[Summit] parking ban and cars

[Breslers]

Well if public transportation was more useful, dependable, and human
friendly, I would be happy to use it more.  My husband and I currently share
a car, and waiting for access to the car, or driving him back and forth to
work sites so I can use the car while he is at work, is pretty inconvenient.
  But buses don't go to the places I usually need to go, and after being
bounced around on one, even bringing a seat board to sit on,  I still often
need to go to the chiropractor...

Unfortunately I think the reduced miles driven during the current economic
down-turn are mainly a reflection of the severity of the down turn.  MANY
people have no job and no job-interviews to drive to, no money to spend in
stores, and the price of gas is disproportionately high. Right after the gas
prices first shot up, we happened to travel to NYC to visit friends and came
back very late at night- i.e early AM, as we often do.  The roads were so
noticeably empty that it was actually frightening.  We saw only 4 tractor
trailers going in either direction the whole trip & and less than a half a
dozen cars on our side. This was extremely unusual.

The price of gas may force cars to improve their gas mileage- THAT would be
good.  But as cute and semi-sensible those little mini cars are- I would
never go on a city street in one, never mind the high way, because we share
the road with multi-ton SUVS, some of which are driven by idiots who are
drunk and/or text behind the wheel.

Mrs B

On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 11:11 AM, sumati eberstadt
<sumieber at earthlink.net>wrote:

>
> Just a note about us all wanting our cars. Perhaps a slow change is
> starting. I copy this from Andrew Sullivan’s blog, The Dish. Here’s
> hoping...
>
> Bradford Plumer wonders why this recession has reduced vehicle miles
> driven when previous slowdowns didn't:
>
> There’s ... a theory floating around that Americans—especially young
> Americans—are simply no longer as car crazy as they were in the 1970s. In
> 1976, three-quarters of all 17-year-olds had drivers’ licenses. By 2008,
> that was down to 49 percent. Last year, Zipcar, the car-sharing company, did
> a survey that found that 67 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds would prefer to
> drive less, especially if alternatives were available. (Mind you, Zipcar is
> hardly a disinterested party here, but other surveys have yielded similar
> results.)
>
>
> http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/08/car-culture-comes-to-a-halt.html
>
> Sumati
>
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