front so you can take yourbike with you. They are starting the light rail in december so hopefully that will cause a need to increase bus service even more. My kids love taking the bus! With temps hovering around the 110s, the bus is a cooler option than biking but that Xtracycle sure looks easier than our bike trailer!
We take the train system whenever we can but that is generally for longer journeys. I wish the trains went everywhere. They are beyond fun.
My son recently graduated from preschool - which I could walk and bike to - and in the fall will be going to a school I cannot walk or bike to. As soon as he gets comfortable, I'll have to find a carpool and, as my other son's school is in the opposite direction, I need to find a carpool for that one too. There are times when I debate keeping the younger one home from preschool to avoid the gas but I'm not there yet.
I still have a minivan, which is paid off. We debated getting a Prius or Civic Hybrid but never got around to it and now things are more expensive and I'm not sure we could swing it.
We've been riding our bikes to work, because with parking and such, it's actually faster door-to-door by bike anyway. Plus, our city has an amazing system of all-weather bike commuter paths that are paved (and plowed in winter) that are separated from the car traffic. Over 100 miles of these routes throughout town.
We ride the bus on rain/ice days. The bus doubles our commute time, too, but to 40 minutes, which is tolerable. But they changed the city wide routes last month and now there are sketchy and smelly people on our route. Call me elitist, but having someone smell to high heaven is not my idea of a professional commute.
Last night we walked to the local grocer rather than drive to the bigger store to get fresh fruit for the rest of the week.
Crunch, I only live five miles from work, so I drive. I went to a bike shop the other day and looked at bicycles and I really want one. I used to ride one all the time when I was a bit younger and lived in a flat state (Illinois). I had just about made my mind up to make the leap and ride my bike into work...and those five miles are city miles...and yesterday driving down the road from my house there was two policemen, an ambulance, and a big firetruck blocking the road and re-directing traffic. Two older women were standing there distraught, and they had hit a bicyclist who was riding in the bike lane. He was in the back of the ambulance and moving, so he wasn't killed dead, but still!
I really want to ride a bike. I love doing it, it would get me in shape, it would get me outside...but I am scared someone will squish me!
After seeing that yesterday I will have to go back to the drawing board and convince myself that I can do this without getting killed! Even though I live in the bike friendly PacNW, people just don't seem to see bicyclists.
We're moving- again. Right now we're 10 miles from everything. We'll be biking distance to all but my daughter's school. We're waiting until August so we can glean everything possible from the garden before moving.
My almost 18 year old will be going to community college full time in the fall. He wants a car, but doesn't earn enough for gas, etc. I'm now working at home instead of commuting, so we're going to share my car instead of getting him his own car. I think I'm going to like not having a car most of the day.
I have started biking to work 2 days a week (12 miles each way), and working from home 2 days. This is only possible because school is out. We had been homeschooling, and I'm hoping to start again in the fall, which will limit our trip to town to 1-2 days a week.
For those of you 20 miles from work, you might consider driving halfway, then biking the rest. Then you're only driving half as many miles. We've also occassionally left one of our cars in town, biked home, then we can bike to town, and drive around to do errands and drive home with groceries and stuff, leaving the bike behind to start the cycle again.
I live in rural NC, and we're NOT moving to a big city just so I can take the bus. Our little farm in the country is still cheaper than buying a condo in the city, not to mention the taxes, etc.
So as far as public transportation goes, I have very little recourse there.
Instead, I just drive less. Most days these days I don't drive at all. When I do need to do errands and such, I combine it into one trip and try to be as productive and thrifty in planning my route and where I go.
Gone are the days of going to the mall 30 minutes away "just because we want something to do." WAY GONE.
Kids will ride the school bus in the fall to school. I am a school teacher, and I wish I could hop a bus, but alas, the school I teach at doesn't come by my house! So I will still drive 13 miles one way to work. It stinks, but there is no other way around it. I have no local teachers nearby to carpool with, as most of them drive alot further anyway.
I wonder what is going to happen when we reach the point where it is too expensive to even drive to work? How will THAT play out?
I've started biking everywhere, including the places I wouldn't NORMALLY bike (like the grocery store and post office and even the occasional restaurant outing). We live in a rather small town, so the fact that I wasn't biking was just my own laziness. Since mounting a milk crate on the back of my bike, I can now carry things like watermelons home with me!! And despite the fact that a lot of people in my town seem to express their patriotism by continuing to drive their Hummers (covered with American flags) and drag their boats around everywhere they go, there actually are a lot more people biking to and from places. As a sign of the times, I nearly had a bike wreck--WITH ANOTHER BIKER--at an intersection the other day. It thrilled me!
