[thor]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', '
')Why the Hell would you use your car to go to lunch? Don't you people eat at work or walk to a local restaurant?

[foslrock]

Wow, what a suprise. A bunch of tax suckin' goobermint leeches are not willing to sacrifice a little part of their lives to conserve for the future. Why am I not suprised?

It's time for states to secede from this eronious little bastion of American society.

Who's in favor of exonerating dc from our nation? I think it would be best if this little hell hole was pushed out as it's own nation, and forced to fend for themselves. Imagine dc without the tax revenue from the rest of the states filtering in to support their little mcmansions and phantom-made lifestyles. These leeches would go down in a nanosecond.

[foslrock]

...accidental repost.

[Rambo]

[pea-jay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('foslrock', 'W')ow, what a suprise. A bunch of tax suckin' goobermint leeches are not willing to sacrifice a little part of their lives to conserve for the future. Why am I not suprised?

It's time for states to secede from this eronious little bastion of American society.

Who's in favor of exonerating dc from our nation? I think it would be best if this little hell hole was pushed out as it's own nation, and forced to fend for themselves. Imagine dc without the tax revenue from the rest of the states filtering in to support their little mcmansions and phantom-made lifestyles. These leeches would go down in a nanosecond.

[ThePostman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rambo', '[')img]http://i2.tinypic.com/x54g3b.jpg[/img]

[Longsword]

And still according to the article the SUVs sell incredibly well.

[formandfile]

*double post yanked due to excessive gif size*

[formandfile]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pea-jay', '
')Having lived in the DC area, a majority of the government employees still work IN DC and take public transit. It's the corporations that feed at the government trough (think defense contractors) as well as affiliated financial and tech firms that are scattered across the suburbs. This is by no means a blanket statement but if you travel through the area you will see that most of the office parks are firmly in the private sector.

[Imcal]

To be fair (quoted from the end of the article):
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he commuters in the blue Kia van pull back into the Park 'N Ride about 75 minutes after leaving Washington.

That business about mother and daughter losing their private time on the road? The mom, Linda Burnett, says she doesn't really miss it.

For one thing, they eat lunch together every day. For another, when it was just the two of them with Jennifer driving, "I never felt like I could sleep, in case it would make her sleepy," Burnett says.

Now, with two others to keep the driver company, Burnett can get her rest. And when neither mother nor daughter are driving, Jennifer can join her. Gas prices may be a nightmare, but for the Burnetts, carpooling works like a dream.

[pea-jay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')C has a better setup than just about everything to its south in terms of transit. 100+ miles of heavy rail over five lines, 5 lines of commuter rail covering two states, plus redundant amtrak service....these guys have nothing to whine about.

[formandfile]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pea-jay', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')C has a better setup than just about everything to its south in terms of transit. 100+ miles of heavy rail over five lines, 5 lines of commuter rail covering two states, plus redundant amtrak service....these guys have nothing to whine about.

[deafskeptic]

Yeah, and I can just see house prices near the Metro stations soaring in the DC area despite the housing bubble. When I lived in DC, I've liked the Metro system. When friends and I wanted to go to Landover, we used the Metro and buses to get there from the Union Station.

I don't recall the goverment people using private cars when they could use the subway when I lived there in the 80s.

[tivoli]

seattle times column


Sherrie Leslie's job is to set, perm, color and cut the hair of about two dozen regulars at a hair salon in Edmonds.

But there's a catch. Leslie lives in Nine Mile Falls — a town north of Spokane. On the other side of the state. So every Tuesday afternoon, Leslie hops in her 2003 Kia Rio and drives 320 miles to Edmonds. Every Thursday afternoon, she makes the return trip. She also styles hair two days a week in Spokane, a 90-mile round-trip commute from her home.

All told, Leslie, 38, drives 820 miles a week back and forth to work. More than 40,000 miles a year.

And she loves it.

"It's beautiful, peaceful," she says. "It's not wearing on me at all. The only thing that will get me to stop is if I have kids."

I heard about Leslie via the "America's Longest Commute" contest, put on by Midas Muffler. She was ruled ineligible because she doesn't make her Herculean drive daily. The winner, a guy in California, commutes 372 miles, round trip, five days a week between the Sierra Mountains and San Jose.

It was a tiny contest, with 3,000 entries nationwide. About 70 folks entered from Washington state, most of them with daily commutes topping 80 to 100 miles round trip.

I talked to six of the most insane road warriors. A few drive in to Seattle from Ellensburg or Cle Elum. One drives from Yakima to SeaTac. Another goes 250 miles round trip from home in Vancouver, Wash., to work in Olympia.

What surprised me is that no one seemed to mind all those hours behind the wheel. They described it as time to themselves. And the drives as scenic, pleasant, even invigorating.

They all said that gas prices — which we keep hearing are criminally high, to the point of requiring congressional investigation — are actually nowhere near high enough to compel any change.

Take Steve Dreier, a 46-year-old Boeing technical designer. He lives in Roslyn. For the past three years he's driven 210 miles round trip to work in Everett. He just switched to Boeing's Renton plant, shortening his daily drive to 175 miles.

He rides the roads so much he goes to the gas station to fill his Toyota Tercel every day. He says his $100 weekly gas bill is easily justified.

"I get rural life. I get snow. I get low housing prices and lots of outdoor recreation," Dreier said. "It's definitely worth it. It'll be worth it at $5 or $6 a gallon, too."

He looked into buying a used hybrid car but concluded he'd probably never make back the extra cost. Even though he drives 60,000 miles a year.

These commuters may sound extreme. But it's only a matter of degree. The truth is rising gas prices haven't led to any drop-off in driving, by you, me or almost anyone. The feds just reported America is using more gas this year than last.

Why? Because except for the poorest among us, gas isn't that expensive. Regardless of pandering politicians saying it is.

Some say nothing will change until gas hits $4 a gallon, and stays there. Or $6.

I don't know. I do know if a stylist is happily driving 820 miles a week to cut hair, our gas crisis isn't registering as one.

[Revi]

I noticed very few large SUV's are on the highways now. If people have to go long distances they leave the monster home and take the little sedan. The SUV's are still around, but they have been relegated to soccer mom's activities.

[mattduke]

"In many cases, Sanders says foreclosure victims are former Bay Area residents who underestimated the high cost of commuting."

http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_137213853.html

[Specop_007]

I think more to the point is people overestimating how much house they can afford. Seems like these days people will do anything they can to get into the biggest house possible.

[Revi]

The cost of everything is overwhelming the average person. They just don't understand. Dump the Tahoe! Get rid of the McMansion! You aren't Donald Trump! They assume that the world will keep throwing money at them, and that they will grow their way into the big house and the big SUV. The opposite is happening. Look at the back page of the Economist. Last year the cost of things went up by 20% denominated in dollars. That means you have a $4 bill in your pocket now, not a fiver. Only us peak aware people stand a chance. Now's the time to shrink your lifestyle. Move closer to work. Make it so you can bike to work. Insulate. Install solar. Or you can follow the rest of the lemming herd over the cliff in your Tahoe!

[mekrob]

You know Revi, I've read some posts here about how some PO'ers (or maybe it was all of them) are haughty and elitist. I never got a feeling of that until I read your post. Thanks!

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'p')eople overestimating how much house they can afford