Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
California, so out of control they have to do something. The traffic is ridiculous, I can't imagine the repair bill for all those highways. Do whatever it takes to get people to live closer and drive less. They cannot keep doing what they are doing. They should put a moratorium on new freeway construction. Just maintain what they have but no more expansion. They have to find a way to get people out of their cars in that state.
California, so out of control they have to do something. The traffic is ridiculous, I can't imagine the repair bill for all those highways. Do whatever it takes to get people to live closer and drive less. They cannot keep doing what they are doing. They should put a moratorium on new freeway construction. Just maintain what they have but no more expansion. They have to find a way to get people out of their cars in that state.
You're getting very close to the root problem. EVs aren't a solution, they bring their own problems to the table.
So often you hear things like the average commute is XX miles. Uh huh. Well, news flash, averages mean zip because most people don't have an average commute. Many people have less and a rather large minority have long distance commutes. Those driving into the major cities are polluting the most. The people living in the cities aren't driving that much distance. On a daily basis, neither are potato farmers. It is the commuters.
Every time I hear someone talk about the average commute I wonder why they can't figure out that it means nothing. Try to find someone that has a commute that is "average". It is a statistic used to manipulate facts into an agenda.
The things about repairing roads is more about the failure to build roads properly than about not enough money to maintain them. We let roads nearly crumble to dust before we fix them and then right after a road is resurfaced or rebuilt, they dig it up for this or that reason. Then they patch it and you end up with a new road that looks like its been in service for a decade.
It is possible to design and build high quality roads, we just don't do it because the construction industry has a monopoly on road repair and the lowest bidder obsession to do anything but the right thing.
Nowhere to hide. This will hit everyone including electric vehicle drivers.
How is this going to fly in Florida where we have NO public transit to use?....and where the sprawl has created insane distances for people to drive...this is BS! They should cut their 6 figure salaries down and drive their own cars, and spend that money on relevant public transit rather than continue to tax the citizens who aren't paid enough to absorb more taxes as of now!
What a joke these politicians are....It's embarrassing that we're keep electing these idiots!
How is this going to fly in Florida where we have NO public transit to use?....and where the sprawl has created insane distances for people to drive...this is BS! They should cut their 6 figure salaries down and drive their own cars, and spend that money on relevant public transit rather than continue to tax the citizens who aren't paid enough to absorb more taxes as of now!
What a joke these politicians are....It's embarrassing that we're keep electing these idiots!
This does hint on a good point; the traffic issues are due to the failures of the gov leaders to address issues like this, thus any "fix" is just some idiotic idea which is really only to raise the cost of commuting and let the citizen figure it all out.
So instead of the gov properly planning and implementing such projects that they know will be a need for future commute use, they just continue to kick the ball and the only idea that comes (with I am sure plenty of backing from environment groups) is "raise the costs of doing the activity".
Of course the ultimate fault is with the voters, who never place a priority on such things until it smacks them in the face, but really, it seems sometimes the democratic process is so detached from what the people really desire, it is hard for me to really lay all the blame on the voters.
You're getting very close to the root problem. EVs aren't a solution, they bring their own problems to the table.
Electric vehicles are actually pretty good for the country and for the world. Consider a few advantages that EVs bring:
- no emissions. It's easier to control and clean the smokestacks at a central generating plant than in 200 million vehicles. If you're running on hydro, nuclear, wind, or solar, then it's zero emissions end-to-end. Cleaner air = less cancer and other diseases. Less stress, longer lives, quieter roads. Possibly less greenhouse gases spewing out. This is all good.
- reduced oil consumption. We have spent trillions of dollars and fought bloody wars over oil. Make no mistake-- Iraq '91 and Iraq '02 were about oil. The U.S. should never have gone in there and if we were energy independent in 1980, we would have not cared one whit about Iran and the Shah and the Iran-Iraq war and so forth.
- Flexibility of fuel. As mentioned above, an EV can run on wind, solar, nuclear, LNG, coal, geothermal, or whatever other energy source may come along. If you have solar panels on your home, you can recharge during the day for free, or store up in batteries for overnight recharging. It's only a matter of time before sun-drenched office parking lots in the Southwest have solar parking chargers for commuters to top off during the day.
- better balance of trade. We'll end up exporting all our oil instead of spending $400 billion a year importing it as we have for many years. We also have some pretty strong home-grown electric vehicle technology (Tesla, Volt) for export.