I've driven...3x...in the past two weeks, which is a pretty good reduction for an everyday driver.
**I just want to take this moment to thank you, Crunchy, for your blog. I don't know how I found it--I think it was when I was getting into cloth menstrual pads. That shift was what got the whole ball rolling, and your blog was what made me think...REALLY think about the impact I'm having on our earth. I was a recycler/gardener/save the baby whales/pee in the dirt kind of girl already...but you have truly helped me put the "mental" in environmental. So...thank you! I could never go back to whatever I was before I found Crunchyism.
<3,
-Kelsie
I was lucky enough to get a Smart car two years ago. It's a 2005, modified by a CA outfit to meet U.S. requirements. It gets 50-60 mpg. We use that for nearly all our trips.
Great little car!
We live 7 miles from town, and physically I'm unable to ride a bike. There is no bus service out here. DH and I try to combine trips as much as possible.
We have an old Vanagon which gets 18-20 mpg, but use it only for local hauling duties. A tank of gas can last 2-3 months.
DH mows the lawn every 2-3 weeks. I'm planning to take out more lawn and put in more garden, and we leave some wild areas that we do not mow. (We have an acre in the foothills.)
It's nice to be out in the country, and I have plenty of room for growing fruit and vegetables, and I could keep chickens and bees if we could figure out the bear problems. The disadvantage is we need to drive every time we go to town, and the mileage mounts up.
With a few more acres I could get one of those "eating machines" with a buggy to hitch to it. That would be fun. But if we had a horse on our acre, we'd be buying and hauling hay for the critter which seems to be counterproductive.
I wish everyone commenting would indicate what state they live in. I'm interested in mapping which areas are best for carfree traveling. I've been reading up on peak oil as well, and I think this will force cities to rethink their transportation systems and increase the options for everyone, if we speak up about it.
I have a 60 mile commute (one-way), and I've recently started ridesharing 2-3 days/week, which helps some, but I'm in the process of finding a job to which I can either take the bus or bike (and walk). I currently can bike to just about anything else I need, and it's great exercise, but like everyone else I worry about safety, so I've been trying to map out routes on google maps to take the least traveled roads when I bike. We have several roads with dedicated bike paths, but I still have to watch out for opening car doors and people turning, but I think the adjustment to relying less on my car (Toyota Yaris, 39-42 mpg) will not be a difficult one, except in the winter.
I've looked into taking the train to work, but it would take me 3 hours to get to work in the morning, with biking, the train and then bus routes to finally reach my office. Not an option at this point.
Crunchy, I love your blog. It's the first one I read in the morning. Keep up the great work! I'm glad you decided to stick around!
For what it's worth, Kim, I live in Paducah, Kentucky. It's an old, old river town that's currently being revitalized and restored by a bunch of artists, so the vibe here (at least in the downtown area where I live) is fairly "progressive." We have a grass-roots recycling program, an all-day, every day farmer's market, an indie movie house, and some amazing coffee shops and bakeries. Also, if you play your cards right, biking to all of your amenities is not only totally do-able, but also enjoyable. Ummm...move to Paducah! Join the revolution!
*end pathetic hometown pride transmission*
I have compared living in modern city with when convenient transportation can bring you anywhere, versus small villages in india and china where people don't own even a tv set...
while modern living provide comfort and convenient, but there is something usually lost in our high tech society.. that is family togetherness
I see how family would gather together during the evening, around a stove in cold cold china village, or a wooden bed frame outside the house in warm indian village.. 3 generations in the family would be together to share their story to each other
I wonder if the day without oil, would somehow brought us back to those cozy days
life would be a lot more slow and more peaceful
No bus service here but I live within walking distance to my office. I'm inconsistant in walking. Some weeks I walk or ride my bike nearly everyday, but I'm also a wimp and when the weather is over 90 or below 20, I do tend to take the car.
Pee on you??? Maybe they'd be blog readers mistaking you for a tomatoe
I live in Champaign-Urbana, and the University of Illinois provides free bus passes to all students and employees, though many of the staff haven't used them too much in the past. But they sure are now! We also have a wonderful and expanding bike path system. I'm really proud of my community; we've been doing this for years. It is still really hard for families living out side of town, however. I do know of one person who drives to the edge of town and then bikes the rest of the way in, saving on gas for about 6 miles of his round-trip, and sparing him renting a parking space on campus.
