What if you didn't drive your car for a week?

[alienlovechild 75]

People have power.

Vote with your dollar....

...by not spending it for a while.

Can you do it?

Can you flex your consumeristic muscle by not using it?

This is another "boycott the oil companies for a day" spiel I've heard on and off for 35 years. The funny thing is the person saying it thinks it's original.

People are already dring less and it's not necessarily bringing down the price of gas.

"The FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” report, produced monthly since 1942, shows that estimated vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on all U.S. public roads for March 2008 fell 4.3 percent as compared with March 2007 travel. This is the first time estimated March travel on public roads fell since 1979. At 11 billion miles less in March 2008 than in the previous March, this is the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history."

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/fhwa1108.htm

[HAL 9000 96]

Just returned to bike riding. Feels great, I get a workout, and I only need the car- which in itself is very fuel economic- sparsely. The tactic might be "old" but it works in more than just one dimension.

[caybee 21]

Buses here aren't great, but I could manage it except on Thursdays -- I run errands for work then. That would be $8 for four days by bus at the discounted rate.

Daily commute is about 7 miles total. I'd use about a gallon of gas, maybe a little less, in 4 days, so it would cost about $4.50 more per week for me to take the bus four days a week. But if I were taking the bus and resigned myself to no driving on those four days, I wouldn't be making the frivolous side trips after work, so I'd probably save money and impact the environment less overall.

The route is neither walker- nor biker-friendly. The best all-around alternative for me would be a scooter. I've been lobbying for that, but I don't think hubby's gonna cave. I might be able to arrange a carpool with someone down the street four days a week, so we'd save maybe a gallon of gas a week between the two of us.

Hubby, on the other hand, has a one-hour total commute by car each day (no public transport available), and he may be able to carpool before long if his friend gets hired. That would make the biggest difference for us.

Edited October 7, 2008 by caybee

[HAL 9000 96]

Yeah the financial inconvenience comes when you have to pay for public transportation AND a car payment at the same time.

Makes sense, then, to have either a cheaper car or one that is worth the expenditure in terms of efficiency.

[rocks 494]

People have power.

Vote with your dollar....

...by not spending it for a while.

Can you do it?

Can you flex your consumeristic muscle by not using it?

This is another "boycott the oil companies for a day" spiel I've heard on and off for 35 years. The funny thing is the person saying it thinks it's original.

People are already dring less and it's not necessarily bringing down the price of gas.

"The FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” report, produced monthly since 1942, shows that estimated vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on all U.S. public roads for March 2008 fell 4.3 percent as compared with March 2007 travel. This is the first time estimated March travel on public roads fell since 1979. At 11 billion miles less in March 2008 than in the previous March, this is the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history."

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/fhwa1108.htm

i think more people are concerned with the environment than caring about oil companies.

[Peikko 1,575]

I often do - not drive for a week that is. The only time I do drive is to get somewhere that is not accesible via public transport or bicycle.

[Donna-marie 0]

Nope i werent made for walking lol i walk from house to car and car to wherever im going too lazy for my own good

[jundp 191]

it would be here, aside from the heat and the humidity (it's somewhat cool here today and its 80f with 80% humidity) which would make you turn up to work sweating like a pig, there are NO sidewalks, at all. it would be highly dangerous to do that here, sadly. i miss sidewalks

Ah, the deep south. I lived in Mandeville, NOLA, and Hammond for most of my life....though NOLA did have the streetcar which I took to work daily.

We conserve already in many aspects of our life. It wouldn't be a crisis to not drive for a week, but with 3 kids to get to sports, choir, band, football games, etc. it's not really doable in our family.

[MichelleN 0]

Umm yeah wouldn't happen. I live in the middle of nowhere. Five miles from 'town'. Thirty miles from an actual town. If I didn't drive, I wouldn't be able to leave the house outside of sitting in the front yard.

[rocks 494]

it would be here, aside from the heat and the humidity (it's somewhat cool here today and its 80f with 80% humidity) which would make you turn up to work sweating like a pig, there are NO sidewalks, at all. it would be highly dangerous to do that here, sadly. i miss sidewalks

Ah, the deep south. I lived in Mandeville, NOLA, and Hammond for most of my life....though NOLA did have the streetcar which I took to work daily.

We conserve already in many aspects of our life. It wouldn't be a crisis to not drive for a week, but with 3 kids to get to sports, choir, band, football games, etc. it's not really doable in our family.

oh cool. i'm in ms on the gulf coast. we pretty much have no public transport unless you want to go to a military base or a casino and of course you have to wait 2 hours in the heat for one to maybe turn up. imagine the smell on the bus!

[Cassie 8]

my hubby drives his scooter to work, and I use the car only a couple of times a week. The public transportation here sucks; Tulsa is too widespread.

[Amby 490]

well...I lived without a car with no problems in London and Newcastle and Paris and NYC but I doubt it would be doable here

all of those cities have excellent public transport

yeah that was my point

[Mags 112]

I'd be fine. It isn't an issue.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Now that I think about it, I could walk to work - there are sidewalks throughout.

According to google maps, the walk would take about 3 hours. So I'd have to leave work at about 6am

** that.

[Mags 112]

Now that I think about it, I could walk to work - there are sidewalks throughout.

According to google maps, the walk would take about 3 hours. So I'd have to leave work at about 6am

** that.

Ride a bike! It'll give you an ####### you can bounce pennies off of!