I would LOVE to ride my bike, walk, or use mass transit if it were possible and get rid of at least one of our cars. I walk places as much as I can but the other two options really don’t exist in my area. Most of this country (especially post WWII) was built for automobiles as the sole mode of transportation. Everyone wanted the house with the yard and didn’t want to get on a bus or train or sidewalk with any inner-city folk. Now we’re left with urban sprawl, gridlocked roads, and the looming threat of Peak Oil.
My sense is the the suburbs will have to be re-engineered in some way otherwise not many people will be able to live in them when oil gets to $100/bbl and traffic gridlock becomes paralyzing. Even if we all drive Priuses, the roads would still be gridlocked. I don’t have the answer to this, but some type of mass transit system for the suburbs seems inevitable. A lot of the problem with doing this is that, not only are houses spread out but so are jobs. Maybe some of the far flung office buildings will become vacant. I don’t know. I just feel strongly that we can’t go much farther with the post WWII mentality. Whatever the solutions are for this country’s energy and transit problems will form the basis for the next boom in the economy. It’s about the only thing that can.
By the way, if oil prices get high enough, big-box retailers like Wal-Mart, etc. will cease to exist due to the high transportation costs on both the stores’ and buyers’ ends. We would go back to more localized production and distribution. Things would cost more and we’d buy less junk we don’t need. I’m all for it. I’m hoping oil shoots up to $100-$200/bbl so that we can get rid of some of the excesses and distractions in our culture. It would reduce the trade deficit as well.
