[OFB Cafe] Bio Fuels

[Fred Smith]

On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 11:30 PM, Timothy Butler <tbutler at ofb.biz> wrote:
>> How high does the price of convenience have to get before switching
>> from
>> personal transportation to mass transit starts to look more
>> attractive?
>
>        A long time when you live either (a) in suburbia like I do or (b) the
> wilderness like you do. How do you propose making mass transit make
> sense when you live out in the hills? It seems to me mass transit only
> makes sense if you stick to urban living, e.g. much of Europe.


I live 1/4 mile from a commuter rail train station that I walk past
every morning with my dog.  I work about 2 miles from another station
on the same line.  It would be relatively easy for me to take the
train to work.  However, gas has to hit at least $8/gallon before the
train costs less than driving my 17 mpg pickup truck into work, while
carpooling with my wife. And that's assuming I get the discounted
monthly commuter pass, and that the cost of the train doesn't go up in
sync with the cost of gas like it has over the past few years.

-Fred