The last two years of high gas prices were good for the environment: Americans started driving less.

According to the Los Angeles Times, U.S. motorists changed their ways enough to cut the nation’s per-driver mileage by 0.4% in 2005, ending a string of increases dating back to 1980.

The article continues to note that other reports over the last year on mass transit ridership, total miles driven nationwide, gasoline demand, vehicle sales and retail and restaurant spending reinforce the notion that U.S. drivers made significant (and sometimes lasting) adjustments to offset steadily rising gasoline prices.

In Minnesota, Metro Transit ridership also reached new highs in 2006–ridership hit its highest level in 22 years. Regionwide, transit ridership was up by five percent, with increases of 11 percent on suburban routes. The agency attributes this ridership spike to increasing congestion and rising gas prices, but the spike is still rather impressive, given that Metro Transit reduced service and increased fares after the 2005 budget cuts.

If you’re looking for a personal example, I started taking the bus more often in 2006 for two reasons: 1) I moved to an apartment directly on a major bus line. I can catch a bus right outside my apartment, and it will drop me off right outside my office; and 2) It’s cheaper for me to ride the bus than to drive everywhere. That, and I will guiltily admit my enviro-conscience is somewhat eased by taking transit.

Even though the “Americans are driving less” is wonderful environmental news, it’s still worth exploring the barriers to taking transit. We should pay particular attention to understanding the reasons why those without a particularly strong eco-consciences are (and aren’t) motivated to take transit. And, as people with strong eco-consciences, we should do everything in our power to bring those people into the transit fold.

How do we bring people into the transit fold? How can we encourage people to become full-fledged transiteers, trumpeting the joys of public transit at every opportunity?

That’s a subject for another blog entry. Stay tuned.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 11:33 am by Transit for Livable Communities and is filed under Transit and Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.