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Take a look at this article….
$7-a-gallon gas, 10-million fewer cars: Rubin
MATTHEW TREVISAN
Globe and Mail Update
June 26, 2008 at 1:47 PM EDT
A new forecast calls for gasoline prices to hit $7 (U.S.) a gallon in the next two years and oil to soar to $200 a barrel by 2010.
The report by CIBC World Markets also predicts there will be 10 million fewer cars on the road in the United States by 2012.
“Over the next four years, we are likely to witness the greatest mass exodus of vehicles off America’s highways in history,” Jeffrey Rubin, the lead author, wrote in Thursday’s report.
Economist Benjamin Tal, who co-authored the report with Mr. Rubin, said Canadians can expect to pay about $1.85 to $2.00 per litre of gas at the pumps by 2010.
~snip~
“We don’t have the same story in the sense that most low income Canadians have better access to public transportation,” he said, referring to the report’s U.S. calculations that estimates that about half the cars coming off the road will be from Americans who make less than $25,000.”
~snip~
After reading this news article and letting out an OMG!, I visited Our Friendly Earth again to read Joy’s post, The Price of Gas and Public Transit. So here’s another dilemma….how are all those people who have to give up their vehicles going to get around? As Joy pointed out, in Kansas City the public transit system is woefully lacking. In addition, what about rural Americans? At present, most small towns can not support the employment needs of their population, which demands the breadwinners to drive to larger communities. What are they going to do?
Yesterday I had some pretty devastating financial news that has me questioning my two year haitus from teaching. We had planned for me to be a SAHM until DD graduates next year, however because of one little…itsy, teensy letter (well actually it was several pages thick) that I received yesterday…those plans may have to change.
So today, I find this article….and…the neighbors could have heard my OMG! What the heck will I do if THIS happens? two streets over.
A quick, in my head, calculation gave me a rough estimate of what it would cost me to drive to work every day….close to $27 a day! As a substitute that would be almost 1/2 of my daily net pay…as a full time teacher…about 1/3. How in the world is that going to work? Okay…I realize it is not THAT bad for ME…I will at least have some amount of money left over after stopping at the pump…and unfortunately be netting less than minimum wage….but again (tell me if this gets old here)….how in the sam-hill are younger families, minimum wage earners, the elderly on fixed incomes going to survive this?
My thought is the rural areas will suffer greatly with population declines. The Ghosts Towns of the Old West will now have competition from every state. People are going to have to move where they can find employment and be able to either walk or take public transit. So there’s a new dilemma. Kansas City cannot not be the only large city with deficient public transportation. Will the cities be able to handle the influx of new residents?
When I was much younger, and before I actually understood the ramifications of public administration, I lived in a suburban city of Dallas, Texas. Public transit was on the ballot for our city. Proponents wanted to offer public transportation from the bedroom community to the inner city, however, those opposed argued that public transportation would bring poverty, thus crime to the area as well as raise the sales taxes. I believe that suburban city still does not offer public transportation (outside of a taxi). So what is suburbia going to do?
What are we ALL going to do?
