Living Car Free - Trade a car for a bus, save a chunk of change [Reuters]

Came across this nugget in our local cycling blog - WashCycle (http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/)

Any lurkers here with 2 cars?


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A household with two cars that swaps one vehicle for public transportation for daily commutes would save about $6,200 a year even after paying transit fares, according to a study released on Tuesday.

Trade a car ... (http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2007-01-09T162802Z_01_N09404378_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENERGY-TRANSPORT-SAVINGS.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C2-TopNews-newsOne-8)

... And if you skipped the bus and cycled instead you'd save even more!

Yeah two car (and six bike ;) ) family. It would be hard to part with either - I find each so well suited for very different tasks.

A 4wd suv and a toyota prius

Al

From the article:

>>That's more than the $5,781 the average U.S. household spent on food in 2004, and slightly less than the $6,848 paid in yearly interest on the average home mortgage, the study said<<<<

Holy cow! I never really though about the fact that one could afford a home for the price of two cars! Incredible.

... And if you skipped the bus and cycled instead you'd save even more!
And if you telecommuted and never went anywhere you'd save more yet. And if you never bought anything or did anything outside the homestead except dumpster diving you would really be in clover!

And if you never bought anything or did anything outside the homestead except dumpster diving you would really be in clover!
They have clover in the dumpsters there? Well, Iowa is a farm state!

They have clover in the dumpsters there? Well, Iowa is a farm state!
That's right, I ride right past an Ethanol Plant on my commute. Smells just like the spilled whiskey in a bar room on Sunday morning after a long Saturday night.

Both Senator Edwards and Obama were in town last weekend. You can be sure not a disparaging word about King Corn and Ethanol was spoken here. Of course Obama wouldn't have been elected in farm state Illinois by bad mouthing the holiest of holy subjects.

That's right, I ride right past an Ethanol Plant on my commute. Smells just like the spilled whiskey in a bar room on Sunday morning after a long Saturday night.

Both Senator Edwards and Obama were in town last weekend. You can be sure not a disparaging word about King Corn and Ethanol was spoken here. Of course Obama wouldn't have been elected in farm state Illinois by bad mouthing the holiest of holy subjects.
The whole city of Detroit used to smell like that when the wind was from the south and the Seagram distillery of Windsor, Ontario. (Yes, Canada is south of Detroit.)

Now I guess the whole country is going to smell like sour mash, if the farmer-appeasing politicians have their way. It's weird that like 95 % of the American people live in cities, but farmers still rule the country in some ways.

And Marijuana is the top cash crop in 12 states, but they can't get it legalized.

It's weird that like 95 % of the American people live in cities, but farmers still rule the country in some ways.
Not weird at all as long as each state has only two Senators, no matter what the population.

Not weird at all as long as each state has only two Senators, no matter what the population.

And if you ignore the house of representatives

-D

And if you ignore the house of representatives

-D
Let me know how many laws they pass without a majority of the Senators agreeing.

Let me know how many laws they pass without a majority of the Senators agreeing.

My social studies are a bit rusty, but I believe it takes a majority vote in the house as well...

-D

Let me know how many laws they pass without a majority of the Senators agreeing.
And the biggest civics lesson of the past couple months is that a "majority" in the Senate actually means 60 %.

My social studies are a bit rusty, but I believe it takes a majority vote in the house as well...

-D
A bill is not enacted into law until it passes in both the House and Senate. The point was that each state has two senators elected statewide, giving agricultural interests a lot more pull in Washington.

The big lobbying dollars of the agricultural interests is another factor. Got milk?

So is the Republican gerrymandering of Congressional districts since 1994. For instance, I live in a staunchly Democratic city, but our Congressional district includes so much rural area that our Congressman is a very conservative Republican.

I actually do both - bus and cycle. Right now it's more bus so I can take a nap or read on my way to work. But still, at $54 a month for a transit pass, that's maybe half what a lot of people in San Diego spend each month on gas alone!

And if you telecommuted and never went anywhere you'd save more yet. And if you never bought anything or did anything outside the homestead except dumpster diving you would really be in clover!
Yeah, but then you'd be just as fat as if you drove a car.

Yeah, but then you'd be just as fat as if you drove a car.
Probably not since the eco-saint would probably be starving on handouts and table scraps.