It’s amazing how fast the price of gas goes up and how slow it is to come down. Please don’t send me more e-mails about “peak oil,” but the whole thing has just gotten out of hand. As regular readers know, I am a big fan of teleworking and got this from Julie who works for a local advocacy organization: “Here we go again. A price hike in oil has prices at the pump once again at an all-time high. The price of gas is averaging around $2.86 per gallon in some major metro regions, and it’s rising every day. Based on 2005 AAA figures on depreciation, insurance, licenses, maintenance and repair, one can calculate both the costs of commuting and the affordability issues surrounding it. The Telework Consortium, a nonprofit organization that discovers, evaluates and demonstrates the hardware, software and best practices to enable a remote work force, did the math. I thought you’d be interested in the figures.
“When gas is priced at $3 per gallon, it would take an employee earning $65,000 per year who commutes 40 miles round-trip per day more than two months to pay for commuting. That is nine weeks and three days of his/her take-home pay! Just to pay for a daily commute. In terms of cost, for gas priced at $3 per gallon, the consortium calculates the cost of commuter miles is about $7,276 per year — actually the fourth largest cost behind the ‘fixed’ costs of depreciation, insurance, license and maintenance. Perhaps the total affordability factor is an even more compelling reason to telework than strict costs? It’s a proof positive example of why employees should urge their employers to add a telework policy.”
Little things go a long way
Congratulations to Meagan Johnson, who last year was a fifth-grade crossing guard at Hoffman Boston Elementary School in Arlington. Meagan took it on herself to walk a group of children to school after a horrific bus accident tied up their regular route to school. Meagan and another guard helped relieve the children’s angst and took them the six blocks to class. She was recently one of only a handful of crossing guards honored across the country by AAA, but for those children and for those of us in this region, we owe her a special word of thanks.
Will giving buses the right-of-way improve traffic flow?
Gail writes: “Here is a new idea for improving traffic flow: Provide right-of-way to buses at all traffic lights. The buses could have a remote sensor, which makes traffic lights turn green to give the buses right-of-way. This has the potential to make bus transportation faster than car transportation. More people would ride the bus if they could get to their destination faster than by car. With fewer cars on the road, there would be better traffic flow, lower cost for road construction and repair, and less air pollution.”
It IS a great idea Gail and, in fact, is one that’s being tried out in Arlington and Montgomery County. Sensors give transit buses on certain routes a few seconds of extra green if they are approaching an intersection.
You are dead on that making buses run more efficiently than cars might convince more people to leave their cars at home.
Questions, comments, random musings? Write to [email protected]
