  Darwinism Member Username: Darwinism Post Number: 716 Registered: 06-2005 |
This year and next are going to be critical for Metro Detroiters to endure and beat the odds. Every basic necessity has increased in price - heating, milk, gasoline, juice, meat and etc. Is your paycheck on the rise at the same rate too ? Probably not. When you get your tax refund check, including your extra economic stimulus amount from Uncle Sam, are you really going to go out and spend it ? I know I'll be padding every dollar of that down on house payment, bills and so on. Gas prices are bound to reach $4.00 by Summer, if not mid-Spring. Even the most well-off and financially comfortable households will be cutting back, because there is less available for leisure expenditures due to the rising cost of virtually everything around us. | ||
Thames Member Username: Thames Post Number: 71 Registered: 02-2007 |
I started taking a different route to work to avoid the expressway. I add 20 minutes a day to my commute but the mileage is about the same. I save a tank a month in gas which equals at least 50 bucks. (Message edited by thames on March 10, 2008) | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 7176 Registered: 02-2004 |
It's time to take the bus to work. | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 7177 Registered: 02-2004 |
Where are my SMART BUS Park and Ride Schedules? | ||
Gumby Member Username: Gumby Post Number: 1727 Registered: 11-2003 |
quote: Good idea in theory. But how do you expect them to be ablr to sell their house in Ft. Gratiot so they can move to Detroit in this wonderful market we have going on. Thankfully I didn't have a house to sell when I bought my house 1 mile and a half from work in Downtown Flint. But lets face it I am in the minority when it comes to that, most people would have to unload first. | ||
Miketoronto Member Username: Miketoronto Post Number: 789 Registered: 07-2004 |
The majority of Metro Detroiters will drive no matter what the cost, because there is no alternative. SMART does good with the resources they have. But lets be honest; most Metro Detroiters can not walk to a full service bus stop even if they wanted to. My cousin for example would have to walk about 45min to a bus stop, to catch a bus that only has like four trips a day. People can not make a switch when there is no alternatives to get them to where they are going. Could some people who live on the most busy SMART routes, and happen to work in downtown or something, switch? Yes they could. One interesting thing to look at are the Park and Ride Express buses to the north west suburbs. Those buses I have heard are very popular and full. Maybe SMART should add more buses like those to other suburbs, to capture the downtown bound commutes. Even with higher gas prices, cars are not that expensive to operate gas wise for most people. My transit pass for example costs me about $3.50 a day, for unlimited travel. How much does it cost to operate a car gas wise for a day? Probably pretty close or maybe just a tad more? (Message edited by miketoronto on March 10, 2008) | ||
Rugbyman Member Username: Rugbyman Post Number: 266 Registered: 06-2005 |
I'm surprised no one on here has mentioned car pooling. Add ten minutes to your commute and drive a co-worker in. Split gas. My fiance and I do it every day. It's really not a big deal AND you've cut your costs in half. | ||
Wazootyman Member Username: Wazootyman Post Number: 321 Registered: 02-2006 |
The housing market is relevant - but only to a point. Most people change jobs with some frequency, but don't want to uproot their lives and families. I've worked with people (even prior to the real estate downturn) who had commutes far greater than an hour each way, because the quality of the job and pay justified their drive. They didn't want to uproot their family just to be closer to their present employer. I ran some numbers on what $3.00 --> $4.00/gallon gasoline would cost me. I drive a fair amount - 20,000 miles last year - in a 2007 Saturn Vue. Adjusted EPA "2008" estimates for my vehicle's mileage put it at a combined 21 mi/gal. Based on this yearly mileage, a boost from $3.00 to $4.00/gallon would increase my monthly expenses by $79.37; about 2.6% of my average household expenses. I don't leave so close to the edge of my means that I'll lose sleep over that. Yes, groceries and other costs will increase as well, but they are independent of my driving habits. I don't know what it would take to 'change my driving habits', but as long as I don't have another choice (there is no public transportation route between my home and office), I'd just be forced to accept the cost. Though, to be honest, I really enjoy the freedom of having a car (the bus won't stop at the dry cleaners on the way home). As for the environmental impact, let's keep in mind that vehicles contribute roughly 14% of the total carbon emissions. There are lots of other areas to improve first before you demonize the SUV drivers - who, believe it or not, may have a boat, family and summer home that require owning such a vehicle. As a member of the automotive industry, I can assure you that innovation is well underway to improve fuel technology and economy. Unfortunately, it's only easy to make it happen if you're a politician (the only reason we don't have affordable 200 MPG cars yet is because engineers are lazy). | ||
