Too much gas use, not enough exercise

[annathepiper]

Wow, two episodes of Bad Idea Theater this week! Today's winner? Senators pushing for $100 gas rebate checks. Never mind that this bill also includes opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling (which annoys me all by itself; wrecking more of the environment by drilling in wildlife refuges and relaxing pollution-control standards does not make a good energy policy). I just want to know, where is this money supposed to come from, when we've hit an all-time record high deficit in this country?

And let's also ask the question of how long such a rebate would even be useful anyway. Especially if you're driving an SUV and/or you have to do a lot of commuting because of the sheer fact that it is not feasible for you to live near your place of employment, and you don't have access to a decent public transit system. Or if you also have to drive your kids to and from school and school events. Or if you're a multiple-income family and all wage earners in your family have to commute to different jobs. Or if you have to make a call on whether to spend that $100 on gas or on some other equally pressing expense--such as, say, utilities, which will also be rising along with the gas prices. Or feeding your kids, if you have a large family (like my brother's). If you've got five kids to feed, I'm willing to lay odds that you're going to be a lot more likely to want to spend that $100 on food than gas.

For extra giggles and grins, the Seattle Times has an article up about how lawmakers talk gas, drive away in SUVs. For me this really just highlights the critical problem here--Americans are all freaking out about how expensive gas is getting, yet we're not facing the simple fact that the only way we're going to get past this problem is to stop using so much oil. I especially like the part in the article about how several of these lawmakers drive to go distances of no more than a block or two. Sheesh. And people act all surprised at the news that we're all getting fatter, too.

All of which reminds me that I really need to keep up with my walking. And if I happen to go back to my old contract at Microsoft, to strongly consider biking to work as well.

And I get to Lothlórien with tonight's walk home. Tomorrow, I set out for Rauros Falls!

Wednesday evening miles: 2.4
Thursday morning miles: 1.6
Miles out of Hobbiton: 921.3
Miles out of Rivendell: 463.3
Miles to Lothlórien: 0.7

Comments

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Here's what annoys me: downtown Mercer Island has a bunch of smallish strip mall kinds of things, and not a whole lot of street parking. And all of the strip mall-y places are so protective of their parking (I understand this to some extent because the park and ride lot has been too small for a while) that they all have signs that say you can ONLY park there WHILE in their stores. So if on my way home from off-island I want to go to QFC, Walgreen's, the chocolate shop AND the bookstore -- all within maybe six blocks of each other -- I either have to drive between them and park 4 times or worry that they're going to ticket my car.

[annathepiper]

Yes, that would annoy me to no end as well. Bleah. And how do you solve a problem like that? No matter what solution you come up with--adding more street parking, asking the stores to be more lenient with who gets to park in their lots, expanding the size of the park-and-ride--one way or another you're going to piss somebody off. I would not want to be the person who'd have to be in charge of making that call.

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

They're actually in the process of expanding the park-and-ride, they've dug it up and are going to put in a 2-story garage, I think. Part of the p&r annoyince is that people come in from off-island to park there, which seems absurd because there are two perfectly good ones at Eastgate and Bellevue Way. One idea that's been tossed around is island-resident parking permits for street parking if you're going to be there longer than 2 hours, but that doesn't seem to have gone anywhere, and doesn't help if someone who doesn't live here wants to do the same shopping combination...

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i think they should issue each american a bicycle, a pair of rollerblades, or three months of free public transit passes :)

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

My idea is actually a steep gas tax, like $1 a gallon, combined with a rebate for average use. So say they made the rebate based on driving 1000 miles in a month, at 25 miles per gallon. That's 40 gallons at that MPG, or $40/month.

Then give everyone that same rebate regardless of how much they use. Everyone would pay $4 at the pump (or more if prices continue to rise) for every gallon, encouraging everyone to use less and hitting people with low mileage vehicles harder. But people without money wouldn't be screwed because taxes on average use would be matched by the rebate. If someone wanted to forego a car completely, the rebate would fund a huge chunk of their transit pass or bicycle/rollerblade maintenance costs. In some areas, it might cover a bus pass completely.

You take any revenue from the tax and put it into mass transit or alternative energy technology.

[firni.livejournal.com]

DUDE. The P-Meister would take public transit, except the WONDERFUL BRAINS who came up with the system do not HAVE a route from here to the Bellevue area. If he wanted to ride the bus into downtown Seattle he might have a chance... then again, maybe not. He can, however, ride the bus into Sultan/Goldbar/Startup on a regular basis.

Too bad there's nothing out there but rednecks.

[annathepiper]

Are you assuming that the rebate would come out of the revenue raised by the steep gas tax?

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

My company gives us free annual public transit passes. :-)

I'd be so excited if I got a bicycle, hee hee. I only have a unicycle (not very good for long distances or hills). I'd also completely enjoy rollerblades.

Not only could people be more environmentally friendly, but they'd also get the exercise they need!

[annathepiper]

When Microsoft stopped giving free bus passes out to contractors, Volt stepped in to pick up the slack, thankfully. So I get to bus for free as long as I'm working for Volt. Very grateful for that.

