Would you start taking the train to work with gas prices so high?

Question

Gas prices are above $4.00 now and just sitting in traffice makes me sick. Would you start taking the train now that gas prices are so high, and not to metion it's the main cause that is hurting are environment?

Or do you take the train now?

Answer 1

I can't because where I live the tracks were torn up 25 years ago and the electric street cars were sold for scrap.

Ho, humm!

Answer 2

yes, i would start taking the train because its a lot more cheaper than paying for gas. i take the train now and i walk to conserve the environment.

Answer 3

I really wish the trains were reasonable for my commute.  The DC Metro is the service in my area and for me to get to work (without using a car at all) would require:

Bus to local station (approximately 8 miles from where I live)

Train #1

Train #2

Bus from station to near my workplace (not sure of distance, but not a reasonable walk)

The distance for that would probably cover about 60 miles one way (given the indirect nature from my residence to my workplace) and would take between 2 hours and 15 minutes to 2.5 hours.  I currently drive the most direct route of 28 miles and have a commute around 45 to 50 minutes.  I hate paying for the gas, but until the metro service in my area expands, I'm forced to drive or relocate.  I do try to telecommute when I can, but some things still require being in the office.

I really wish the DC Metro would realize that not everyone in the area is working in downtown DC.  The surrounding areas have a lot of people driving that would love to take advantage of public transportation.

Answer 4

Absolutely.

But, to those who really wish they had the option, since they're already on line, log off Y!A and take a minute or two to actually drop a line your State and Federal Representatives.

The band-aid du jour?  Do away with the gasoline taxes.  That makes sense.  Since that is what funds our Interstate highway system, we can afford to let them become more dilapidated, beyond all the not quite up to par bridges and trestles that are out there right now.  After all, if no one can afford to drive, we won't need the highway system.

Besides.  If we did lose the gas tax, the oil companies and the oil cartels we support will engineer another round of price hikes to suck up our little windfall...

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.  This is an election year.  People are becoming more mindful of the cost of fuel and the ramifications of burning it.  Strike while the iron is hot.

The snowball has to start rolling somewhere...

I did hear talk of $10 per gallon possible for this, the new opiate of the masses...  write the letters or chain up !

How to defray the costs of new commuter and light rail lines?  Well, for a start, instead of spending that $700,000,000 for a fence along our southern border (although I believe it must be much more secure than at present), spend it on material and import the cheap construction labor from Mexico.  Then, everyone is happy and paying income taxes.  It is a tried and true method.  The Central Pacific used the Chinese and the Union Pacific used the Irish for construction of the first transcontinental railroad.

Or, and better still, similar to the New Deal provisos of the past, start the "work-fare" programs that all politcos have been espousing for the last 20 years.  More employment and more revenue while putting to work and reducing the number of third and fourth generation welfare receipients.

Imagine a whole army of crack-heads and tweakers with spike mauls and tie-tongs.  Seattle to Los Angeles?  Three weeks, tops...

Answer 5

I run trains for a living so i wouldn't take one to work even if i could lol.Too much choo choo makes you cuckoo.But seriously if there was a commuter rail service here i would use it.They could drop me off right where i catch the freight trains from!

Answer 6

we dont even have a train here...the only public transportation we have is the handicapped bus...so your lucky you have that choice...well we can ride a bike if we want to...

Answer 7

I live in the Netherlands, where there is a very good public transport system. Where the price of driving a car is much higher than using the train (including tax on the car, insurance and the high price of petrol/gas we have had for years.)

Just today the news on the radio mentioned that people still use the car more often than they did in the past, preferring to stand in the traffic jams above moving in a train.

Still the trains are filled to capacity, and whenever a lot of people decide to take the train (campaign that did work) the railways have problems.

There is now an effort to lay more tracks on all main railroads, but that does take years and when people got used to drive their car to work, they do not often change back to public transport again.

What works best is that all students get a card allowing them to use the train for free, either on weekdays if they live far from the university, or in the weekends if they live near their schools, so that they can travel 'home' in the weekends.

The students who have learned to use the train do not want to stand in the traffic jams as much.

I use neither train nor car, I use my bicycle to go to work.

(But not having a driving license makes the choice easy when I worked farther from home.)

Answer 8

I take the train now.. its so much easier than sitting in hours of traffic.

Answer 9

I wish I could take some form of mass-transit! I live in a very rural part of Michigan, and there are no buses, cabs, trains etc. that drive out by me. To drive into the town my mailing address is in, that takes 18 minutes, and there's not much there. My work is 45 minutes away, and my school is 35 minutes away, and my boyfriend is currently 30 minutes away. I spend most of my life in my car and the gas prices are killing me! I rack up an average of 310 miles a week between work, school, social life driving etc.

I just recently saw the story on the Am-trac train serving some of the East Coast states (NY, Boston,etc.) and how the high gas prices have increased their business! I'm glad to see someone is benefiting from all of this (besides the oil companies)!

Answer 10

I can't take the train anywhere because it doesn't go where i need to go. Even if i could take the train i would still probably be driving, gas is a necessity and we need our cars, gas prices at $4 or not, even if it were $8 a gallon, people would still need to drive (though if it were $8 i would probably not drive much)

Answer 11

I wish! we don't have a train system where I live but if we did I would be taking the train to work and other places that's easy to get to by train.