Parkguy Member Username: Parkguy Post Number: 241 Registered: 04-2007 |
I'm surprised no one on here has mentioned car pooling. Add ten minutes to your commute and drive a co-worker in. Split gas. My fiance and I do it every day. It's really not a big deal AND you've cut your costs in half. SMART (I think) had a program going for carpools that promised a lift home if you had to work late and couldn't make the carpool departure. Is that still going on? | ||
Ltdave Member Username: Ltdave Post Number: 118 Registered: 09-2006 |
""Ltdave, Blue Water Transit just started running a bus from Port Huron directly to 23 Mile and Gratiot, and I believe you can connect to a SMART bus there."" yes but their earliest departure is an hour after im supposed to be on the floor working... ""Do you think more people will decide to buy homes closer to their places of employment? i.e. NOT live in Fort Gratiot if they work in Detroit???? WTF!"" WTF? ill tell you what the fuck. its none of your goddamned business where i live vs where i work. we went thru this last fall. if i wanted to live in a tenement and deal with the population pollution i would. as it is i prefer to have my 2-1/2 acres and custom designed home vs. a mcmansion in a 'detached condo sub' where theres only 20' between houses or an older inner city house. you live where YOU want and ill live where I want. this isnt a communist/socialist country. yet... | ||
Parkguy Member Username: Parkguy Post Number: 242 Registered: 04-2007 |
Found it. It's the Guaranteed Ride Home, offered through the Michigan Dept. of Transportation. Here's a link. They reimburse cab fare, etc. if you miss a vanpool trip back home for a valid reason. They list the reasons on the site. http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0 ,1607,7-151-9615_11228-22197-- ,00.html | ||
Mbr Member Username: Mbr Post Number: 340 Registered: 03-2005 |
Anyone a member of the Pigou Club? Raise the Gas Tax By N. Gregory Mankiw ...I would like to see Congress increase the gas tax by $1 per gallon, phased in gradually by 10 cents per year over the next decade. Campaign consultants aren't fond of this kind of proposal, but policy wonks keep pushing for it. Here's why: http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com /2006/10/pigou-club-manifesto. html | ||
Meaghansdad Member Username: Meaghansdad Post Number: 254 Registered: 07-2007 |
I would gladly take a bus to work, but I have to drop a child off at school. These gas prices are absolutely killing me, and with the size of my family, I'm likely to purchase a .....SUV (please dont shoot...) in the near future. Hopefully, my wife can drop the kid off and I catch the bus. | ||
Trainman Member Username: Trainman Post Number: 654 Registered: 04-2006 |
This summer, I plan to bike a mile and a half to a SMART bus and then take an 8 mile bike trail home. I plan of doing this for the exercise and the fun of riding a bus while reading the newspaper, but not because of gas prices. There is one other reason to do this and that is to get everyone to vote on the SMART property tax to make sure that when SEMCOG raises the gas tax 9 cents which will raise $450. Per year that SMART gets more money to help the handicapped and the low income. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 4494 Registered: 02-2005 |
Thank you for that link, Mbr. I actually didn't know that Mankiw-- a pretty level-headed economist and an employee of the Bush administration, in case any of you didn't know-- supported the gas tax. I will have to reference him when I speak of it in the future. Great point on the carpooling. There is surprisingly little of it at this point...look at all those cars out there on congested roads with just one person in them. A gas tax would speed up the process of forcing people to carpool and get more efficient cars. Wazooty, that 14 percent is still pretty massive when you consider the impact and total quantity of carbon in real terms. Plus, a lot of that total carbon is natural...i.e. volcanoes. Of your reasons for excuses for SUV drivers, I'd say a large family is the best excuse. Second homes and boats aren't exactly environmentally-friendly choices in themselves...but, indeed, SUVs do accompany them well. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 1742 Registered: 09-2007 |
