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Americans are driving less, and here's why
Yahoo Finance ^

Posted on 07/27/2013 3:42:24 PM PDT by Red in Blue PA

It may not seem like there are fewer traffic jams, and the gas station probably looks busier than ever every time you stop to fill up. But a new study shows that Americans are in fact driving less. We're seeing a steady shift in how people get around, with more people leaving their keys at home and finding other ways to get around. "This is an important change," said Michael Sivak, who conducted the study at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. "This is the first time we've ever seen a drop like this."

According to the study, driving in the U.S. reached a peak in 2004 and has been declining steadily ever since. "When you look at the distance-driven rate, we are where we were back in the mid-90s," Sivak said. In 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, the average licensed driver racked up 12,492 miles behind the wheel. That's down 1,221 miles, or 8.9 percent, from the peak seven years earlier.

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: carbontax; cost; energy; gasprice; kenyanbornmuzzie; oilprice; opec; transport
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To: Pikachu_Dad

Just took a tour of the west. Yellowstone, Black Hills, New Mexico.

Average price for gas was $3.99. 88 octane. I did not trust the 85 octane as here I use 87 octane.


61 posted on 07/27/2013 5:52:28 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

When you only work 29 hours a week, you have 11 extra hours that you can use to take the bus.


62 posted on 07/27/2013 5:58:23 PM PDT by AZLiberty (No tag today.)
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To: Red in Blue PA

Why are people driving less?

1. $4/gal
2. No job to go to
3. Mom provides a basement, but not a car & mom buys the groceries for everyone
4. No job = no money to vacation
5. Crappy little cars are no fun to cruise in
6. Gays don’t cruise for chicks, they just go to the bath house
7. Most people sleep in on Sunday mornings now instead of going to church


63 posted on 07/27/2013 6:09:52 PM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: Maudeen
BINGO! I used to enjoy taking mrs p6 out to dinner. Now we'd rather cook at home.

Yesterday we did take two of our grand kids to the Rennerdale PA Duck Pond one of the few places worth the 5 mile drive.

64 posted on 07/27/2013 6:14:28 PM PDT by prisoner6 ( FREEDOM!)
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To: Red in Blue PA

the roads are crappier than ever. more taxes going to union freaking pensions and healthcare than infrastructure. so much for ‘public servants’. never were supposed to get rich and have cadilac plans and never worry about being fired.


65 posted on 07/27/2013 6:19:46 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Rodamala

My daughter gets her toilet paper online with Amazon shop and save - comparable with Sams or Costco. If you have five items in a shipment, you save 20%, no shipping. Of course, for us, Costco is a mile away. We even get our gas there.


66 posted on 07/27/2013 6:30:34 PM PDT by aberaussie
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To: Red in Blue PA

When I was young we thought nothing of throwing a bag in the trunk and driving hundreds of miles for a week at the beach or in the mountains. It’s too expensive now for working people, let alone young jobless kids - gas is too high, any place fit to stay in or to visit costs too much. Those of us who are working are either working long hours in our full time job or working two or more part time jobs, so no time to go on a trip anyway. Rich folk fly to their vacations - so


67 posted on 07/27/2013 6:51:38 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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To: Some Fat Guy in L.A.

Hate to throw a wet(beach)blanket on the subject. . but it isn’t only the unfit places to stay, it is the beaches as well. I know someone who almost died when the surf got into an existing cut on the arm. Bacteria galore!


68 posted on 07/27/2013 7:09:21 PM PDT by Maudeen (Proverbs 3:5-6)
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To: BfloGuy

The black box will proved the regime that info, as soon as next year if Im not mistaken.


69 posted on 07/27/2013 7:14:35 PM PDT by Afterguard (Liberals will let you do anything you want, as long as it's mandatory.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

They’re driving less because gasoline and diesel costs more.

That leads to less money spent on fewer things that are not fuel — not merely because of avoided costs by not driving there, but also because transporting the goods, which obviously includes food, costs more, and retailers don’t print money either.


70 posted on 07/27/2013 7:35:52 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
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The Obama Tax Hike

to go with

The Obama Recession


71 posted on 07/27/2013 7:38:11 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
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To: upchuck
2. The real unemployment rate is somewhere north of 10%

!5%, 20%, 30%? -- Where do you think it is?

72 posted on 07/27/2013 8:09:21 PM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: CincyRichieRich
when you’re unemployed, you have no where to go.

I would bet this is a huge part of it. It hints at the true extent of the "shadow unemployment rate" among the tens of millions no longer accounted for. It would be interesting if a math whiz could graph it against labor force participation.
73 posted on 07/27/2013 8:14:54 PM PDT by Trod Upon (Every penny given to film and TV media companies goes right into enemy coffers. Starve them out!)
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To: GOPsterinMA; BillyBoy; fieldmarshaldj

If they ever invent holodecks like on Star Trek, civilization will come to an end.


74 posted on 07/27/2013 11:27:02 PM PDT by Impy (RED=COMMUNIST, NOT REPUBLICAN)
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To: Impy

But think of the money that one will be able to make doing clean-up for the mess after people use the holodeck. ...and you thought stepping in sticky soda in the movie theater was a bitch.


75 posted on 07/27/2013 11:34:02 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

LOL! Also, eww.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_BX8UjVUvA


76 posted on 07/27/2013 11:55:55 PM PDT by Impy (RED=COMMUNIST, NOT REPUBLICAN)
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To: Impy

I can’t believe they got Stewart to do that.


77 posted on 07/28/2013 12:09:43 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (Resist We Much)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

He seems to enjoy it.

He has a recurring character on McFarlene’s other cartoon “American Dad”, a Deputy CIA director who is basically a crazy pervert.


78 posted on 07/28/2013 12:26:48 AM PDT by Impy (RED=COMMUNIST, NOT REPUBLICAN)
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To: bgill
You’re out of milk for your cereal? Eat it dry until mama makes the grocery run next week.

If we're out of milk somebody didn't do their chores. Dairy cow and goats, hogs and chickens. Not to mention tending the garden.

Let the cities burn the zombies will have to go a long way through some country folks to get to me. We go to town maybe once a month.

79 posted on 07/28/2013 3:27:36 AM PDT by WhirlwindAttack (There is so much I could say. But I'm smart enough not to.)
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To: Impy; BillyBoy; fieldmarshaldj

“...civilization will come to an end.”

You say that like it’s a bad thing.


80 posted on 07/28/2013 5:44:58 AM PDT by GOPsterinMA (Time to musk up.)
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