PickupPal Blog

Southern California…the car is king. Leading in number of cars but also in stringent vehicular emissions control, and in HOV lanes (High Occupancy meaning 2 here in Cali - not 3 like where i live). In December, Quebec decided to adopt the same emissions standards, the first territory outside of the US to do so. California is pushing the automakers, and it has some clout. No kidding!

There are a lot of cars in So Cal, Peter and I experienced our first Californian “gridlock” at the Enterprise counter at LAX: a 45 minute human traffic jam. When you see a 20+ seating area with a movie playing on the large hanging TV above the seats and 4 machine snack dispensers - that’s a pretty good sign that this place is busy! The man serving us assured us that this was the busiest Enterprise in the world. I would argue that LAX car rental agencies are the busiest in the world, that they rent more cars than anywhere and by a long shot. In Southern California you can’t get anywhere without a car - those bike lanes and wide sidewalks be damned.

At the Amusement Park we visited, the parking lots were impressive, and extensive. If you have a Volvo, you get to park in a preferred lot - nice joint advertising! It is the off season, and a Monday, so we aren’t greeted with a sea of cars driving in, and parking is a breeze. I can only imagine what it is like on a long weekend. One funny thing, the overflow parking was full..not with Park visitors whose cars did not pass muster but with brand new SUV’s - looks like a local car dealership rents space from the Park to store their cars…based on what is happening with gas prices, those SUV’s may be there a long time ( ref. Eric’s Times they are a-changing post).

If casual ridesharing is going to work, it has to work here. There are more people, more cars, more traffic and congestion, more air pollution, less public transportation than anywhere. There is a lot of carpooling but it has reached a peak, and the HOV lanes are still underused. Nobody stands to benefit more from a working casual ridesharing system than Californians. And we need it to work for Californians, cause if it works here, other places will follow.

-Suesan

It happens every second Tuesday - I take our minivan and drive my kids to Gymnastics and since I don’t normally drive the minivan when I get into it I find that it is running on fumes, [not passing judgment - just stating the facts ]. So I go and I fill it up and today I was floored by the price - $107.45 - regular Sunoco 87 gas! And as I drive away it dawns on me that at a minimum it is going to cost $2,800 a year for me to put fuel into a vehicle I don’t even enjoy driving.

There was a great article today on how the price of gas is changing the way people live. The article talks about how commuters are giving up on the extras just so they can buy gas to get to work. Transportation to many is not a luxury but a necessity and you need to get to work to make money to buy gas - something just is not right!

One final note/anecdote - my wife is going on a business trip and needs to rent a vehicle - the cheapest available vehicle is a SUV - now that is definitely a sign that “The times they are a changing”!

Cheers - Eric

Hypermiling is a gas-saving craze that has been sweeping the US over the last few years as a reaction to the increasing costs of gasoline.

Hypermiling, to the uninitiated, is a way of increasing the mileage of your vehicle by making some skillful changes to your driving style.

A few Hypermiling tips:

• Go easy on the gas pedal.
• Drive a hybrid car.
• Measure mileage for every trip you make and keep a log.
• Be ready to drive, before turning on the engine. To avoid unnecessary idling whilst putting on a seat-belt etc.
• Turn-off the engine when slowing or stopping. For example: when Hypermilers see a stop light they will cut-off the engine and coast to a stationary position.
• Finding parking spots that are easy to cruise into, without any gas-burning maneuvers.

For the extreme Hypermilers there is even a Hypermiling competition at this year’s Hybrid Fest called the MPG Challenge.

Whilst some of these suggestions are a little extreme and dangerous (coasting in neutral), it seems people are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to save money on gas. I wonder how many of these Hypermilers share their rides?

- Jonathan