It’s early days yet, but it seems Americans may finally be getting it as regards the whole unhappy-motoring thing. According to The Associated Press, Americans logged 9 billion fewer miles on the nation’s roads in October despite a stunning drop in gasoline prices (to less than $1.50 per gallon here in Bibleburg):
Federal Highway Administration data released Friday show the number of miles driven dropped 3.5 percent in October compared with the same month a year ago. Between November 2007, when the driving decline began, and October, Americans drove 100 billion fewer miles. That’s the largest continuous decline in driving the nation has experienced.
While driving declined, subways, buses, commuter rail and light-rail systems have reported record increases in ridership. Amtrak, the nation’s intercity passenger railroad, said it carried the highest number of passengers and brought in the most revenue in fiscal 2008 in its 37-year history.
”The fact that the trend persists even as gas prices are dropping confirms that America’s travel habits are fundamentally changing,” Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said in a statement.
No word about how bicycling may have contributed to the lower auto mileage, alas. But still, fewer cars on the road means more room for us, no? That’s what I call some good news.
Speaking of fewer cars, it appears that the White House is considering other options after the Repuglitards in the Senate croaked the Big 3 bailout based largely on their hatred for the United Auto Workers. Being appallingly ignorant in matters financial, I don’t feel qualified to comment on whether the rescue plan is as crucial as the automakers and their allies suggest. But the shit is already rolling downhill, and many smaller companies that supply the Big 3 are living in the valley.
Mad Blog Media 
The Big 3’s massive dump rolled down hill and buried my career. And just before Christmas, no less. Maybe I’ll jump on the ol’ privet just and head to DC to see if I can get some sort of bailout. I don’t need billions, just a couple hundred million would take care of things here at the Hacienda Del Boz. It’s gonna be a cold winter….
I think this is the same Mary Peters who denigrated bicycling facilities as pork barrel, so don’t expect much from her as far as we are concerned.
The Repubs I heard on NPR indeed are attempting some union-busting. Those contracts were signed off by labor and management–and a lot of blood was spilled to get the UAW recognized rather than hit over the head by good squads. Its up to labor and management to work any changes in the contracts, not to some clowns in the Senate. Disclaimer: I was raised as a UAW brat and am a former union shop steward and director.
Bottom line, though, is that both labor and management are in the same liner. Its not particularly fruitful to bicker over whose job it is to patch the hull after one has hit the iceberg. That, actually, was the message I sent to other directors at the U. of Hawaii (and to management) when we were on strike. The strike was settled, and I lunched with Gov. Ben Cayetano before moving to New Mexico as someone who was trying to get the two sides to patch the hole rather than fling the deck chairs at each other. It can work.
By the way, the Japanese companies in Japan don’t have to worry about long term health care because, I believe, the government takes care of a lot more of that. Apples vs. oranges.
Good news? Here in Nukeville, our new municipal transit ridership is still going up, in spite of dino juice having dropped from 4.25 to 1.70 a gallon over the last few months. Change as well as shit happens.
It’s a Filmore isn’t? Real groovy…. I dig the fins.
My business is booming. We’re seeing double the growth rate compared to a year ago and in some categories 4 to 6 times the same month growth. Unfortunately as a Public Library it means nothing in terms of the bottom line and has caused some pressure on the budget which is, of course, funded by property taxes. It’s nice to be needed and be able to fill a gap though. Fortunately increased demand ,even at these levels doesn’t require a significant ramp up in staff or collection.
Overnight last night gas went from $1.56 to $1.72 here is Cook County. May have been the usual pre-weekend gouging. Could be a knee jerk reaction to the Governor’s entrepreneurial spirit. It’ll be interesting to see what happens Sunday or Monday.
Still seeing more folks than usual commuting,even with the temps in the teens and twenties and the snow.
Yes, three million jobs, blah, blah, etc. Absolute certainty of instant economic Armegeddon if the “bailout” fails. Whatever.
Let the bastards die if they can’t keep their businesses afloat! I thought we lived in a capitalistic nation – or so they tell us until it’s to their advantage to shy away from those oh-so-lofty and unimpeachable ideals.
Bottom line: The Big 3 can’t perform – for whatever reason (shitty products, deaf ears, fat-cow unions, even fatter-cow CEO compensation) – so like any enterprise, they should either put up and rectify the situation, or shut up, roll over, and go to their graves in a Hummer limo-turned-hearse.
That’s my two cents (or it was, before all this economic crisis crap happened).