Next month is apparently Bike to Work month around Seattle. I must admit I'm tempted, if I can figure out a good route from Kenmore down to Real.

[annathepiper]

*grin* Now that would be cool.

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

The whole gas rebate thing is so incredibly stupid that it makes me want to find the Senators who came up with the idea and poke their eyes out (not really, Secret Service). Or mine, just to make the pain less by contrast.

It's absolutely the wrong thing to do, and aside from that it's pandering of the worst kind. Tying it to ANWR just gives it that little extra bit of Bush-style evil to it.

As I pointed out when responding to firni's post about this, if we're concerned this is hitting low-income people too hard, we could raise the damn minimum wage, which should be higher anyway. Anyone not making minimum wage has the means to change their driving habits, which is what everyone should do.

We need gasoline prices to be even higher, because that's the only way people are going to change their behavior. The least we can do is stay out of the way of rising prices and let the market adjust. It might make even more sense to raise gas taxes so the price is even higher. Or, if raising taxes isn't your thing, we could shift new road construction and maintenance fees to tolls instead of income taxes. We need to stop hiding gasoline subsidies, as a start.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, just forking over $100 on a one-time basis is insulting and does nothing to actually solve the problem. "I know you're massively bleeding from that gut wound, but here, here's a bandaid!"

There are other things that need doing, though. In cities where the communities just aren't laid out to encourage staying out of the car, there's not going to be much that even the most well-intentioned driver will be able to do. My brother got a hybrid car, but that was about all he can reasonably do, I think--since he and his wife both live quite a distance away from their jobs, and there isn't much public transit to speak of in and around Lexington, Kentucky. His family's definitely above minimum wage--but he's also got five kids to feed, so it's not like he's exactly rolling in the dough.

But I agree with you, gas prices that are consistently higher will eventually be the only way to get most Americans to start changing what they're doing--and to lean on their own communities to carry out the changes that need to happen to let them change their lifestyles as well.

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

I'm SO with you on that whole using oil thing. I love my company, because they've got a thing going where they gave whomever wanted one a bus pass. The pass is good for up to $4.75 at a time, and good for Pierce Transit, Sound Transit, and King County Metro. The pass is good for one year and I didn't have to pay a penny for it (how can you turn something like that down?). The program also encourages people to carpool, and if you do carpool and/or use the bus pass during the month, at the end of each month you get a $5.00 certificate for REI or a few other random stores (I'm saving mine up for REI), actually, my more recent voucher was for $10.00, hmmm, nice.

Unfortunately, I can't take public transportation to work, because there are no buses that go between Normandy Park and Kent, but I carpool with my dad as much as possible, since we work at the same place and live near each other (I could try riding a bike sometime, but the last thing I want to do is try riding a bike up OR down Orillia Road, not to mention the ride back up would kill me).

Anyway, I think it would be great if EVERY company encouraged their employees that much to be more "green".

SUVs. I hate those. Oh, you know what's worse though? Hummers. Aaaaaaah! Even my dodge gets (IMO) terrible gas mileage, but I'm going to get rid of it and in the very near future try to find a car that gets better gas mileage.

Okay.

/rant

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

I saw a Honda Element that had a stuck-on Hummer logo, that said "H.5 -- half a HUMMER" on it. That made me very happy. Then a week or so later, I saw a Prius with a stuck-on H .1 logo, which made me even happier.

[annathepiper]

Glad to hear that your company does what it can to encourage alternative forms of commuting. That's really cool. :)

firni says elsewhere on the thread that her spouse can't commute by bus either for the same issue you raise--that once you get a certain distance outside the Seattle area, the bus service does start to suck. Which is a shame.

And yeah, Hummers. Guh. I cannot begin to comprehend why, unless you have to drive around an entire Little League yourself on a daily basis, you can possibly need a vehicle that large.

another annoyance...

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Yesterday I had to take mom to the airport super-early. 405 was somewhat congested, with the usual assortment of large things that get poor mileage. The two of us in the freakin' PRIUS were just about the only vehicle that contained more than one person (though of course, I was single-occupant on the way home).

Re: another annoyance...

[annathepiper]

Yeah, this is annoying, too. I mean, for things like going to the airport I will happily cut slack; you can't expect at all that if you have to make a lengthy trip to the airport, you'll be able to find three other people who have to go down there too.

But I daresay much good would be accomplished if more people carpooled.

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

Did you catch OR Sen. Wyden's filibuster this morning? He was trying to get an up-or-down vote on his amendment to remove an oil subsidy when gas was over $55/barrel, and the Republicans wouldn't give it to him. Therefore, he stood there and kept talking for some 5 hours before Harry Reid made him stop. :-(

[annathepiper]

I missed the filibuster--I get all my news via the web anyway, since I either read on the way into work or else listen to my iPod. But, sigh.

[spunbutterfly.livejournal.com]

I made a comment, and broke your LJ. I don't know how! So I deleted it, and you probably got the email anyway.

