AlpineK Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 I need a big macho pickup for work. If I could afford 2 vehicles I'd have some silly little high mpg vehicle too. You can't trailer a chipper or air compressor with one of those though. The bus is good around town transportation, which helps. It would be great if their were a better rail system around town. What would totally rock is a train from Seattle to Pemberton. Quote
Bug Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 My 3-door civic never got better than 34mpg previously, but I tried some of these high-mpg techniques. Wow! Even though the car now has 200K miles, I managed 42mpg (and that's with three mountain passes each way). Pass on these high-mpg tips! Quote
underworld Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 motorcycles!!!!!!!!1 get use to riding in the open air and even your little civics and smart cars will feel like wastefull steel cages. Quote
Bug Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 Until that half blind little old lady smashes your leg against your bike with the grill of her Buick. Quote
denalidave Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 Also factor in the global economy into the gas price equation. Countries such China & India are driving up demand and the US dollar is going down the tubes rapidly. If our currency was stronger, we would not see as much spike in gas prices. Just a matter of time till we are paying $7 gallon though so we all better get used to it and change our lifestyles accordingly. Quote
ivan Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 Until that half blind little old lady smashes your leg against your bike with the grill of her Buick. no shit - i think i've met at least 3 people on the board who've gotten seriously mangled on bikes Quote
Hugh Conway Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 isn't the planet more important than us?? Absolutely nothing is more important than me. Quote
ivan Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 isn't the planet more important than us?? Absolutely nothing is more important than me. and my machete... Quote
gertlush Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 Other people should definitely start taking the bus more. It's good for the environment and also clears up roads so I can get around faster. It would be cool if they had a train from Vancouver to Whistler say; probably not cost effective but who wouldn't rather take the train than sit in traffc for hours? Quote
Hugh Conway Posted May 28, 2008 Posted May 28, 2008 I HEART PLANET EARTH lower case letters use less energy Quote
jmace Posted May 29, 2008 Posted May 29, 2008 It would be cool if they had a train from Vancouver to Whistler Like instead of a four lane highway...now that would make waaaay too much sense Isnt it already like 10$ a gallon in parts of europe like the UK..realtivley speaking I dont think there is much to complain about.. So it seems that even though we were continually warned to curb our fuel consumption no one listened until they were forced to pay more. Obviously the better way would have been to conserve and pay less over a longer time. So we have had the same warnings about our water use...will we learn and start to ration our water before it also becomes a expensive commodity ? The way I see water wasted here at work in bottles leads me to believe that we may have a harder lesson to learn in the future... Quote
mythosgrl Posted May 29, 2008 Posted May 29, 2008 I really can find no other reason other than laziness to drive around Bellingham. It's so biker-friendly and has such a mild climate. I love biking to work everyday!! Quote
billcoe Posted May 29, 2008 Author Posted May 29, 2008 Isnt it already like 10$ a gallon in parts of europe like the UK..realtivley speaking I dont think there is much to complain about.. $11.00 for Diesel in Britan. Less in France, under $9 for super. Time Magazine artical Link "On Tuesday, hundreds of British truck drivers in London and Cardiff brought traffic to a crawl in a campaign to get their government to lower taxes on diesel fuel, which now costs over $11 per U.S. gallon (3.8 liters). Other businesses owners who rely heavily on gas use — including farmers, ambulance and taxi drivers, and private bus companies — have joined the protest movement or are preparing to do so." Quote
Hugh Conway Posted May 29, 2008 Posted May 29, 2008 I heart the Sea-to-Sky expansion, but if we're talking fantasy here, high-speed-rail from Seattle-to-Whistler would be even better. Even the existing rail service, at 3hrs N. Vancouver to Whistler, isn't horrible when you consider how shitty the drive can be on a Sunday evening or in bad conditions. Not sure how much it would have taken to improve the rail lines, I have a hunch comparatively little relative to the $$$$$ poured into the sea to sky. There's no reason trains couldn't service Pemberton; they did in the past. existing tourist railway: http://www.whistlermountaineer.com/plan_your_journey/schedule_pricing/ closer to home it'd be cool for rail service to Snoqualmie pass again Quote
murraysovereign Posted May 29, 2008 Posted May 29, 2008 There have been a number of transportation studies done for this area, and the commuter rail option always comes up. The two problems are topography and population. There's waayy too much topography, and waayy too little population. The cost of upgrading the line between Squamish and Lonsdale Quay to enable anything like a competitive trip time would be far too high to justify based on the numbers of likely users. And if you don't do the upgrades, it takes far too long to get to North Van, so everyone would just continue driving. And then there's the whole Cheakamus Canyon stretch north of here if you want to run passenger service through to Whistler and beyond - that's got some of the highest maintenance costs per kilometre of the entire BCR line, and upgrades to allow faster trains would be prohibitive. So as long as you're OK with cruising slowly along at "excursion" speed, go ahead and take the train, but don't expect a lot of people to get out of their cars to join you. Now, a fast passenger ferry between Squamish and, say, Canada Place, on the other hand... Quote