Here in the PetroMetro, light rail ridership is up a little. The rail lines continue to get built out. The buses have increased ridership. All this in a town where Bob Lanier (about two and half mayors ago) had old rail lines torn up to prevent light rail expansion. (He didn’t even have them turned into trails. Just tore ’em out.) See, Bob was/is a bazillionaire developer. Houston has no zoning. Developers can build whatever they want, where ever they want. Trains mess up the no zoning model and they really mess up developers’ “screw you” business model.
Oh, and we’re in the middle of a 20-year highway expansion project that will make I-10 eighteen lanes wide (including access roads) through town. It’s a big shiny ribbon of white concrete. It’s the new 8th Wonder of The World. I think it can be seen from space.
Interesting discussion of GM here.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/jan/27spec4.htm
However, this article doesn’t really go back far enough to the time when GM was producing unbelievable crap and losing market share to the Japanese, who were innovating and dedicating themselves to quality product. Anyone recall the Cavalier, Chevette, or Vega? Then there was the Gremlin, my old exploding Ford Pinto, etc. No surprise these companies are folding. They were so complacent they arrogantly put out absolute crap. I wonder where the money went in those days. Sure not in innovation or product development. Egads.
I like this one:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-hanft/lousy-marketing—-not-lo_b_146715.html
“…As consumers were increasingly making purchase decisions based on the practices of the company behind the product, the domestic auto industry became a loathsome choice.
Detroit’s bad actions hurt it with a huge part of the market–the more than 30 million people in Richard Florida’s “Creative Class” who work with ideas, live in urban areas, and are more progressive. Even the more traditional consumers who stuck with American cars felt abandoned.
From 1974 through 2000, GM was piloted by Tom Murphy, Roger Smith, Bob Stempel, and John Smith, failures whose names are recalled only as poster guys for deck-chair rearrangement.
As these weak-kneed leaders came under pressure for their practices and products, they turned psychologically inward. It all culminated with Michael Moore’s Roger and Me in 1989, a national display of corporate paranoia. An industry whose birthright was independence came to represent villainous bureaucracy….”
Khal,
Man, do I remember the Pinto. My mom had a 1962 Mercedes 220s, with three on the tree, FM radio, wood-grain dash and leather seats when I left for college; when I returned, she had a Pinto, having been conned out of the Krautmobile by a crooked mechanic who said it needed more work than it was worth. You ever try to score with a hot babe in a Pinto? With the Mercedes it was like shooting puppies at the pound. With the Pinto, it was like being in the pound.
I got the Pinto free (think it was a ’73 model). My ’76 Rabbit had just been totalled by a red-light runner and I was low on funds (i.e., a graduate student) to replace it. One of our departmental electrical techs put up a sign in the mail room saying “free car” and sure, a grad student will take a free car. He, on the other hand, didn’t want his daughter driving it.
Aside from its (apparently statistically insignificant but P.R. lethal) reputation for char-broiling its occupants, typical light weight over the rear axle (making snow tires nearly worthless) and my car’s worn out and rattling overhead camshaft, it wasn’t a bad car for a poor student, since my primary wheels in those days were actually on a Motobecane Mirage. I think I drove that hoopty for about a year before I was able to dredge up enough money to graduate to an…ahem…Omni with a slipping clutch. Lucky for me, I sold that to a fellow grad student and bought a plane ticket to Honolulu.
My favorite memory of that Pinto was driving it to visit my family in Buffalo during a typical lake effect snowstorm. The fastback design made it ideal for building up a snowdrift covering the rear lights. I kept wondering if it was safer to keep driving and risk being run over by one of the eighteen wheelers that used to barrel down NY 33 or to stop to periodically shovel the car off and simply be run over by a Freightliner while sitting on the side of the road.
Ah, the days…
The Dogmobile gets out about as much as JD Salinger during flu and cold season.
My dad has the distinct honor of owning four of the ten cars on the Car Talk boys’ ten worst cars of all time list.
He might be the only person to trade a Chevy Chevette for a Pontiac T1000, not realizing that they were the same car.
We had a Soobie Justy (every single one of them gave up their trannies at 45K), a Gremlin, a Pinto, a Pacer, and a Fiat 128. Oh yeah, and an Opel of some flavor.
For that ten worse list:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/Worst-Cars/results1.html
The Dodge Aspen was the one I couldn’t remember… and my dad will tell you he got a good deal on every one of them.