My friend drives a Honda Civic. It's old, and not in the vintage way. It cost him a fair amount to buy, costs him a fair amount to maintain and insure - and then of course, there are the fuel costs. Let us consider a basic, ball park estimate of things:
Yearly costs: $8000-$9000 (source: CAA)
Yearly public transport cost: < $1500
Also, while buses are just as likely to get caught up in traffic jams, subways aren't. Also, even if your bus is in the jam, you aren't driving, so you could read, chat, sleep or do any number of other things.
So, of course, my friend, and millions like him, are silly to drive cars when they could go public right !?!
Well, maybe. But here's the thing. My friend, and many like him, is not rich. The money invested in the car is a hefty chunk of his annual income. The car he drives is nobody's status symbol. And he is well aware of the public option. And yet he persists with the car. As do millions of others like him. There must be something that the cars provide which public transport doesn't. And perhaps, instead of just calling these people irresponsible, enviro-activists should try to find out what exactly that something is. Finding that and then providing it in a public transport facility will do a lot more to help drivers switch than any amount of emotional blackmail.
To me, that seems like a much more immediate way of helping cut down on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption. I'm not saying we shouldn't keep searching for greener energy alternatives - of course we should. But maybe, in the meantime, this could help.
No comments:
Post a Comment