whirlwind Posted May 29, 2008 Posted May 29, 2008 I don’t understand. We invade and occupy Iraq for oil? Or to control the oil. Yet prices go up and up…..looks like we have no control over the oil. Or is that perception yet another smoke screen for something bigger? to anwser your question; the reason the us and sadia arabia wanted the Iraqi oil was not to drill it and increase supply that wouldn't make sence cause then the oil they own and pump out is worth less, the resaon for Bush's invasion.. stop suply. the iraqis were practically giveing oil to the seria, not counting what they sold to us and other nations, the more oil availible, ie the higher the suply, the less each barrel is worth. you think there is any corraltion with the fact that this is the Bush admin last little drain before there out in 6 mounths? ya summers ussaly brings and increase in price due to an increase in demand, but what other than the lack of supply and or increase in demand brings up the price of a product? so simple attck iraq, saction and "protect" their oil fields so no one gets any. there by increaseing the price of whats available. and as a side note its not to hard to blame those with the most to gain from this action, especally when they are in a position to make it happen. Quote
billcoe Posted May 29, 2008 Author Posted May 29, 2008 I don’t understand. We invade and occupy Iraq for oil? Or to control the oil. Yet prices go up and up…..looks like we have no control over the oil. Or is that perception yet another smoke screen for something bigger? to anwser your question; the reason the us and sadia arabia wanted the Iraqi oil was not to drill it and increase supply that wouldn't make sence cause then the oil they own and pump out is worth less, the resaon for Bush's invasion.. stop suply. the iraqis were practically giveing oil to the seria, not counting what they sold to us and other nations, the more oil availible, ie the higher the suply, the less each barrel is worth. you think there is any corraltion with the fact that this is the Bush admin last little drain before there out in 6 mounths? ya summers ussaly brings and increase in price due to an increase in demand, but what other than the lack of supply and or increase in demand brings up the price of a product? so simple attck iraq, saction and "protect" their oil fields so no one gets any. there by increaseing the price of whats available. and as a side note its not to hard to blame those with the most to gain from this action, especally when they are in a position to make it happen. Load of extreme bullshit above. Quote
sobo Posted May 29, 2008 Posted May 29, 2008 lummox is back!!!1 where's the bouncing tits avatar? Quote
billcoe Posted May 29, 2008 Author Posted May 29, 2008 Look, it's a world market and the supply demand curve is still in effect for petroleum. Lets not talk about millions in India, Mayasia, etc etc looking to get into cars. Lets just talk about a single city. For instance, for those of you who may not have heard of China, it's a country in Asia. They have cities the size of LA which you've never heard of. Lots of them. Chengdu, 8 million people, for instance. They all use to ride bikes in all those huge cities. Now they almost ALL drive. Cars. Esp, Shanghai and Bejing, and it's hitting the rest of the country as well, all the big cities are seeing this shift. ONE CITY IN ONE COUNTRY EXAMPLE VIA PICTURES Bejing before, wall to wall bikes: Bejing after, wall to wall cars: I've seen this with my own eyes recently, morning traffic there sucks as bad as Seattle in the morning. Freeways and all the major arterials are packed. Wall to wall, with cars and trucks. Plenty of Hummers and Jeeps over there too. Buick is the #1 seller, not Toyota, although they are all small Buicks made over there. It's pretty interesting. Everyone still pedaling over there wants to get a car like their rich brothers and sisters driving down the road. Like keeping up with the Jones, it's keeping up with the Wongs. It's gonna get worse before it gets better. This coincides with USA peak oil (decline of available reserves in the US cause we pumped out all the easy stuff already). Peak Oil will happen soon for worldwide reserves as well. We're using the shit up as fast as we can here, and now the rest of the world wants a piece of that action as well. Unfortunatly, they can't pull the shit out of thin air, and the supply is limited: one can tell that just by looking at the earth from outerspace. Finite bubbas: finite. PS, welcome back lummox Quote
chucK Posted May 29, 2008 Posted May 29, 2008 closer to home it'd be cool for rail service to Snoqualmie pass again A ski train to Stevens would be way cool. They've already got the tracks (how close do those get to Steven's anyway?). Just build a station and bus shuttle up there, and maybe a station at Shillshole or Magnolia. People already paying big bucks for the damn lift tix. You could probably soak 'em for a train ticket too. That would be sweet not having to drive home after a tiring day on the slopes. Just think of the $$$ they could get from beer sales alone! Quote
minx Posted May 29, 2008 Posted May 29, 2008 it was a harsh reminder while in europe how dysfunctional our mass transit system is. i had no qualms about going anywhere w/o checking the metro and/or bus schedule. they were available everywhere and often. there was plenty of cyclists all the time. it would be nice to see that here. Quote
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