wobblyoldgeezer

Interesting question, and interesting responses. In aggregate, they seem to say that for people who have already chosen their preferred means of transport, the price of petrol won't really alter anything. Cyclists like cycling.

Unfortunately, it seems that the same is true of non-cyclists. In UK petrol is already very close to $10 per gallon, and the UK Association of Motor Traders announced an additional sale of 1.25 million cars in 2007, into an adult (driving age) population of about 32 million in a country where the roads are usually jammed. And those cars aren't repacements - the existing ones don't disappear, they just get cheaper to 18-25 year olds and dissuade them from trying alternative transportation.

Established habits are price-inelastic, it seems

Neil_B

I will be riding more once the horrid weather breaks here in SE PA, but that's primarily for exercise and building up saddle time for a long tour, not to save money on gasoline. My commute is 32 miles round trip with nearly 1000 feet of climbing. The return leg is at night, and I often don't get home till midnight. I calculate the savings from two commutes and riding to church on Sunday as about 9 bucks a week. In my opinion you only see substantial savings when you go car-free, which isn't practical for me in this rural area.

Louis

...Which will likely happen sooner than we think.

BigBlueToe

That's an option, except I took the train up to Portland a couple of summers ago. I hated sleeping sitting up. I vowed I would never take the train again unless I could afford a sleeper. That makes it more expensive than driving. (The train was also 4 hours late getting into Portland.)

neilG

No. Unfortunately, the tools of my trade are too large to be carried on a bike, so commuting is out of the question. Not to mention most of my work is a minimum of 35 miles away. I ride for exercise and fun only.

cranky old dude

For me, I think I'm about at the breaking point. My wife will continue
to drive due to physical constraints but she's driving a 12 year old
Camry that gets great fuel mileage. My 10 yr. old Tacoma rarely leaves
the driveway anymore, I have put less than a thousand miles on it since
early December. I'm fully capable of biking anywhere I need to go to
and I have a couple of old Cannondale Buggers to tow behind my bikes
for baggage etc. What kills us is when I need to use the Ford Conversion
Van to deliver and retrieve the College students and their stuff. It's a '94
and gets 17 to 20 mpg ,depending on its mood I think, and filling that
35 gallon tank with 89 octane at $3.50 per gallon is killing our finances.
500+ miles roundtrip for the one daughter and 1400+ miles for the other.
During the year when they are only bringing some clothing with them
they use Amtrak but for moving-in and moving-out days it's the Van.
Now I hear that gas is going up another 75 cents per gallon over the
next three weeks. Coupled with the increasing Health Care expenses,
College expenses, and increasing everything....oh, and my decreasing
wages...we are at the breaking point.

It seems like we now put about the same amount of consideration into
picking up a set of car keys from the end table as we used to do prior
to signing for a loan from the bank. How lucky I am to have chosen to live
within the city limits close to all our destinations. I can't imagine how it
must be to be commuting from 20, 30 or more miles away.

I have noticed a few more folks getting around by bike as of late, and I
expect the bike volume will increase...probably at a trickle...but increase
just the same.

kenebec

It's 100mile round trip to work/I could take a third off that mileage if I could somehow biketrailer my tools or rig them in a pack Im leaning towards packing them somehow because ive used a trailer in the past and didnt like it at all./Ken

SSP

In the not too distance future, commutes like that will be seen as pure folly and environmentally irresponsible.

Personally, I could not imagine wasting that much gas and time getting back and forth to work...much less the super-sized carbon footprint it requires.

Is moving closer to your job, or finding a job closer to home, not an option?

fallsjohn

Unfortunately I work 50 miles from home and can't move closer yet. Fortunately I love the job. At home though, I ride everywhere. Saves gas and I'd rather anyway. Got caught in an "instant" ice storm the other night but that's springtime in NE Ohio. By the way, by setting my cruise control on 55, my gas mileage went from 30 to 37. Takes me 10 minutes more but I'm saving almost 25% - significant at $3.25 a gallon. I have a Mazda 626, not a tiny car either. So, if you have to drive, do it a bit slower and save.

HopedaleHills

The current economic situation in the Northeast has me pretty much stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. My commute is 90 miles RT. The job market here pretty much sucks in my profession. Changing jobs to get closer to home (if I could even find one) would probably get me a 40K decrease in salary. Moving closer is out of the question because of the housing market. If I could sell my current home, the price would be too low and it would cost me about the same to move closer and end up with a smaller/crappier house for the same money. Not at 58, no thanks.