NY Times: Once Popular, Car Pools Go the Way of Hitchhiking

[marmar]

Once Popular, Car Pools Go the Way of Hitchhiking
By SABRINA TAVERNISE and ROBERT GEBELOFF

Published: January 28, 2011


WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Remember the 1970s? Watergate, disco, oil embargoes and, of course, car-pooling. Many big companies organized group rides for their employees, and roughly one in four Americans who drove to work shared a ride with others.

But now far more people are driving alone, as companies have spread out, Americans are wealthier and cars have become cheaper to own. The percentage of workers who car-pool has dropped by almost half since 1980, the first time the Census Bureau started systematically tracking the numbers, according to new data from the bureau.

The sharp decline has confounded efforts by urban planners, who over the years have tried to encourage the practice by setting aside highway lanes for car-poolers, as well as offering incentives like discounted parking.

They thought they were getting some help from amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990 that would have required many companies to develop plans to increase car-pooling and mass transit use. But Congress, after hearing from critics who said the proposal was unworkable, scrapped the idea in the mid-’90s. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/us/29carpool.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all

[Fumesucker]

1. "Cars have become cheaper to own" LOL.. Wut?

That's exactly the opposite of my experience and I suspect the experience of a great many DUers and Americans.

[Statistical]

3. From a maintenance and repair standpoint cars today are far superior to those in the 1980s.

I change oil ever 6 months with premium synthetic, replaced the brakes at 3 years, replaced the air filters at 24 and 48 months, rotate tires once a year when I get my inspection, and top off fluids as periodically. That is all the maintenance or repairs I have had done in last 5 years. Likely I need to buy new tires this year but compared to cars in the 1980s maintenance costs and repairs costs have gone way down.

[Fumesucker]

4. Eh, I've had cars for over forty years now..

Maintenance and repair are a small part of total cost of operation and M/R costs have not dropped as dramatically as you seem to think, you may be servicing the car less often but those services cost more.

I had a number early nineties cars that were excellent with respect to reliability and longevity, but then I gave up on cars from domestic manufacturers some time in the early 80's..

Indeed, I have a 1980 *motorcycle* that has 145,000 miles on it and still runs well with minimal repairs and maintenance.

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. "Americans are wealthier"? Who knew.

>>>Americans are wealthier>>>

Which Americans?

[Fumesucker]

5. The Americans a NY times writer is likely to know..

Such people do not hobnob with the lumpenproletariat.

[swilton]

6. Despite the facade that 'comm'uting is encouraged in this

culture - it is not. All one has to do is look at the shopping malls, drive-in restaurants, banks, dry-cleaners, etc., etc. Also look at the nature of mass transit systems...I was from the Washington DC area - mass transit there was - under-funded, crowded and most available around inner wealthier neighborhoods.

Urban planners have built the suburbs around malls and entertainment rather than smart urban planing.'

The American car is the icon of American individualism - most leaders prefer an individualist/ socialistic form of transportation system because it keeps us from uniting 'comm'unally.

[Rage for Order]

7. I think part of it is uneven work schedules

My dad worked as a chemist for the EPA for many years; his daily commute was about 60 miles round trip. He carpooled with 2-3 other guys who worked at the same site, a government installation that houses numerous federal agencies. The thing is, they always went into work at 7am, and they always got off at 4pm. They never had to worry about the driver being "asked" (aka ordered) to work late at the last minute.

Nowadays it seems like schedules are much more fluid. The starting time may be the same every day, but many people end up working 30 minutes or an hour longer than they expected to work when they went into work in the morning, and this can seriously piss off the other members of the carpool, for obvious reasons.