Biggest driving drop ever recorded...

[Junkdrawer]

Question: "At what gasoline price does the US economy suffer severe dislocation?"

So, as it turns out, the correct answer is "$4.00 a gallon"....

As gas goes up, driving goes down

The Department of Transportation said figures from March show the steepest decrease in driving ever recorded.

Compared with March a year earlier, Americans drove an estimated 4.3 percent less -- that's 11 billion fewer miles, the DOT's Federal Highway Administration said Monday, calling it "the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history." Records have been kept since 1942.

According to AAA, for the first time since 2002, Americans said they were planning to drive less over the Memorial Day weekend than they did the year before.

Tracy and Adam Crews posted on iReport that their annual Memorial Day weekend has traditionally involved camping and fishing.

"Well, due to the continual rise in gas, we felt our only recourse was to nix the idea this year and stay home" in Jacksonville, Florida, they wrote.

....

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/26/gas.driving/index.html

The Pittsburgh Galleria Mall was to be an economic revival project for the depressed Tarentum, PA area. Huge, record sized project with 'easy access' from the PA Turnpike. My wife and son went there yesterday to celebrate my son's birthday. We had the place to ourselves. Almost completely empty. Spoke to a few merchants and they were terrified.

[Virginia Dare]

1. Transit authorities here in the D.C. area are in a state of panic..

they are scrambling with 25% increases in ridership, and steadily rising by the day practically. They were already having a difficult time keeping up with the demand.

This country is being thrown into a state of chaos.

[Junkdrawer]

2. I live within bicycle distance from work. On rainy/wintry days, I take a bus...

It was standing room only during the school year. I'm noticing more and more older riders like myself this summer. This September should be interesting.

[MindPilot]

4. You are so very lucky

The DC subway system is the most awesome public transportation system I've ever seen. Very easy to use, incredibly fast and dirt cheap.

I have a 30-mile each way trip on the freeway to work with no real alternative. Oh, I could take the bus, but at $4.50 each way, gas is still cheaper and it would turn my 25-minute trip into a three-hour hell.

[Junkdrawer]

6. Mass Transit should be one of the top five issues this year.

We desperately need to convert from cars to trains/light rails/busses.

[Virginia Dare]

7. Agreed, it's a good system..

but severely underfunded and increasingly overcrowded, especially the Red and Green lines.

[Junkdrawer]

3. .

[gratuitous]

5. Folks are taking a hard look at habits

And in some ways, it's about time. Getting to work, getting to the store, and other necessary trips will always be done, but folks are more and more going to see their drives to friends' houses, drives to the movies, and other drives as extravagances that can't be justified. Some people might even (gasp!) drag out their old trusty bicycles, or take public transit, or even (double gasp) walk some of their shorter jaunts.

This isn't unmitigatedly bad news.

[camero]

8. and prices are still rising even with reduced demand

hmmmmmmmmmmmm..doesn't that make conservative economists stupid?

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

9. It's not just that gas costs more

It's that everything else seems to have risen in price at the same time, because everything in our society depends on fuel. That $4 a gallon means more than just an extra high bill at the gas pump and people have to think twice about where to spend their diminishing cash.