I'm in Minneapolis, and I bike for all six of our snow-free months and bus the other six, or walk if I can make time. Minneapolis is very bike-friendly, aside from the awful winters, and anyone less wussy than me can get good gear and cope with winter.
We picked a daycare in walking distance. My boyfriend bikes all year. We do have a car - mostly we use it if one of us is hurt, though my bf is softhearted and drives the kid to daycare (8 blocks!) if it's below zero. That has really insulated us from gas prices, though we've cut out some out-of-state trips. I don't know if that helps the environment, though - the grandparents just come to us if we don't go see them often enough. I've got my folks in town this week who are fulltime RVers, my dad from Nebraska, and my brother from South America.
For all the people who live just too far away or aren't in good enough shape to bike - a not-so-0young friend of mine who lives in hilly, rural Wisconsin where the roads are so narrow & windy that I'm a little afraid to drive on them, got an electric-assist bike and LOVES it. I think she's riding the 20 miles into town almost every day.
kim in milwaukee - friends of ours moved back to Milwaukee and their bus system is pretty sorry. But Chicago is the hub of an *excellent* train system that goes way out into Wisconsin.
I love public transportation, but we're rural, and there isn't a bus stop for five miles. I've thought about biking for groceries, but the main road here has no shoulder, lots of trucks, and is so narrow that the trucks don't actually fit into the lane (something I'm going to be writing the county about. Seeing a huge, loaded dump truck cross the center line as you approach is scary). Not to mention very hilly. For now I drive, though an electric scooter might be a good idea.
A few years ago, I saw a gig (two wheeled, horse-drawn carriage) go through the drive-through at a fast-food restaurant. The owner/driver was doing it on a lark, but maybe we'll see more of that in the future?
I sold my car when I moved here (Montreal). There have been a handful of times when I've missed it and many, many more times when I've been glad I don't have it anymore -- especially in the winter! The public transportation here consists of buses (regular gas or diesel, I think) and subway (hydro electric). People complain about it, but for the most part, the public transportation system really, really works, and it's not too pricey.
I went back home to Kansas City a few weeks ago and had to borrow a car to use while I was there. There is really no choice. The bus system in that city is pathetic if you're in the city and practically non-existent if you're in the suburbs. When I lived there, I lived right downtown and had about a four minute drive to work. I *had* to drive because I had to cross a bridge that was extremely hazardous to bikers and pedestrians, and there was no bus stop anywhere near my office. That city needs a serious overhaul when it comes to public transit. It's really quite sad.
Crunchy, for groceries, I totally recommend getting a granny cart. You can fit a surprising amount in one of those things. I use mine all the time.
I feel your love of the paid off cars, but I have to advocate my Honda Fit. It's a 4 door, small car, but I can move the front seats all the way back and still fit men who are 6 feet, 220 lbs, in the back seat and they have comfortable leg room.
Plus, the "magic seats" are freaking awesome. They fold completely flat, and you can carry anything you would want to carry in your CRV. They're one of the reasons I bought the car.
Seems like getting a more economical car that would work better for your lifestyle, and trading in the less economical SUV would be a reasonable step. And, since Hondas hold their value, you wouldn't come out so badly on trading in your CRV.
I also live in Seattle, and I bike EVERYWHERE. My boyfriend and I no longer own a car- he gave his away to his niece last year, and since then we really haven't missed it.
I bike 6 miles each way to work, and there are quite a few bikers on my route- good for visibility. Drivers for the most part are very conscientious about bikers as far as I've seen. We also bike or walk to the grocery store, friends houses, for errands, nightlife, etc.
Once you don't have the car as an option, you just automatically plan a little more time into your life. I can't begin to tell you how much stress has been relieved from my life because I'm not sitting in rush-hour traffic anymore! Plus, I get all the exercise I need just by commuting every day- no gym membership necessary!
For longer trips we will carpool with friends (to go hiking, for example) or rent a car. We might look into Zip Car eventually- I have a lot of friends who swear by it!
I work at home and stay at home with my son, so that saves a LOT. Although Oklahoma City is not good for public transport or biking, we do live in an area where we could get to a lot of things on bike - if it were safe, which it's not.
DH is setting up a carpool at work via a Park and Ride system. Hopefully that will cut down his miles.
I've been trying to commute as much as possible by PT. My commute is an hour instead of 20 minutes, but since I also get a work out (walking 2 miles to the subway) and I get reading time on the subway and bus, I consider it a pretty good deal.
