Letter to the Editor of the New York Times, 23 July 2008

To the Editor:

Re “Eyes Off the Price” (Op-Ed, July 19):

Dan Ariely might have mentioned a far more compelling factor in our shock at gas prices: there is no simple substitute for gasoline. For short- or mid-range travel, most Americans have no alternative to taking the car and paying for gas.

When the price of butter goes up, we might switch to margarine, or olive oil, or jelly, or just eat our bread plain. But when the price of gas goes up, we have no substitutes: pay more, or stay put.

Sweet Jesus, when the hell are more Americans going to get it through their head: YES YOU DO HAVE ALTERNATIVES.  Here, from the official site of the government of Asheville, where our intrepid writer lives:

Asheville Transit provides bus service service throughout the City of Asheville and other local areas with 24 bus routes running from 6 a.m.-11:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

Ta-da!  Or how about this option?  Or even this one?  Gosh, wouldn't it be grand if us humans had some sort of built-in way of easily and gracefully moving ourselves from one place to another?  Besides those who live actually within America's largest cities - I mean the people who live in Manhattan or Center City in Philly or similar - suggesting someone "get there someway other than driving a personally-owned vehicle" is like suggesting that they just flap their wings and fly to commute.  It's really not that hard - and we'd be less fat as a nation, too, if more people accepted it as an option.  My boss has two kids, a husband, and zero cars.  They ride their bikes, walk, take the bus, or some combination of the above.  If they absolutely need a ride somewhere, they get a ride from a friend or call a cab.  Simple.  

Here's another point: until more people start taking public transportation, or walking, or riding their bikes, or however-the-hell-else getting to work and the grocery store and that great cafe, the systems aren't going to improve.  There's no motivation to put in sidewalks and more bus routes if no one's using them.  Use them, be vocal about how you want them to be changed, and it'll change.  

In his defense, the writer does go on to make a good point:

And lingering in many minds, of course, is the awareness that as gas goes, so goes heating oil. While it may be possible to forgo a vacation trip or delay a trip to the store, with heating oil, the choice is more stark: pay or freeze. That choice makes a jump in the price of yogurt seem trivial.

This is true, and it is going to be a problem.  Part of it is a problem of our own making (hint: apartments are easier to heat than McMansions; your family of four really doesn't need a six bedroom house), it's also a symptom of our miserable economy.  

The solution of course is obviously to cut taxes and sink more money into the defense budget.  Anything else makes you a terrorist!  (Actually, it's more alternative power sources, more conservation, and...well, I don't know, but I'm not an economist or an energy or economics policy advisor).