"WTF? ill tell you what the fuck. its none of your goddamned business where i live vs where i work. we went thru this last fall. if i wanted to live in a tenement and deal with the population pollution i would. as it is i prefer to have my 2-1/2 acres and custom designed home vs. a mcmansion in a 'detached condo sub' where theres only 20' between houses or an older inner city house. you live where YOU want and ill live where I want. this isnt a communist/socialist country. yet..." No, I'll tell you WTF. Your country friends have provided you with poor perception of the city and suburban life. Not all the suburbs are filled with huge "mcmansions" and not all of Detroit is filled with "the projects." or older homes. If you took the time to look you could see that. In addition, what makes you think you're not polluting the air everyday during your commute on I-94 (Gratiot, whatever)? So how can you complain? You turn down alternative options, so just put up or shut up. After all of that, I still do agree that you should live where you choose to live. (Message edited by detroitrise on March 10, 2008) | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 1734 Registered: 02-2006 |
quote: Well, fine. Then don't ever complain about gas prices. You made your bed. | ||
Hooha Member Username: Hooha Post Number: 170 Registered: 06-2005 |
I'm curious, when they give the price for a barrel of oil, is it adjusted at all for the weakened American dollar? If our money is worth less, it would make sense that we have to pay more of it to get what we wanted before. The dollar has gone down 33% in value the last couple of years, and gas prices seem about that much higher, don't they? | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 463 Registered: 07-2007 |
If you have two cars at home, do this modified version of carpooling. Everyone in the carpool drives to work on Monday. The rest of the week, only one person drives back and forth and then everyone drives home Friday. If you need the car during the week, you're not stuck at work without a vehicle. Those who have done this find they almost never need the car at work but the peace of mind of "just in case" let's them get past the hurdle of the pure carpool arrangement. It might not save as much fuel but 4+ days of carpooling is better than none. | ||
Vetalalumni Member Username: Vetalalumni Post Number: 966 Registered: 05-2007 |
Already have adjusted driving habits due to transportation costs. Driving a compact car and have no monthly car payments. | ||
Club_boss Member Username: Club_boss Post Number: 323 Registered: 12-2006 |
"At what point will you make changes to your driving?" Somewhere between $4.00 and $4.50 So we are breathing on my pain threshold. | ||
Flyingj Member Username: Flyingj Post Number: 108 Registered: 08-2006 |
This town took it in the a during the Arab Oil Embrgo, Everybody. Everybody was f'd. Goodbye Mopar, Pony Cars, COPO, etc Remember all that talk of conservation & alternative energy back then? Remember that? It took the Big 3 around 3 years-even using Euro nameplates, to try & compete with the Pinto, Maverick, Omni. What crappy cars. We're as far away from the Arab Oil Embargo now as we were from the Nazis invasion of Poland then. Where was the Manhattan Project on this? Is the truth that we can't come up with solar, electric, hybrid, gasahol or fuel cell technology that's as good as crude oil, frankly? Family who work in the chemical field point out it's asinine to use petrol to run machines, because it has far greater value in other (manufacturing) uses. Mayor_sekou, I had one of those gas-stimator things in a GM SUV I took down from Seattle. I was appalled to find on The Grapevine the best mpg I got that whole trip was around 52-54 mph. Detroitrise we just had a member of this board endure a savage beating & broken bones for a few bucks...near me there's a trial for the mutant accused of killing a girl who went to my school. She stopped for a pack of cigs late @ night in a bad part of town, that mistake cost her an ATM card & a savage butchering up in the mountains. You can't tell LtDave to suck up high gas prices when he trades peace of mind rather than lose pieces of his mind. Not even Omni Consumer Products can gloss over that mindlessness | ||
Fmstack Member Username: Fmstack Post Number: 48 Registered: 06-2007 |
No one is telling you what you can or cannot do, dude. They're just telling you that what you're doing is stupid. There's a difference. WTF? ill tell you what the fuck. its none of your goddamned business where i live vs where i work. we went thru this last fall. if i wanted to live in a tenement and deal with the population pollution i would. as it is i prefer to have my 2-1/2 acres and custom designed home vs. a mcmansion in a 'detached condo sub' where theres only 20' between houses or an older inner city house. you live where YOU want and ill live where I want. this isnt a communist/socialist country. yet... | ||