My husband and I both work at/attend the same university (in Nashville, TN), so we've always carpooled to work together. However, this month we started carpooling with a good friend who lives near us and works downtown not far from the university.
The mass transit options in our area/suburb are practically non-existent: there is a train, but its single line only services the eastern suburbs (not where we live); the nearest bus stop is at least a mile from our house, in a place that wouldn't be safe to leave a car; and, there are no bike lanes on my entire commute into town.
My car is a small 4-door that used to be more fuel-efficient than it currently is, and my husband has an SUV. We would LOVE to buy something like a Honda Fit (we're a little obsessed with them) but the availability is so low, we can't afford one.
Now that school's out and I have a sitter that comes to the house, my goal is to bike to work 2 days/week. Starting next week, ha.
Not sure what I will/can do in the fall. For the last two years we have been carpooling to school with another family, but my kids might have to be in the before-school care this year, which adds another layer of challenge to carpooling.
I live in Anchorage, AK and bike to work once the roads dry up and until it gets icy. The icy months I walk or take a bus since I live two miles from downtown where I work. I'm lucky; there are two buses that go through my neighborhood right to downtown - I haven't driven to work since March (and even in March I only drove if I had a meeting outside my office during the day. Now I ride my bike or bus it to meetings).
I'm inconsistent with driving for groceries and other needs but usually pair up with someone else to combine errands. I get most of my produce from a local CSA and ride my bike to the pick up location but have to drive to pick up my monthly bulk orders - I don't have a trailer or a bike big enough to cart home 25 lbs bags of beans and rice!
Where I blow a lot of gasoline is driving the 50+ miles out of town for some errands in the rural area just north of Anchorage. I get eggs, herbal preparations, raw milk and sometimes meat out that way and try to combine all the errands into one trip every other week. I'd like to make it monthly but that hasn't worked out yet.
At 26 mpg going 55 mph, my 2007 Subaru Outback spends a lot of time parked. But I own the thing outright and it can get me practically anywhere even when everything is snowy and icy. It's worth hanging on to just for that.
Kerri in AK
I'm a grad student and I live in Davis, CA. I bike everywhere in town, but its not that hard because Davis is small. My fiance lives in the North Bay, and he has a 30 mile/50 minute commute but he works from home 3 days/week. Unfortunately, one of us winds up doing the 65 mile commute each weekend. I can take the train and a bus to get to him, but it turns a 1 hour commute into a 3 hour commute, assuming everything runs on time. To make up for that gas guzzling, I've been trying to buy locally farmed produce (which I know isn't an option for everyone) and my fella has started planting fruits and vegetables in his backyard. I'm trying to take steps to become greener and less oil dependent, and your page helps.
My husband and I live in the Dallas area and have started carpooling to work. We're actually wishing we had done it long before now. We're also moving to the country in about a week, and are staring down the barrel of a 140-mile roundtrip commute. We'll be working from home as much as our employers will allow, and riding in together whenever possible (we're trying to coordinate our commute schedules). We'll be using either our Toyota Corolla for commuting, or one of our motorcycles, which get upwards of 50 mpg.
Hubby has tried several times to sell me on biking to work (from our current house), but I won't have any part of it, and it's one of the few things I've actually told him he's not allowed to do. Our infrastructure here is centered around highways, we have no bike lanes whatsoever, and biking or walking anywhere outside of neighborhoods here is really unsafe. Come to think of it, many of the neighborhoods are unsafe as well.
I've been walking to work for about 6 weeks now. It is 1.7 miles each way, and takes me about 45 minutes.
WNC Observer
Our middle Tennessee town has limited bus service in a limited area -- not out to us county residents outside the town limits and not to the next town where DH works. I work from home. Our preschool aged child commutes to and from school with DH. I try to buy all our groceries at the local farmers' market and try to save up errands to run at one time or fit them in on the way home from church. DH runs most of the errands as part of his commute. Our biggest non-work weekly trip is to the local Suzuki music school for violin lessons (preschool child's passion is the violin).
