50 years ago, in his book Energy and Equity, Ivan Illich did a similar calculation. The result was that the average American worker, taking miles driven/year divided by time spent working to earn the costs of those miles, achieved a speed of 5 miles/hour. Which Illich pointed out was just 2 mph faster than the poorest of humanity, walking.
I just love how the moment is now for your many years of tracking and thinking about this, Lloyd.
It will be fascinating to see how this shifts U.S. consumer behavior. It’s similar to the dairy/meat safety/price shift happening here now - will that be the reason that people start to veer more plant-based?
These solutions have been sitting there, right in front of us, this whole time.
Don't wait for the tariffs to dump car ownership if you really don't need a car. When my car finally died, I was retired and living on social security.The cost of owning and operating a car in Canada is higher than in the US. A look at my budget made me realize car ownership made no financial sense.
I live in a car centric part of Canada, where walking is not prioritized and cycling infrastructure is designed for athletic young adults who are commuting to work and back (instead of for people of all ages and abilities, doing errands, education or pleasure trips or chains of all of the foregoing.) That being said, I do not regret one minute of giving up on car ownership. I have saved money , time and bother. I own an electric assist bike. If I really need to be transported by car, there are taxis and car share memberships, which cost far less than a car and transfer the bother to someone else. During COVID, many businesses developed delivery models so one no longer needs a car for those 50pound bags of soil, dog food or groceries. In short, car ownership really may not be as necessary as we think it is. Besides, if more people opt out, there will me more demand for more climate friendly transportation planning.
It seems like to me, that if what you say might come about, and Canadians are forced into bicycles and walking more because of the cost of auto ownership, you would be pleased. More people on bikes, more people walking not only add to less pollution, but also a healthier population.
Seems to me then that the tariffs might be a win-win for everyone involved. Except for those of us who live miles from towns and have to travel longer for healthcare because we own our homes and cannot afford to be urbanized. Still how much price can you put on waking up to sunrises, birds singing, deer in the front yard, eating fresh vegetables right out of the garden, having meat that is chemical free in the freezer that you raised. Or even sitting around a campfire at night with the grandkids roasting marshmellows and pointing out the different constellations and then being blessed to watch the northen lights (whenever they appear).
Car ownership and driving has a blood pressure issue. I am certain my frustration level goes up in a car, and down on a bike, using the same roads. What are the mental health costs? These are harder to document in the monetary way you excellently did, but they are real. The switch to a different transportation system here in the rural part of states will happen generationally, but it has to happen. Cars/trucks are just too loaded with embodied energy to last much longer, and that includes small electric models. Looking around my neighborhood there are 13 cars for 7 families, and right now no kids. Why? It is a culturally derived mistake with huge environmental and health costs.
America has such a strong car culture as has oft been noted. 60 years ago I thought nothing of driving an hour to pick up my date, drive half an hour to see a movie and eat, drive her home, and another hour driving home. After I moved to the Atlantic coast I usually drove back to the Midwest about 3 times a year. Eventually work pressure turned the long road trips into airline flights (rail service simply wasn’t adequate or rapid enough). Right now we have the pressure to get everyone back in the office (though here in the Washington DC area that means often just long enough to clean out your desk). Anecdotally driving behavior is worse after the pandemic than it was before. However a long walk through the extended neighborhood showed an unexpected number of hybrids and EVs with home chargers as well as more solar arrays than I expected. But rail and bus options are unable to meet the need in so many communities in the US.
Yes, I was watching a YouTube video of a young man navigating the high-speed rail system in Japan and stopped to calculate how long it would take for me to reach family in Atlanta from my home near Philadelphia on such a train. The answer was about 4 hours. It makes you want to whine, "Why can't we have nice things?"
50 years ago, in his book Energy and Equity, Ivan Illich did a similar calculation. The result was that the average American worker, taking miles driven/year divided by time spent working to earn the costs of those miles, achieved a speed of 5 miles/hour. Which Illich pointed out was just 2 mph faster than the poorest of humanity, walking.
I just love how the moment is now for your many years of tracking and thinking about this, Lloyd.
It will be fascinating to see how this shifts U.S. consumer behavior. It’s similar to the dairy/meat safety/price shift happening here now - will that be the reason that people start to veer more plant-based?
These solutions have been sitting there, right in front of us, this whole time.
Thank you for your continuing wonderful work!
Don't wait for the tariffs to dump car ownership if you really don't need a car. When my car finally died, I was retired and living on social security.The cost of owning and operating a car in Canada is higher than in the US. A look at my budget made me realize car ownership made no financial sense.
I live in a car centric part of Canada, where walking is not prioritized and cycling infrastructure is designed for athletic young adults who are commuting to work and back (instead of for people of all ages and abilities, doing errands, education or pleasure trips or chains of all of the foregoing.) That being said, I do not regret one minute of giving up on car ownership. I have saved money , time and bother. I own an electric assist bike. If I really need to be transported by car, there are taxis and car share memberships, which cost far less than a car and transfer the bother to someone else. During COVID, many businesses developed delivery models so one no longer needs a car for those 50pound bags of soil, dog food or groceries. In short, car ownership really may not be as necessary as we think it is. Besides, if more people opt out, there will me more demand for more climate friendly transportation planning.
It seems like to me, that if what you say might come about, and Canadians are forced into bicycles and walking more because of the cost of auto ownership, you would be pleased. More people on bikes, more people walking not only add to less pollution, but also a healthier population.
Seems to me then that the tariffs might be a win-win for everyone involved. Except for those of us who live miles from towns and have to travel longer for healthcare because we own our homes and cannot afford to be urbanized. Still how much price can you put on waking up to sunrises, birds singing, deer in the front yard, eating fresh vegetables right out of the garden, having meat that is chemical free in the freezer that you raised. Or even sitting around a campfire at night with the grandkids roasting marshmellows and pointing out the different constellations and then being blessed to watch the northen lights (whenever they appear).
I guess there are trade-offs for everything.
Car ownership and driving has a blood pressure issue. I am certain my frustration level goes up in a car, and down on a bike, using the same roads. What are the mental health costs? These are harder to document in the monetary way you excellently did, but they are real. The switch to a different transportation system here in the rural part of states will happen generationally, but it has to happen. Cars/trucks are just too loaded with embodied energy to last much longer, and that includes small electric models. Looking around my neighborhood there are 13 cars for 7 families, and right now no kids. Why? It is a culturally derived mistake with huge environmental and health costs.
America has such a strong car culture as has oft been noted. 60 years ago I thought nothing of driving an hour to pick up my date, drive half an hour to see a movie and eat, drive her home, and another hour driving home. After I moved to the Atlantic coast I usually drove back to the Midwest about 3 times a year. Eventually work pressure turned the long road trips into airline flights (rail service simply wasn’t adequate or rapid enough). Right now we have the pressure to get everyone back in the office (though here in the Washington DC area that means often just long enough to clean out your desk). Anecdotally driving behavior is worse after the pandemic than it was before. However a long walk through the extended neighborhood showed an unexpected number of hybrids and EVs with home chargers as well as more solar arrays than I expected. But rail and bus options are unable to meet the need in so many communities in the US.
Yes, I was watching a YouTube video of a young man navigating the high-speed rail system in Japan and stopped to calculate how long it would take for me to reach family in Atlanta from my home near Philadelphia on such a train. The answer was about 4 hours. It makes you want to whine, "Why can't we have nice things?"
The second chart could use a key.