Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Ooooh -- Look! Gas!

It's been all over the news. Parts of Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and North Carolina have a gasoline shortage. Hurricanes Gustav and Ike knocked out oil refineries and gas pipelines from Texas that serve our part of the US. This qualifies as a crisis in car dependent Atlanta.

Usually I drive to work, which takes me about 45 minutes door to door, speeding all the way.

But as gas stations started running out, I started taking the train. So I drive the speed limit from my house to the nearest train station, which is the western-most station on the east-west line, wait 15 minites for the train to show up, ride half an hour to the second to last station on the east end, cross and walk along a very busy street with no sidewalks to the office. From door to door, it's about 1.5 hours. One way.

Up sides: saving money, saving the environment, and getting to knit on the train. I could still listen to my podcasts if I wanted.
Down sides: doubled my daily commute time and I get a bit nauseous on the train with all the shaking.

Today, I drove because I had pottery class tonight and if I took the train, the commute would take so long, I'd miss the class entirely. After class, I was able to drive right up to my usual station and pump a full tank of gas for less than $4 a gallon. No waiting in line, no scuffles, no police interventions like at other stations earlier in the "crisis." Clearly, the rumors of the pipelines resuming operations are true.

Still, depending on whether or not I have meetings outside the office and the probability of rain, I will probably continue to use public transportation a few days a week.

At least I'll have my knitting.

1 comment:

Saren Johnson said...

Wow, out west there hasn't been a shortage at all.

AM Coast-to-Coast was talking about the shortage was going to eventually reach the US because other countries have had the same issue for years now. Its all a plot. (If you know anything about AM Coast-to-Coast, everything is a plot.)