--Ave
Hi Crunchy, long-time reader, first-time poster. I'm pretty passionate about this subject (peak oil) and our American ways of transporting ourselves by car. We live in Northern California right now, but will be moving back home to Missouri in a couple of weeks. Whenever possible, we bike. I was sad to see a lot of other posters say that biking isn't safe in their communities--hopefully that will change in the future when bikes become the main form of transportation! But there are things we can do in the meantime: check out www.bikeleague.org for tons of resources on how to bike safely. They even teach classes in some communities called "confident city cycling." They'll teach you what you need to know in order NOT to get squished! Biking safely in pretty much any condition can be accomplished with proper education, just like learning how to drive a car. Anyway, so in addition to biking, and something that those of you who have to drive because of your living situations might want to look into, is hypermiling. My husband spent about $1,000 on a '94 Honda Civic hatchback and another $1,000 on pretty basic modifications that he did himself, combined with applying driving techniques that enable him to achieve maximum fuel economy, he now gets about 68 mpg. You don't have spend thousands and thousands of dollars on a brand new car to get good mileage--you just have to get a little creative! I'm also a big fan of public transportation, but I also live in one of those more rural areas where it really isn't that great--it takes about 90 minutes to get somewhere that takes 15 minutes by car!
I'm to the south of you in bike friendly Portland. I bike for everything, groceries, work, fun, errands. I want a cargo bike or trailer sometime really bad, but my S.O. has one so he does the heavy hauling right now. There are so many cool bikes in Portland and I have to say xtracycles ROCK. so do many of the sweet import cargo bikes from Europe, dutch and danish made usually, I think...
MY S.O's sister lives up in Seattle and she is completely car free now and the proud owner of a nice bike trailer herself.
I'm all for the bikes! Biking on freeways is also REALLY FUN. I think someday freeways should turn into bikeways...when cars go the way of the prehistoric plants that fuel them. We have a bike ride every year here where they close freeways and bridges down for the Bridgepedal bike ride. Freeways are super nice for biking on.
I might be bike camping this summer and my dad and brother have both done long distance bike trips up the 101 hwy. I think biking is a real option, not for everyone perhaps, but that's maybe what Pedicabs are for ;)
Start making more rubber and latex tree forests for tire tubes and such now for when oil runs out eh?
Keeping a bike blog - trying to log more than 100 miles this summer. I really want to hit 200 but this past month wasn't so hot. Trying to have CAR FREE days! We have one vehicle and we hope to last into winter w/these habits. My hubby even talks about taking the bus to work once school starts again in fall.
My husband bikes to work most days unless he has to drive our son to preschool or camp in the a.m. but we are now carpooling with another family that lives down the block so he can bike to work even more days now. We live right by a bike path and his office is 1.5 miles away right off the bike path so it's a no brainer that he bike commutes. I've heard that the buses in our county are very good, too but we don't really need to use them yet.
We have one more year of preschool across town 3 days/wk and then when he starts kindergarten, it is across the street from our house. No more commuting!
I work from home the 3 days my son is in school or camp so I drive very little except to pick him up and then we do errands in town strategically mapped, too.
We used to live in the mountains and that was a good 30-40 min. commute by car for us to do anything so I learned long ago about strategically planning my trips down the mtn into town. When we moved down into the valley, we picked a place that was located close to everything - the small city we go to a lot is a 12 min drive from my house and in the other direction about 6 mi. away is the interstate to go to the other cities that are each about a half hour away in different directions.
Our town is bike friendly so I've been biking with my Burley trailer and child in tow to the local stores and along the bike path to other stores. I love it. The bike path does not go all the way across town to where his school is, though and I don't feel safe biking with him on the main roads across town.
We went on a long bike ride to these ponds with our dog on the bike path and it was pretty hot out and he's an old dog now and on the way back, he ripped a paw pad so we put him in the Burley, too (50 pound dog) and rode home with the 2 of them in there and our gear was in the back of the trailer. We got a lot of comments but it worked great! I love that trailer and that co. makes cargo trailers, too.
I live in Oakland and work in San Francisco CA.
I either catch a ride via casual carpool or BART to work, and go home on the bus. For everything else, i can usually bike.
I'm going to sell my 2004 Honda Civic and just rent for trips to Yosemite and such. My sweetie has a Honda Fit - it is great for just about everything (I love my Honda Civic but even though we live 5 miles apart, there's no reason for BOTH of us to have cars...)
Rosa - yes, Chicago is a wonderful city, the one I was born in, and they are committed to being a green city and making alternate transportation convenient for everyone. It's fun to take the train into Chicago and they have a free tram you can hop on to get around to all the museums and parks. I love Chicago.
However, the Metro only goes as far as Kenosha right now. Hopefully within the next few years they will extend that line up to Milwaukee. It's just not feasible for me to go to Kenosha to take the train...way out of the way. I'll just have to find work in Milwaukee!
