Virginia Beach ranks 41 of 50 for managing the high price of commuting. (Norfolk: oceanfront, luxury)

[janeannwho]

New list on CNN lists Virginia Beach as one of the ten worst cities to manage the high prices of gas.

What are you doing to manage your fuel costs?

[Erma]

What causes this is the poor management of public transportation. In the Hampton Roads area, mainly Norfolk, VB and Chesapeake, there are commuting lots and shuttles for those who work in large complexes, but the city bus system totally stinks. I have spoken to those who take the bus and they say they have to start out 2 hours early to make it to work on time and take at least 2 buses to get there.
My company management met today and we are going to 4-10 hour work days to cut back on fuel costs for the employees. For shipyard jobs, we rent vans, agree on a meeting spot and ride in one vehicle. We also start work at 6 vice 7:30 am so we are not stuck in traffic burning up fuel. You have to realize that many people have to commute from other vacinities like North Carolina and the Eastern Shore. We have 2 naval shipyards and 4 privately owned shipyards. These people don't have the luxury who live in the country to car pool. We also have 6 hospitals that employ hundreds of workers working different shifts.

[janeannwho]

Originally Posted by Erma

What causes this is the poor management of public transportation. In the Hampton Roads area, mainly Norfolk, VB and Chesapeake, there are commuting lots and shuttles for those who work in large complexes, but the city bus system totally stinks. I have spoken to those who take the bus and they say they have to start out 2 hours early to make it to work on time and take at least 2 buses to get there.
My company management met today and we are going to 4-10 hour work days to cut back on fuel costs for the employees. For shipyard jobs, we rent vans, agree on a meeting spot and ride in one vehicle. We also start work at 6 vice 7:30 am so we are not stuck in traffic burning up fuel. You have to realize that many people have to commute from other vacinities like North Carolina and the Eastern Shore. We have 2 naval shipyards and 4 privately owned shipyards. These people don't have the luxury who live in the country to car pool. We also have 6 hospitals that employ hundreds of workers working different shifts.

Fabulous! I have been telecommuting for the last year and have actually increased my productivity by 20 percent. Any other ideas out there?

[beach kat]

I think large employers should get retroactive about commuting. Maybe develop incentive for carpooling which could boost morale when employees may be disgruntled about fuel prices going up. Plan to have employees coming from the same areas of a city ride in together with each of them driving on a certain day of the week. The idea of having earlier start times is an excellent idea as well as having more flexible start and end of work day times. I agree that the HR bus system is not good and is a last resort usually for individuals who do not have a car or cannot drive. It seems like a lot of people are just willing to pay the higher price for gas and really are not willing to do anything to improve things.

[Kuharai]

One of our biggest problems is that we have several central locations of major employment (the bases, the hospitals, the shipyards), but the people who work in those major locations are spread throughout the Hampton Roads area!

When it comes to my job, we've got people that are coming from: different areas of the Seven Cities - and even one guy makes the huge trip from Tappahannock!! We've got new flex scheduling that will allow an extra day off - but some people can't do it. So, there really is no way to carpool it.

Virginia Beach is bad because they don't want to do anything about this problem. They rejected the light rail idea, they keep pulling funds from the HRT, and the city even pushed the (wonderful) trains out. Remember when you could take a train to the Oceanfront? I do. You could also take the train all the way to Norfolk Naval.

Virginia Beach is just stubborn about change.

[Erma]

You're right about that. I'm wondering if they'll jump on Norfolk's bandwagon with the new transit system.

[janeannwho]

Did we ever train service to DC? I go up there often and would love to take the train into town.

[bbguy05]

Carpooling sounds like a good idea, but everyone in my office lives in different cities. Plus almost all of them have children that they need to take to daycare and what not, and most of the time their backseat is full of car seats.

Public transportation in this area really needs to be revamped!

[Erma]

Originally Posted by janeannwho

Did we ever train service to DC? I go up there often and would love to take the train into town.

There is amtrak...you have to check their schedules.

[snosurfa7]

Buy a cheap, used gas sipper. Was commuting from Norfolk to Moyock in my truck 3 years ago. Car paid for itself in 2 years going from 15mpg to 40mpg. Plus all the wear and tear off my truck.

The city bus system is like any other city bus system. I used to drive in Charlottesville and it would still take forever to get somewhere on the bus because we have time stops, shift changes, and traffic too. And a light rail from Norfolk to what is it, Newtown road? Who is going to take that? What is off of Newtown Road? I don't think they even have the right-of-way to go all the way to the beach...Ok, I know its a beginning so sure, why not...but seriously who is going to commute from Newtown Road to downtown Norfolk? People will still have to drive to Newtown Road. Just like ODU was supposed to have a monorail to ship 100 lazy people one mile away - hmmm, that is going really well.

Its all good in theory but we just need more fuel efficient vehicles for commuting (why can my 1996 honda civic with 265,000 miles on it get 40mpg city, 45 highway but we can't even build a fancy pancy hybrid to barely touch that nowadays), better roadway planning (yeah, I'll agree to say that pretty much stinks around here), and a new bridge crossing (can you imagine if the HRBT ever flooded like the midtown did during isabel..I think gas prices will be the last thing on your mind - you might as well dust off your bicycle at that point).

just my 2 cents...I still love VA beach!!