Nutty: Equating Sharing the Ride With a Drop in Living Standards
Our friend Kristina at the Make It Better blog has a good post today (Driving Alone, July 10, 2007) on why more people across the country aren't carpooling or taking transit. According to some it's because sharing the ride represents a decrease in their standard of living while driving is associated with being "well-off." How do you fight this kind of mis-guided perception about personal status and wealth? Haven't we evolved beyond such narrow-minded and selfish interests? Apparently, some of us have not.
Author Chris Balish takes a stab at this myth of "my car = my wealth" in his book How To Live Well Without Owning A Car where he exposes the true and onerous cost of car ownership. Kristina's post furthers the discussion of some recent posts about commuting trends across the nation and here in the Washington, D.C. area (More Evidence That D.C. Area is Bucking National Solo Commute Trend?, July 28, 2007; Could Region's Drive Alone Rate Be Going Down?, June 19, 2007). Thanks Kristina.
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria
