Are you driving less…?
According to The O, PDX car owners aren’t adjusting their habits any, despite rising gas prices and a presidental mandate to curb the driving. But the story only profiles one family, while quoting unnamed oil industry executives who say that “high gas prices generally don’t result in major, long-term changes in U.S. driving habits.”
Have you changed your driving habits in response to higher gas prices? Will a presidential order convince you to use mass transit more? I’m curious…
yes, we are driving less, but not because of high gas prices or bushies request. we’re driving less because we’re walking more. over the summer, we discovered that we could easily walk from our house to lunch in the pearl or up to kenton or over to the store. with the new new seasons on n. interstate, it’s only a 20 minute walk up there and walking is great excersize.
Yes and no.
A nice intersection of “new job that gives me a bus pass for free” and “Holy $#!^ my tiny car just cost twenty eight bucks to fill” means I have almost fully forsaken the commute via car. (Finding out what it costs to park a car downtown was icing on the commuting cake.) I drive once or twice a month to work now, and only if I need to do something during lunch or after work.
For the most part I like the bus commute: I live near a high-frequency line that goes right downtown, and the ride gives me time to wake up and work on my scarf. In the evening I get time to ‘decompress’ after work (and work on my scarf) and there’s no traffic for me to deal with since I’m not driving.
I have been thinking twice about going places too, like to visit my parents (~200 miles each way) and even like the store (can I wait till I have more stuff to buy?) or across town to Uwajimaya or the outlet malls…
I’m noticing MAX has been packed for the past month. Much more so then before.