Fuel Economy

[DevilGirl]

Originally Posted by bkrownd

Walk, bike and bus whenever possible.

Originally Posted by STC

YES! Would be nice if this was promoted and actively encouraged by American culture!

We lack the infrastructure in most cities/towns/counties to make this practical.

Case in point:

I live near Allentown, PA, but work in Philadelphia, PA. Philly does have Septa (public trans) which does extend up relatively close to where I live. But to catch one of their trains, I still have to drive an hour to the train station. Than sit on the train for 40-55 minutes (depending on express or local train, and if they're running on time). Then take the subway for 5 minutes to walk the 4 blocks to work. Total commute, approximately 2 hours 20 minutes (depending on traffic, Septa running on schedule, etc).

BUT, if I drove all the way to work, it'd only take approximately 1 hour 25 minutes (depending on traffic).

Yes, I know I'm the exception to the norm, given how far I live from work. However this is becoming even more popular. Where I live, we're close enough to NYC, Philly, Poconos that a lot of people live in our area but commute to work to those areas, particularly NYC.

Even if I worked locally (within the Lehigh Valley), our public trans is not up to par. It works great if you live within the larger city limits and only want to get around the city. But it does not exist in the outlying towns. So I'd still have to drive, to catch the bus, and probably wouldn't get close enough to work that I'd have to walk 10+ blocks. It's a lot easier to just drive where you need to go.