[Type the company name] 1 Giving up on the car

3/23/2010 Giving up on the car Americans value their cars and ability to drive highly. The freedom of the open road is part of the American dream. This emphasis on cars in our society comes at a price however. One of these prices paid by drivers is that of fuel. Cars need fuel to be driven and the bigger the car, the more fuel is needed. Americans are known for their love of trucks and SUVs even when living in an entirely paved area with no need for such a vehicle. According to Forbes.com, Americans use more gasoline in their cars than do people in any other industrialized country (Pentland, 2008). Until 2005, the U.S. had more motor vehicles total and per capita than any other nation in the world. In 2006, Portugal surpassed the U.S. for number of cars per capita (Pentland, 2008). In the summer of 2008, gas prices reached a record high. During this year, Americans took more transit rides than any year since the interstate highway system was established (Maley & Weinberger, 2009). In a 2009 Philadelphia case study by authors Maley and Weinberger of the Transportation Research Board, it was shown that a correlation exists between the price of gas and transit ridership (Maley & Weinberger, 2009). This research causes one to wonder how high the price of fuel must rise before most Americans would consider giving up their cars.

For the sake of research, I gave up driving my car for the week of March 15-22, 2010. For the first few days I asked friends and family for rides to classes and work. Since I am accustomed to leaving at the last minute, I arrived late a couple of times until I adjusted to the new schedule. At work a coworker without a car was disappointed to find out I could not be his ride home for the night. On March 19, 2010 I flew to Las Vegas, Nevada for the weekend. When

[Type the company name] 2 Giving up on the car

I walked the stretch of moving sidewalks and descended the escalator to baggage claim, there were at least 60 men and women in suits holding up name signs. I met the driver holding the sign with my name and he brought me to a Lincoln town car for the ten minute ride from the airport to the hotel. This ride was paid for in advance and cost $125 one way with gratuity. The first night in Las Vegas I decided to walk some of the strip. In many areas between hotels there were aerial walkways where pedestrians could avoid traffic. To get to these walkways however, I had to cross a few streets. Walking in front of ten lanes of traffic with their headlights pointing in my direction was an unnerving experience. Some cars that turned on to streets I was walking seemed as though they had no intentions of stopping or slowing down for me. There were quite a few questionable characters doing business along these aerial walkways. They tried to sell tickets to free venues or hand out pornographic materials. Con artists harassed people for money. Many trucks in this city doubled as billboards which were quite effective due to the slow crawl of traffic. Forms of public transportation on the strip included a monorail with limited stops which cost 15$ a day, and a double-decker bus with many stops for 7$ a day. These busses were only about a year old and had features such as screens showing the buss current location, a stairwell on each side to speed up boarding times, sitting and standing room. Wait times for the bus at any stop were 12 minutes maximum. At each bus stop was a bench with a roof and a list of stops and bus fares, making the bus quite user-friendly. I discovered that it is illegal to hail a cab from the street in Las Vegas. Instead, there are stands where there are lines of people waiting for taxis and they are picked up in the order that they arrived. While waiting for my ride back to the airport, I watched people come and go from the hotel. A large crowd sat under the valet parking sign while cars sped down the road to the hotel at surprising speeds and then quickly stopped in front of the crowd. A staff member jumped out and shouted the car owners name, collected their tip and

[Type the company name] 3 Giving up on the car

quickly jogged off to pick up the next car. When my driver arrived at the hotel for my return trip to the airport, I found out that I had received a complimentary upgrade to a large Chevrolet Suburban. This caused me to wonder why a car with less market value, similar seating room, but greater size was considered an upgrade. During a three hour layover in Philadelphia, I had to take a shuttle to the opposite side of the airport. The shuttle was very crowded with standing room only and I felt as though I would fall over as we turned corners even with the poles and handles on the shuttle. Overall, I was able to endure not driving for a week without any great difficulty. I realized that all one needs to make use of public transportation is patience and a little bit of planning.

The reasons for changing societys view of the automobile are extensive. One such reason is the threat of global warming in part due to carbon emissions from automobiles and oil drilling across the world. The use of public transportation, carpooling, walking, and bicycling decreases the amount of carbon emissions and need for oil. Another reason is the decreased cost for those people who give up car ownership. This decreased cost is due to the lack of need to pay for fuel, insurance, repairs and more for the automobile.

If I can last a week without driving, one has to wonder how many people would be able to do the same. Due to the way the automobile has shaped cities across the country, many people live outside of the city they work in. This would create difficulty because most bus routes aside from school busses do not cover areas outside cities. However, many people do live and work within cities and would be able to give up their cars with the right motivation. Looking back in

[Type the company name] 4 Giving up on the car

history, it seems that situations must get worse before they can get better. For example, tobacco was once widely popular and socially acceptable in the U.S. Even when it was discovered to cause cancer, it was still popular and glamorized in Hollywood. It wasnt until years of smoking deaths and activism did it begin to lose its value in society. Smokers are now beginning to be looked down upon and seen as being unhealthy and inconsiderate. Perhaps this is what must happen with the automobile. If people begin to be affected by pollution, fuel costs, and traffic more personally, activism may increase and societys view of the automobile may slowly begin to change. In the future it may be car owners who are looked down upon as unhealthy and inconsiderate. The United States should take examples from other countries with more efficient public transportation systems. In a study by author Ralph Buehler for the Transportation Research Board, the public transportation policies of the United States and Germany were compared. In 2001-2002 Germans made five times as many trips by public transportation than did Americans. Many differences were found that explain the greater use of public transportation in Germany. Among these differences are a more efficient use of funds, automobile-restrictive policies that make car use less attractive, increasing parking costs, 25% lower speed limits, more favorable land use which limits urban sprawl, extensive and convenient walking and cycling routes, highways that do not cut through cities, higher taxes on gasoline, higher cost of automobile ownership, highly reduced costs for annual bus passes and more.

If the United States can begin to take examples from countries such as Germany by slowly introducing such policies, public transportation may become more favorable to the general population. Although changing the populations perception of the automobile may take a while, it is important to think about what can be done in the meantime. Municipal and state

[Type the company name] 5 Giving up on the car

governments should try to encourage the use of public transportation through advertisements and improvements. There should be more bus stops with shelter and seating throughout cities. Pamphlets and signs should be freely available which show detailed routes and fares. Busses should run 24 hours or at least until after 1 am when bars close and many people should not be driving. The building and widening of roads should be lessened because it has shown to generate more traffic rather than improve it.

[Type the company name] 6 Giving up on the car

References Buehler, R. (2009). Promoting public transportation: comparison of passengers and policies in Gernany and the United States. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2110, 60-68. Maley, D.W., Weinberger, R. (2009). Rising gas price and transit ridership: case study of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2139, 183-188. Pentland, W. (2008). The Worlds top car-owning countries. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from http//www.forbes.com.