Kelsie - I think Kentucky is one of the most beautiful states in the U.S. Thank you for the invite! However, I won't be moving anytime soon, but I'll keep it in mind! Milwaukee also has a great cycling program, an several indie movie theatres and farmer's markets, CSAs, lots of organic dairy farms all around, and I've even been able to purchase composters from the organization "Keep Milwaukee Beautiful". So we're catching up. Madison is another city that is fast becoming a 'green' city. I love Wisconsin.
We have the worst possible scenario - sprawling LA/OC 'burbs (no, we are NOT wealthy) with hubby working 30 miles in one direction (no bus routes) & his ex living 70 miles in the other direction. Being retired, I am my stepson's primary driver. We live on a hill up a steep, windy road so walking or biking 4 miles to the market is not an option with a 3rd grader. (If anyone has suggestions for convincing my husband to get a motor scooter that can accomodate 1 child and 1 adult please share!) We stick around home as much as possible and adventure in the backyard or neighborhood on nights and weekends - being an urban naturalist is more fun that you might think! We also make lists of where we need/want to go and carefully plan our trips. If we're visiting grandparents, we hit the closest library, post office, farmers market, movie theatre et al on the way to or from. We've also made a game of making a tank of gas last 7, 8 or 9 days by looking for closer points of interest. This fall, I'm volunteering at school a day or two a week, so the 140 mile round trip will be more than just shuttle service. My stepson is actually happy about this; he's young enough to think it's 'cool' having a parent around. It also allows me to drive opposite the normal traffic flow, so fewer traffic stops and starts.
Hi Crunchy,
I have been having fun commuting by bike. I only work 3 miles from home so the ride is easy. Bike is definitely the best way to travel if you can manage it. You arrive at work all jazzed and energized instead of crabby and stressed from the traffic.
I did that bike to the store panic a few months ago (when it was 20 degrees cooler) but it really didn't save me much. It's very disappointing. I stopped using the dryer and line dried the clothes, tried very hard to not use the ac and disconnected the energy vampires around the house-no difference. It's still over $350.00 a month just for electricity! Put in rain barrels and stopped watering the plants with the hose-no difference. I give up.
cinnamonbite, is it possible your electric bill is prorated across the year? Ours is set so it's the same every month, and at the end of the year they raise or lower it for the following year depending on our use through the year.
If that's not it, have you checked your meter? For some things (for us, water & natural gas) the company just assumes your use is the same month-to-month until they get around to reading your meter. If the meter reading doesn't match your bill, you should call the utility company.
It's also possible if you live with other people that they're undoing your changes. We had a roomate who cranked the heat every time we were gone.
For my household, there wasn't any one month where I could see a big difference, but as all the small changes added up we could see real progress - our gas & electric use are down to 1/4 what they were four years ago, and the bills are down almost half (energy prices have gone up a lot).
Before we moved, my husband was taking the bus to and from work as much as he could, if he wasn't called out of town. Since we moved, the bus service available where we are now to put it mildly, just sucks. The stops are nearby but there isn't consistent service throughout the day, only early in the morning and then again in the evening.
I'm looking at getting a bicycle so I can go at least to the farmer's markets and on of the closer towns to us. I've mentioned biking to some folks who have lived here for many years and they tell me it is suicide to ride bikes on the roads. I hesitantly agree but I feel that I need to do something besides drive my car. Another alternative is an electric scooter.
In the meantime, I'm trying to run all of our errands one day a week, but usually it is two. I quit my part-time job six months ago, so I no longer have a commute as I work from home.
The kids are home for the summer but they usually take the bus to and from school.
cinnamonbite - I'm assuming you are looking at the number of KWH (electricity) or CCF (water) and comparing those numbers rather than how much you are spending? If not, then if the prices went up on both your electrical and water you wouldn't see as much a difference.
If you are looking strictly at the numbers of resources consumed, then you should definitely try to find out why you aren't seeing a benefit.
My husband takes the microsoft bus when he can, but it's been a lot of long hours lately and the bus has limited runs.
I'm combining trips whenever possible.
Not looking forward to fall when my son is in afternoon preschool and daughter is in 1st. I COULD spend a lot of time going back and forth on a bike.
Love the look of the xtracycle!! Michelle was right about the difficulties with the bike trailer.
@Sandy,
http://www.bikesarefun.org/safety.htm
The above link has some excellent material on how to avoid the common collisions - learning those should greatly increase your safety. Just be aware that it's an Australian article, so all the diagrams assume that you're driving on the left.