Sum up: Yeah, people should use more public transit, walk, bike etc... Flip side, more should be done to make public transit faster, more reliable, and a better option than driving. If you give people a way to get somewhere without driving, I bet at least 50% of the people who drive everywhere now, will at least try to use public transit. Buses, obviously, aren't good enough to outweigh the exorbitant gas prices.

And, have you noticed that public transit in Seattle is insanely expensive? Why? o.o; 1.25 for the cheapest bus ride? Then again, maybe these are just prices reflected cross-nation. It hurts my head.

[annathepiper]

I did get two emails from you, yes, but no worries. :)

I agree with your flip side--it's all well and good to say that people should use public transit more, but that doesn't mean much if communities aren't also willing to make the public transit worth the public's time.

Even though I get to bus for free as a rule (I've had free bus passes on my last several contracts, and used to have a FlexPass as well when I worked for both Microsoft and Attachmate), I have indeed noticed the high fares. I couldn't tell you how they compare to other fares nationwide, though.

[sir-quirky-k.livejournal.com]

As a UK friend of solarbird, all I can say is that I'm so glad that we at least have the option here of using public transport, assuming you live in a vaguely populated area - trains are still the preferred form of long-distance travel for many, and buses cover all towns and the odd rural area too.

And that gas (or petrol, as we call it) is taxed at what Americans would call an exorbitant rate - the price at the pumps is the equivalent of over $6.50 a gallon. llachglin's proposed tax looks like peanuts in comparison.

And yet... and yet... none of this gets people out of their cars. Heck, SUVs are still popular here, though not to the extent they are in the US.

This is probably because while the service exists, it's at least moderately crap. Oh, and some of them are run by very unpleasant companies, including FirstGroup (who I gather are about as anti-union as Wal-Mart and as exploitative as that implies) and Stagecoach (run by a leading UK fundamentalist who campaigned against the removal of a homophobic amendment to a Thatcher-era education law). I'd boycott them, but my route to work involves either getting a FirstGroup bus (on a route with one journey per hour. Yes.) or walking at least 25 minutes each way to and from home just to get to and from a bus stop where a local company runs buses.

I may try the latter tomorrow, in fact.

[annathepiper]

Hey there, I think I've seen you posting over on Dara's journal before. :)

I have several folks on my Friends list who live either in the UK or in Europe, and yeah, the fact that you folks have to pay much higher prices for your petrol is another thing that more Americans really need to keep in mind. We still have it lucky, and really have no cause to complain.

Quality of public transit here varies hugely depending on what part of the country you live in. Seattle and communities immediately around it have a pretty decent transit system, for which I am grateful on a daily basis, because it means Dara and I get to do a lot less driving than we otherwise would. But in Kentucky, where I'm originally from, the situation is very different. The way the cities are laid out is a lot more friendly to car commutes than it is to walking, and public transit--at least in Lexington, the last Kentucky city I lived in--is laughable.

Sorry to hear that your transit options could stand improvement, too. :(

[kieri.livejournal.com]

This is the oil crisis at its most basic form. Americans as they live now cannot, for the most part, afford not to drive. They have to drive to procure money and food to survive because of where they live and how their communities are laid out.

This is a very big problem.

Really, we need trains. We need them badly. I've gotten so spoiled in Japan, where even living out in the middle of bloody nowhere like I do, there is a train that runs at least once an hour to take people to and from a very walkable city center. People here don't think anything of riding their bikes a few miles to and from school -- most high school kids do it every day! Yes, this is a small country, but things in the US -could- be changed. We could re-orient our cities to imitate smaller countries within the city/surrounding area, and link the city hubs via rail networks, and -greatly- improve the fuel efficiency of cars, and work on better hybrids...

But we won't, not without some massive swelling grassroots uprising of people telling their elected officials loudly and clearly that not only do their constituents -want- that, but that THEY WILL WIN MORE VOTES by doing it.

I am hopeful. But I'm not expecting great results. My fiance and I are lucky enough to live in city as well and not really need a car, but my parents and family aren't quite so lucky - they live out in unincorporated Pierce County, where the nearest bus stop is a half an hour away on foot and the bus only runs twice a day anyway. It'd take my mother something like 3 and a half hours to commute to work via public transit, and when she's working a 12 hour shift at the hospital, that is -not- going to work. My sister Hannah ahs a landscaping business and often needs to haul big piles of soil and plants around - not something you can do on a bus.

It's a bad situation. I've been posting about it in my LJ as well -- I'm worried about the economy lately, largely due to the impending collision of high energy prices with shaky interest rates and a sudden splat of the housing market. (Which has been driving job growth all over the country -- something like 60% of all new jobs created in the last 5 years were in the mortgage/real estate/construction industries.)

[annathepiper]

*nods to everything in your post*

Yeah, you've pretty much nailed the problem. The kind of change we really need isn't going to happen until enough people in the country stand up and tell our government that this is what we want.

I'd like to hope it'll happen, but I'm kind of thinking llachglin is right when he says that the only way that the behavior of Americans will change in this regard is when it gets too expensive to let the behavior stay the same.