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| Friday, October 10, 2008 |
| Driven to Despair |
The PBS show NOW aired: Driven to Despair. With gas prices spiking and home values crumbling, the American dream of commuting to work from the fringes of suburbia has become an American nightmare. Many are facing a hard choice: Paying for gas or paying the mortgage. How did it come to this? It's not just about America's financial crisis; it's also about big problems with our national infrastructure. Overstressed highways and too few public transportation options are wreaking havoc on people's lives and hitting the brakes on our already-stretched economy. You can watch the show online here. |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 8:45 PM *
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| 11 Comments: |
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ahhh ... just in time for oil to break below $75/bbl and gas going below $3/gallon.
Public transportation is not an option in most part of the country, except the east coast mega cities, and even they have limits for how many people can realistically use public transportation. Of course, PBS is catering to their audience ... not many live in rural america.
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When did it become the governments responsibility to provide us with transportion options to get to work?
I don't see how the price of gas can really be affecting people all that much. They spend much more on soda and other things that don't even get them anything in return. I'm so sick of people whining about the price of gas. Let you kids ride the school bus, take fewer trips to the grocery store, carpool.
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If above commenters had actually bothered to watch the segment, they would have heard a rather telling statistic: that 80% of federal transportation budget goes towards road building and maintenance compared with 20% towards mass transit.
Government's responsibility to provide us with transportation options, indeed.
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I think people are generally much better off without long commutes in their lives. In my area, to make good money people drive "over the hill" to the San Francisco Bay Area. I never have, and I most likely never will.
Also, before the housing bubble burst, a growing trend for people here (Modesto) was to move south to buy a house and commute here to work. You had to go 100 miles or so (to Fresno) to get much of a price break.
No thanks.
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To Susy:
How else would mass transit, highways, bridges, etc. be built and maintained? Going back to private roads isn't really feasible.
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Providing transportation infrastructure so people can do business effectively is one of the most important functions of government, and has been so since long before the Romans were building their network of roads. Many of those roads are still used.
I've heard this kind of thing before, but it still blows my mind to see this absurd ideology that government is always wrong used to attack one of the most primary and uncontroversial functions government has.
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Another article that's right up your alley, BG:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_42/b4104054847273.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories
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I live in LA, notorious for long commutes, but I bought a house close to my work, centrally located and near several freeways. I've always chosen to live near to where I work and have turned down job offers that required a long drive. I work in transportation, everyone wants something for nothing is what I've concluded. Mass transit needs to be there as an option, it's not supposed to replace cars, but it's been neglected so long especially in Los Angeles that creating a system that's somewhat functional is going to cost a fortune.
For me gas isn't much of my budget but I have co-workers who commute 120 miles or more round trip, with a car getting 20 mpg and the price I paid today of $3.60/gal, that is over $100/week or $5000 a year in non-deductible commuting costs. That could have an impact on a family's bottom line.
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Gas is coming down again ... $2.95 today at the Rt-16&9 Getty in Wellesley. I don't remember anyone complaining when gas hit $3/gallon. We only started complaining when it hit $4/gal, which lasted like 3 months. Now that it's back down to $3/gal, everyone's still complaining. Americans are just a bunch of whiners who think they're entitled to everything just because they live in the "best" nation in the world *rolls eyes*
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72 miles to work at $4/gallon and 44 MPG is $13.09 per day. If you share that with another person it's $6.55 per day. The price of gas is not that couple's problem.
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Susy,
Technically you are right...it isn't the government's responsibility to provide public transport.
But here's the thing. If you are a government office and you want people living/working/paying taxes/spending money in your city...you have to either make it so that they live close to work or they have cheap ways of getting to work. Otherwise they'll take up other options in other cities.
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ahhh ... just in time for oil to break below $75/bbl and gas going below $3/gallon.
Public transportation is not an option in most part of the country, except the east coast mega cities, and even they have limits for how many people can realistically use public transportation. Of course, PBS is catering to their audience ... not many live in rural america.