We used our tax refund in February to pay cash for a good used car. Our only vehicle until then was a full-size passenger van to hold our family of seven. We got a 98 Mazda Protege which gives me an average of around 35 mpg compared to the Astro's 20 mpg. We live in town and it is a very walkable town, with some nice bike paths. We have a bus system with two buses that travel around town stopping twice an hour at most places. The buses run on bio-diesel and some even have bike racks. We also invested in decent bikes for DH and me, and a two-seat trailer for hauling the two littlest. The three oldest ride their own bikes or roller blade. I use the car for making the 180-mile round trip to pick up my daughter at her father's and can't wait until she is 16 and can make the drive herself so there will only be emissions for one round trip instead of two each weekend. I also figured out how to stuff four of the kids in the back seat in the three seatbelts by putting the baby's carseat in the front seat, so I can use the car with all the kids. I hate doing that though and am afraid I am going to get pulled over one of these days and get a ticket for not using a car seat for the 4-year-old. We don't really use the bus system very much here because I so rarely have cash, and honestly, we can bike to anywhere we would want to take the bus to. I even use the bike and trailer for visiting the food pantry. And I noticed that I am not the only one.
This summer is rocking for us too. We bike (Burley for 3 & 4 yo, bike for 6yo) to the pool for swim practice, back home and beyond up to school for camp, bike home. it's awesome! my kids go to school 12 miles from home, not bikeable because it's way too hilly and too dangerous. but to that end, we're planning a move close to the school (a K-8, plus near the high school) in the next 2 years.
I've also squished all 3 kids into the Saturn rather than the minivan on occasion.
we have a new rule that we bike or walk everywhere in our neighborhood. so, the grocery store, a few restaurants, the park and pools. this has really been great and we are having a nice car free summer (with the exception of the drive to Iowa, but as DH says, his dad doesn't have many summers left, so we go out there every year.)
I drive the speed limit all the time, never speeding anymore and coast as much as possible. It's always on my mind now.
I work very close to home but not in a bike friendly area. Vista, CA. It's north of San Diego, full of tiny windy hilly roads. I would need to take a nap when I got to work, if I could even safely get there. I have also started helping out my dad with errands and have definitely felt that at the gas station. There are buses but I would have to walk more than half way to actually get to work. They did recently put in a coaster that can pretty much take you from one end of North County to the other and then amtrak can take you down to san diego and north too, great for longer commutes, but the buses are pretty sketchy, schedule and rider wise. I looked into it to go to Balboa park for the museums and stuff but there were so many transfers and what not it would probably have taken me 4 hours to get there, if I didn't get lost and it just didn't seem worth the stress.
My husband walks to and from work, our complex is literally on the back wall of his work, but there is a big fake creek, drainage, something or other with water district fencing gates and what not so he has to actually walk around, but its still only a 10 to 15 minute casual walk. May change though, he has a messed up MCL and some days he just can't walk.
We also live about 4 blocks from a grocery store and 10 from a shopping center with Target/Walmart practically everything you could really need and its pretty much got sidewalk everywhere but no one ever walks so even crossing on signal you are likely to get ran over. The grocery store isn't a bad walk ,downhill to get there, but there is also about 100 yards or so that doesn't have an actual sidewalk, just dirt. Its a normal chain store and we have recently switch to shopping at Frazier Farms and Sprouts, both within a 10 minute drive, for their "natural" meat choices, although their produce isn't even mostly organic but they do sell a lot more local stuff direct from them in most cases. Got started on that when I went to Target and bought some seedlings from a nursery in Vista and then realized that it was probably shipped to some place in Norther CA then back to the Target in Vista.
So in doing that we are driving a bit more, but I work part time only and I don't like people much so I just stay home. Basically I wish I could get away from having a car but not really a fan of city living, probably has to do with the people . . . I'm just anti-social.
Hey Crunchy! This is true, the oil/gas expense has literally hit the roof now! We all need to do our bit now to reduce this problem and in a way also keep our environment safe and healthy. I too have completely stopped using my car, even for weekend outings. Kudos to your blog that is helping people realize this!!!!
last year with effort I reduced my mileage by 50%, at this point my core driving is to the doctor 4 towns away every other week and large grocery shopping. The rest I hoof it. I can't carry things
( injured in a car accident ) so when I do grovery shop or go to the dr I will tack on trips so that when I am driving i am doing all my driving vs one trip for milk something - i have turned down many long distance invitations either for work or socially simply because I can't afford the gas - while this isn't so great for my social/ business life, I feel better about saying no - I have an economy car now that is too small for a lot of my upcoming needs - the honda crv has been my thought to upgrade, but now I just don't know - in the end that will just cost me more.
