A segment on CBC NewsWorld this morning talked about a group of people near Halifax who have been “forced to car pool” by current gasoline prices - they saw it as a terrible inconvenience but as far as I can see it’s the silver lining they talk about being in every cloud.
I live between a couple of major city bus routes that go from the edge of the city to the downtown core, no less than 4 different bus routes, some of them running on 12 minute schedules, taking no more than 30 minutes to get people from the edge of the city to downtown, yet each and every morning as I wait for the bus I see hundreds of cars passing by carrying only the driver - in fact I feel quite confident in saying that the majority of cars carry only the driver.
How many of them are complaining about high gas prices, and could be taking the bus if they were but willing to rub shoulders with those of us who have forgone North American car culture.
There is no doubt that there are people who have no choice but to drive and are being significantly impacted by high gasoline prices, farmers being a group that comes immediately to mind….. but when others are unhappy about being “forced to car pool” they’ll find little sympathy in the bunker - if its’ an option that’s available to them why weren’t they doing it anyway?
10 years from now they’ll be lucky to be car pooling. I guess it will be hard for most people to make a transition to a post-carbon lifestyle, but that’s what’s upon us. We’ve been so spoiled for so long, the whining will probably be unbearable.