Rax Member Username: Rax Post Number: 173 Registered: 11-2007 |
quote: You split the gas with your fiance? Sounds like you got the divorce all planned out. | ||
Higgs1634 Member Username: Higgs1634 Post Number: 356 Registered: 10-2005 |
quote: However, two things along that line, one can not always control where one works and the economic center of the region is not Detroit anymore. For example, a couple of years ago, my job moved from Detroit to Troy. My commute from my inner-ring eastside suburb doubled. Even though I have to drive more, they could not pay me enough money to get me to move to Troy. I'm sorry, it's just never gonna happen. Even if I wanted to move, in this economy it would take a year or more to sell my house. And, for various reasons, switching jobs isn't really an option. Professionally I don't really want to, and even if I did, the likelihood of finding a something closer to where I live is unlikely. I know it's standard practice around here to blame the victim, but maybe looking big picture once in a while would help. For example; maybe we could direct this self righteous disdain of commuters that drive more than 5 minutes to work at the abysmal state of mass transit around here. Why is it I have to sit on 696 in bumper to bumper traffic idling away 3.50 gas, instead of hopping the cross-town train? THAT is what is stupid, not the person sitting in traffic because there are no other options. | ||
Qdaddy77 Member Username: Qdaddy77 Post Number: 121 Registered: 05-2007 |
Kudos Higgs! I totally agree. I drive from GP to Bingham Farms everyday when my office moved from SE Detroit to here. I drive a straight 4 Grand Am and $3.50 a gallon gas is going to kill me. Every day as i sit on 696 I can help but think of what it would be like if there was a light rail or even a "gasp" monorail running down the center. The other day I noticed a MART bus sitting outside our office building that said its starting point was Macomb Mall. I am actually thinking about finding out what bus I need in the morning on mack to get to Macomb Mall to transfer to this bus. I would probally have to leave my house at 5:30 to get here by 9, and then leave work at 4 to get home by 6. hope the boss goes for it. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 1744 Registered: 09-2007 |
"Detroitrise we just had a member of this board endure a savage beating & broken bones for a few bucks...near me there's a trial for the mutant accused of killing a girl who went to my school. She stopped for a pack of cigs late @ night in a bad part of town, that mistake cost her an ATM card & a savage butchering up in the mountains. You can't tell LtDave to suck up high gas prices when he trades peace of mind rather than lose pieces of his mind. Not even Omni Consumer Products can gloss over that mindlessness" I know that's the real reason, but let him respond. My point is, just shut your mouth. It's like complaining over snow but you're not doing anything about it (like locating elsewhere or findind a job elsewhere). It's all pointless. | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 1745 Registered: 09-2007 |
"I totally agree. I drive from GP to Bingham Farms everyday when my office moved from SE Detroit to here. I drive a straight 4 Grand Am and $3.50 a gallon gas is going to kill me. Every day as i sit on 696 I can help but think of what it would be like if there was a light rail or even a "gasp" monorail running down the center. The other day I noticed a MART bus sitting outside our office building that said its starting point was Macomb Mall. I am actually thinking about finding out what bus I need in the morning on mack to get to Macomb Mall to transfer to this bus. I would probally have to leave my house at 5:30 to get here by 9, and then leave work at 4 to get home by 6. hope the boss goes for it." I think the 610 Harper/Kercheval and the 580 Harper goes to Macomb Mall, but don't quote me on that. However, You would have to get picked up on Kercheval for the 610 Harper/Kercheval and on Charlevoix for the 580 Harper if you live SW of Moross. -580 Harper http://www.smartbus.org/Smart/Ride%20SMART/GetMap_Action.aspx?ddLineDs=580%20HARPER -610 Kercheval/Harper http://www.smartbus.org/Smart/Ride%20SMART/GetMap_Action.aspx?ddLineDs=610/615%20KERCHEVAL-HARPER-JEFFERSON (Message edited by detroitrise on March 11, 2008) | ||
Qdaddy77 Member Username: Qdaddy77 Post Number: 122 Registered: 05-2007 |
in da woods..... so where would i get on? | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 1748 Registered: 09-2007 |
"in da woods..... so where would i get on?" Mack for both the 580 and 610 sine you're in the woods. |
