Get out of your car

Don’t be like this guy…    

There are a plethora of reasons why you should be cutting back on your vehicle travel (scooter or car).  High gas prices, obesity/other health issues, carbon emissions which make global climate change worse, etc etc etc.  You can stick your head in the sand and hope nothing changes, or you can be pro-active.  While obviously I am pro-scooter, I am also pro-bike, pro-walking, and pro-public transit.  So get out of your car!  But also – get off your scooter if it’s a short trip!  Try walking or biking.

If you want more information on the true cost of your vehicle, go here: http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm82.htm  It costs more than you think!  Even here in Central Ohio it is possible to cut back on your vehicle travel, or even cut out a car altogether.  Depending on where you live and work, your family could get by with only one car, or no cars.  If you are moving soon, consider moving to a place on the bus line, or to a place close to your work, or to an area where you can walk or bike for some trips.  Can you walk to a grocery store?  Doctor’s office?  Bookstore?  Bar?  Restaurant?

At some point I will work on the externalities thing, but one problem I realized today was that the value-of-time numbers are different depending on the mode of travel.  I think the way these are calculated are sort of bogus, although right now there is no accepted alternative method.  So my calculations will just include the time savings, and the reader can decide for themselves if saving 2 minutes is worth $50 million (or whatever the numbers happen to be).