Promoting Telecommuting During the Gas Dearth?

Oren F. asks: "The President of AeroAstro, Inc., a small aerospace company, has begun promoting his employees to conserve gasoline during these times of high prices by telecommuting to work each day from their homes at least once a week. How is your company responding to the current situation?"

Use a bike

[GreatDrok]

I've been cycling to work for the last three months and it has been great. Some days I have to use public transport if the weather is really nasty but I am averaging about 80% of my travel by bicycle. Lots of health benefits, zero emissions, very cheap to run. I cover 12 miles per day, some hills but I hardly notice them any more and it only takes me 35 mins each way.

A quick calculation to show the current price of UK fuel compared with the US:

$3.00 per US gallon (seems about average)

£0.92 per UK litre (at my local Asda)

1 US gallon = 3.79 litres (1 Imperial gallon is 4.54 litres)

£1 = $1.82

therefore, UK price is currently $6.35 per US gallon.

The other day it cost me £5 more to fill my car than it had done three weeks previously when I last filled it prior to a trip to York. I dread to think what people driving big 4x4s are paying when my little 1.6 Alfa Romeo costs £42 to fill.

Totally the wrong question.

[holy zarquon's singi]

What do you mean during petrol shortage. Prices won't be going down significantly until demand drops. Here [caltech.edu] is a good explaination of the problems with oil supply and energy exploration more generally.

What kind of circumstances do you think will cause a drop in demand significant enough to cause petrol prices to drop to the levels they were at the turn of the century?

Re:Use a bike

[deranged unix nut]

I have had some luck exploring my way through business parks and residential dead end roads. Maps usually don't show them, but there are often walking paths and cutouts that bicyclists can use to connect between sets of dead ends.

Re:Use a bike

[RandomJoe]

I've tried this. Most frustrating 30 miles of biking I ever did! ;)

I live all of 5 miles from my office. I'd love to ride my bike (and have, two weeks last year and just finished about 3 weeks last month) but the "last mile" is the problem! It's all residential and pleasant until I get right near my office. I have tried every side route I could think of, and can literally see my office building 1/4 mile away across a field from the nearest side road. But between the tall grass, stickers and railroad right of way (3 1/2 ft high berm!) it's basically unnavigable. Especially on my comfy but pavement-bound recumbent bike.

So I wind up having to go 1 mile down a VERY busy 4-lane divided. 50 MPH, LOTS of businesses for people to turn in and out of, no shoulder just a curb. I've done it, and it doesn't bother me to ride streets like that occasionally, but to do it twice per day every day during rush hour...

Grr... If they'd just put in that short stretch of side road!... (Probably will, too, about the time our lease is up on this building and we move out!)

Re:Get with your road commission to add a bike pat

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

I hear you. In the US and some other countries, if you are on a bike, motorcycle or any kind of vehicle smaller than your opponents^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H fellow commuters, they seem to take sadistic pleasure in dangerous and threatening maneuvers.

I don't usually see sadistic pleasure, just angry frustration that a given driver is impeded and sometimes endangered because he has a bicycle in front of him in his lane.

THe bicycle is going slower than traffic, invariably, and the person stuck behind him is getting passed by people, without himself getting an opportunity to pass the cyclist.

This means the driver behind the cyclist is screwed. Of course he's going to be pissed.

Doesn't help that in my area, there's a cycle trail 15 feet to one side of the road, but most cyclists (not me for damned sure) insist on riding in the street to be "Seen" and to show off their fucking gay spandex suits, complete with fake endosement logos.

Newsflash Lance. If you're commuting to get excercise and save gas, you don't need the attention. Just admit you're showing off, and go drink bleach.

When I ride, I'm getting from point a to point b. I have no interest in becoming a spectical or demonstrating to the masses how healthy and pro-environment I'm being. Give me the lovely bicycle trail that the local government spent so much fucking money on, which I never have to leave to get where I'm going, and I'm happy.

"activist" bicyclists do none of us any good.