I live up on a mountain in a very rural area-no public transit nearby. The only opportunity I get to take a bus is if I am teaching in "the city"(55 miles away) which I sometimes do 2 days/week- then I can drive 20 miles and catch a bus- which is great except that it only runs early in the morning and then after the "work day" so if I only teach 2 classes it turns into a 12 hour day to take the bus- as opposed to just driving......sigh
Otherwise- no real options- could bike I suppose but would have to walk the bike up and down the mountain- too steep to ride- and then navigate winding roads with speeding cars and no shoulders..... so I drive...
wimp that I am....
I do however drive an older fuel efficient car- gets over 40 mpg- I consolidate errands, car-pool with neighbors when I can and try to be thoughtful about my fuel use- my mechanic says I drive about half of the average # of miles people put on their cars in this area so I guess that's a start...
Wish I could do better but it will take more collaboration with neighbors and some sort of transit infrastructure I think.....
We moved 30 miles closer to my husband's work which cut down on fuel costs considerably. Now he is driving the SUV and I get the Camry since his commute is maybe 5 miles and I drive more toting the kids around town. This whole gas thing makes me nuts. And now we are talking about dirlling offshore. What don't people get? It won't help our prices for years, it will be an eyesore, it will be polluting, it just puts a small bandaid on a much larger problem. We need an alternative to oil not more oil. Now my panties are riding way up in a bunch. I swear I am so mad about oil!
I have a FreeRadical (from Xtracycle). It may be the best $400 I've ever spent. Sooooo awesome. I have a 6 year old and an 8 year old. We can go to the beach on it and avoid parking and traffic hassles (with towels, toys, and lunch). We can go to the library, farmers market, community garden, and park all in one trip. Much quicker getting them on and off the bike than into and out of the (hot) car. Can't recommend it enough.
My DH is biking to work whenever his schedule allows, which has been every 3rd to 4th day. It's an 18 mile ride each way.
We keep a running list of groceries/necessities that we need and where, and he shops at one place on days when he takes the car. This makes it so I don't have to go anywhere that I can't bike with the baby in a trailer.
And don't laugh, but when DH finishes his current job and we start our business out here ... we plan on getting a horse and buggy. LOL :)
Becca
We just bought more bikes for my dh and myself as well as a tag-a-long for our non-riding ds.
Dh rides his bike to work each day (4km each way) and if I have to go to town for errands I ride my old 5 speed with the cool wire market basket hooked onto the bike rack. (The new bike has more gears to haul the tag-a-long with) I also ride my bike to work but it's only 3 blocks!
I used to get our groceries once a week by piling everything into the bike trailer, the one ds used to ride in. Right now the trailer hitch is broken but I'm hoping the older ds will get it fixed soon.
The best part about living near town is the ability to ride or walk everywhere. Those city folk who move here and buy a 'country estate' 5-10 miles out of town have to drive, drive, drive every single time they want to go anywhere.
With teens who work part-time and with kids who are off to various activities all the time it's really nice that they can walk or bike to their destinations.
The advantage of living in a small town is the traffic isn't problematic as it is in large cities. Disadvantage - no bus service really.
Love your blog!
My husband bikes to work most days, and I don't drive much, so gas prices have been little more than an annoyance at this point. I drive a car that gets only slightly better mileage than your CRV, and my husband drives a very efficient car. I agree with you completely on not trading to a new alternative on vehicles. Nothing out there has impressed me to the point of going back to car payments. I just saw a SmartCar on the road the other day and looked them up, but with the concessions they made to sell in the US, they are not that impressive with the gas miles.
Great post as usual, Crunchy.
I'd love for you to check out
my post on peak oil, "One Thing
to Rule Them All." While you
deal with how we can tackle this
problem as individuals and
families, I talk about it from
a governmental standpoint. Thanks.
We don't have a decent bus system here, but my husband's been taking my (better mileage) car instead of his old Cherokee to work four days a week. I need it once most weeks to get errands run, or for playdates. He was carpooling with another teacher during the school year, but no one's available for summer school.
We're seeing a little less of friends who live across town. Staying home more in general.
And I'm using the grocery store nearest to us, even though it's more expensive. I've realized I buy less just because it's more convenient to come back if I need something else. Instead of stocking up on stuff we don't really need "just in case" because I don't want to make another trip across town. So I've cut back on gas and grocery spending, while shopping at the expensive (though not particularly nice) store. Weird!
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