Skyrocketing gas prices are changing the way we commute.
According to the Orlando Business Journal, a survey by Robert Half International showed that "four out of 10, or 44 percent, of workers say gas prices are affecting their commutes to work." Forty-six percent of respondents say they are carpooling as a gas-saving measure, while 33 percent are driving a more fuel-efficient car, and about 30 percent "say they're looking for a job closer to home."
The four day work-week is becoming a common gas-saving measure. Reuters reports, "The federal government has offered four-day workweeks to eligible employees for years as part of a flexible work program that also includes telecommuting. But the surge in gasoline prices is pushing more private employers as well as local governments to offer a four-day week as a perk that eliminates two commutes a week." When Kent State University offered a four day work-week to its custodial staff recently, 78 of 94 employees accepted.
So many commuters are altering their get-to-work routines that, in some places, new problems are developing. The San Jose Mercury-News reports, "Transit ridership is up across the [San Francisco] Bay Area, but riders say parking" at train and bus stations "is so jammed that you have to arrive before 6:30 a.m. to find a free spot." More commuters are biking to work or to transit stations as well, "but bike racks are filling up…and some riders are being left behind."
Ironically, as more commuters move to transit, carpooling and bicycles, it's getting easier to…well…to drive yourself to work alone in your car. California's Long Beach Press-Telegram explains, "Already, some motorists report seeing fewer vehicles on the roads, shaving minutes off lengthy commutes and saving the region some of the $12 billion annually siphoned out of the economy because of traffic. Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said it took him 35 minutes to go from the Fairfax District to a meeting in Warner Center on a recent morning -- less than half the time it normally takes in bumper-to-bumper traffic."
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