Spare the SUV is tomorrow

Posted in bart, cars, east bay, market street railway, muni, price of gas, san francisco, sfgov, street cars, trains, transbay terminal, transit on July 16th, 2006 by MarkBallew

The Transportation Commission pulled $5.3m out of car registration fees for 3 more spare the air days. So guess what? Transit is free tomorrow. [Linky linky].

I was wondering why my DMV fees were so high — so enjoy a ride on one of the 25 transit agencies on my dime. No really, go ahead, and don’t forget to exit using the rear doors (STEP DOWN!!!).

(ridership goes up 10%, or 155,000 people, on STA days)

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Gas price goes up… demand goes up?

Posted in cars, price of gas, street cars, trains, transit on July 13th, 2006 by MarkBallew

The price of gas is at an all-time high today, $76.40 a barrel That’s $1.81 before being refined, shipped, and sold.

In the past year, the price of gas has gone way up, and at some stations flirts with the $4/gal price tag. So what are Americans to do? We consume 40% of the world gasoline, and we are starting to pay near what other developed countries pay. The solution?

Americans consumed 1.7% more gas now than they did last year.

Source: CNNMoney

I have theories on why Americans have failed to conserve fuel, beyond “Americans love their cars”:

1. There is no viable mass transit infrastructure in most cities
2. Municipalities are slow to build new transit
3. New transit is usually diesel consuming buses, since they are easy and rapid to deploy
4. Americans, especially those with families, aren’t sure how to use the system properly (assuming it did work)
5. Most cities aren’t used to car pool / car share programs (these save a lot of gas)
6. “Gas guzzling” cars get more advertising time on TV, Americans incorrectly think “fuel consumption == performance”

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