Electric is coming. It's just a matter of time before we have a $40,000 Tesla with 500 mile range. 5 years, 10 years, or however long - but it's going to be here. We should be thinking about how this kind of technology is going to change our lives. If you can recharge your car from solar panels at home or at work, even if only 20%, then the nation's energy picture will dramatically change and suddenly we'll be not only the world's biggest energy producer but also the biggest exporter.
That will change our foreign policy to better reflect our values and stop kowtowing to the oil producers in the Middle East and Africa, who will have to find another way to make a living.
The cool thing about EV is that it's topped off every night when you plug in, so when you get up in the morning you are always at full capacity. Also unlike fossil fuel cars, your vehicle doesn't gain weight when you fill it up. Most of us don't think about that, but 12 gallons = 100 pounds of extra weight (plus the gas tank itself). Hyper milers will tell you they only fill up to a quarter of a tank.
So taxing gasoline... nah, that's eventually going to be out the window. We're going to have to go to a different model and I expect it to be an odometer based tax. Unfortunately, that's a difficult approach and prone to fraud, as discussed above. Probably eventually we will just recognize that the roads are a universal benefit to all members of society and road maintenance and construction will come out of general funds plus excise and sales taxes on vehicles, plus extra taxation by weight of vehicle.
More and more people ARE commuting by bike. This trend will continue because of student debt. I don't understand why people can't see this simple fact. New graduates are in debt up to the eyeballs and they haven't even got out in the workforce yet. Many are in the hole $100K or more. They can't afford to live too far from work and many can't afford a car, so they find roommates and commute via bike or walk. This trend will just continue to grow. It is so obvious, I don't even know why I have to post it.
How is this going to fly in Florida where we have NO public transit to use?....and where the sprawl has created insane distances for people to drive...this is BS! They should cut their 6 figure salaries down and drive their own cars, and spend that money on relevant public transit rather than continue to tax the citizens who aren't paid enough to absorb more taxes as of now!
What a joke these politicians are....It's embarrassing that we're keep electing these idiots!
Bingo! Raising taxes on gas/emissions/mileage is going to be detrimental to us Floridians. Our governments are completely inept and have no concept of urban planning. They just allow developers to tear down miles and miles of forests then put in 10,000 homes. But the City NEVER increases the road capacity or considers the effect on traffic. So now we have 1 hour commutes for a 15 mile drive to work, all the while the engines spew out emissions while were sitting at red lights for 4 minutes per cycle. So the complete incompetence at the local level causes the Federal level to tax us more? Come one. Eventually were going to have to hold our leaders accountable for this crap. They've got us pitted against each other on the democrat vs republican issues that we aren't even paying attention to the fact that its government incompetence that causes all of this to begin with!
More and more people ARE commuting by bike. This trend will continue because of student debt. I don't understand why people can't see this simple fact. New graduates are in debt up to the eyeballs and they haven't even got out in the workforce yet. Many are in the hole $100K or more. They can't afford to live too far from work and many can't afford a car, so they find roommates and commute via bike or walk. This trend will just continue to grow. It is so obvious, I don't even know why I have to post it.
This is not feasible in states with extreme heat and humidity such as Florida! We barely have sidewalks here, let alone bike lanes! The pedestrian casualties here are amongst the highest in the US. Also, what do you expect elders do?
We need HIGH SPEED RAIL; like they have in Japan, Europe etc. considering the distances people have to commute here.
Remember, not everyone gets to choose to live next door to work; that's an ideal many wish for but can't have. Not to mention families with children; schools within city limits usually suck. Have you seen our downtowns? Besides Manhattan, they're all pathetic!
I would LOVE to bike everywhere...but sadly, we have nowhere to do that without being hit by cars!
This is not feasible in states with extreme heat and humidity such as Florida! We barely have sidewalks here, let alone bike lanes! The pedestrian casualties here are amongst the highest in the US. Also, what do you expect elders do?
We need HIGH SPEED RAIL; like they have in Japan, Europe etc. considering the distances people have to commute here.
Remember, not everyone gets to choose to live next door to work; that's an ideal many wish for but can't have. Not to mention families with children; schools within city limits usually suck. Have you seen our downtowns? Besides Manhattan, they're all pathetic!
I would LOVE to bike everywhere...but sadly, we have nowhere to do that without being hit by cars!
Do you live in Jax? lol. Our downtown consists of 15 large office buildings, a stadium, a theater, and miles and miles of extreme ghetto. They keep trying to revitalize downtown but the homeless shelter and surrounding communities make that impossible. The homeless here have no problem walking through your front door in a drug induced stupor, or sleeping on your front lawn.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
