I car share on longer commutes and often commute by bike - though that hasn't changed much in the last 10 years either. Used to be about 50 miles a week by bike, though given the Texan road infrastructure, it was a lot friendly to do this in the UK.
My scooter has left the warehouse in California and is on the way here. I plan to commute to work with it and buzz around town getting in everyone's way. Hopefully I can use it until we start to get deep snow. Otherwise I use the bus system and ride share for longer trips.
I also walk a lot.
I save money by just eating less. :)
With the eventual weight saving even the gasoline usage has to come down a bit. That way I can burn even more fuel.
Seriously?
With the motorcycle I burn just as much as normal, the thing lives between 6.000 and 12.000rpm. It is my toy.
With the cars (Chevrolet Transsport, VW T4 1.2 TDI, Nissan Micra 1.4 16V i):
* Shortshift, the torque of modern cars is enough to shift early the VW for example around 2500-2800rpm (max 4800)
* Ride high gears when you are not increasing speed, like 50km/hr in 4th gear and 70km/hr in fifth (five speed gearbox)
* Let the car rol out early for traffic lights and such, especially with the Chevrolet this saves a lot fuel. The thing hardly loses any speed over hundreds of meters when you let go of the throttle
* Avoid to stop at junctions. Look far ahead, plan far ahead, try to plan your crossing or turn such that you don't have to stop. Getting up to speed from 0 mph burns the most fuel
* Don't loose (too much) speed in corners -I go around the corner very hard honestly, people who sit beside me used to complain, now I only do it when I am on my own-. The advantage is that I keep my speed up and my fuel consumption stays constant. If you corner too slow, you need to rev up / shift down and at that moment you are burning a lot of fuel
* Increase speed downhil when you know you need to go uphil again for a while (I don't mind to go over the speedlimit). The downhil increase burns less fuel than trying to maintain the same speed uphil. Average it out.
* Cut off the engine when you need to wait at a railroad crossing and stuff like that
* Try to maintain a low average speed in a traffic jam instead of pulling up and stopping all the time
* Use your airco, opening up windows makes a mess of your aerodynamics and costs more fuel
* If you want to speed, do it with the wind in the back. If you've got a headwind, speeding will result in a much higher fuel consumption
* Don't take weight with you that you don't need (assume that you work with bricks and keep packets of cement in your van. You don't need the stuff until friday next week. Take it out!)
You'd be amazed how much fuel you could save if you don't yet do anything of the above.
Don't go slipstreaming lorries, that's extremely dangerous.
Well, prices are going down, aren't they? The low grade finally got under the $2 mark here.
Crude oil prices hit a record high yesterday, at $45 a barrel. Estimates predict that it will likely go above $50/ barrel in the near future and is unlikely to drop below $30 again for a long time (2006), if ever.
That compares with about $21/barrel in 2001/2002 and $25 in 2003 (these are inflation adjusted figures) In real terms, it hasn't been this expensive since the early 1980s.
I don't have a car and my parents still pay for the gas in their cars (since, well they're their cars and I rarely use up a full tank). I don't know what's gonna happen with me on campus this year though...
Gas up at Yosemite this past week ranged from $2.69 to $2.03...we're at about $2.13 down in South Cali.
Used to go on photo tours every weekend,now cutting down.
Also looking to buy Golf /Jetta TDI 45-54 miles/gallon !
My Buick at 22-25 is killing me !
actually that's the diesel i have, a tdi jetta. i average 50mpg's with it, it's an 01, going on 100k miles right now. i used to commute 110 miles a day, which is why i got it. it really is awesome, i couldnt' have asked for a better car to commute, and get great mileage.
