Or we could just stay home.

[Chip Haynes]

You know, I read through these transportation threads all about motorized bicycles, sail powered rail cars and can I run my SUV on fermented weasel spit?, and I have to say: I think we all know better. I do believe we all know how it's going to go. It won't be all that long after the oil crash truly makes itself felt that our transportation options are going to wither up and blow away, leaving us with very few options. Like mostly none at all.

I've long said that our post-crash transport options are walk, ride a bike or stay home. In truth, as you well know, both bikes and shoes wear out over time. I do not expect public/mass transit in America to be built in time to make any difference whatsoever. I'm not sure we even make all that many shoes or bicycles in the US any more. Our loss. Our rail system, as Jim Kunstler is so fond of rightfully pointing out, would be an embarassment to Bulgaria. And it's too late to move to Bulgaria.

Our days of driving are numbered. You know that. Public transit may not be functional after the oil crash, as they have to use the same oil we won't have, either. The US rail system is primarily about moving freight in America, and honestly, freight is more important. You driving to Wal-Mart tonight after work is not all that crucial. Neither is you driving to work, for that matter.

If you really want to talk about the reality of post-oil-crash transportation in America, then we need to talk about how we are going to get food to us, not about how we ourselves are going to get around. Because we're not. Our own personal transportation is the worst possible use for oil. (Says the guy who plans to drive out to Disney World tomorrow, just for the day.) So if you want to get ready for post-oil transit, then you want to plan on staying home. A lot. You want to position yourself to where you can walk to the store and ride your bicycle to work.

And for now, cherish every drive you take.

[cygnus]

One of the reasons we bought the house we have is because we *all* work and go to school within a mile or so distance from it. The farmer's market is even within cycling distance.  Most of the local grocery stores are a bit further away, but with our garden and food storage, we only go every other week or so anyway for fresh stuffs.   So, as long as there is fuel to be had we can take the car twice a month and do all our shopping at once without needing to use too much gas.  And we're pretty good about finding things to do at home for entertainment and self-enrichment.

[rbrgs]

I thought about this issue carefully when I was looking for land.  I'm too high and too far out of town, but only 3/4 mile from the main transportation corridor (where the train will eventually run; in the short term, it will be buses).  Suburbs without thru streets may become very lonely.....

[heathenmom]

I drive a LOT - back & forth to work.  Not much else, but that's about 350 miles a week.    One of the hazards of living very rural and working in a place that nobody wants in their back yard (power plant).  I do try to come up with alternatives, and my job is doable from home.  I've gotten permission to telecommute a couple days a month, but that really doesn't put much of a dent into my plan to "just stay home."  Only other driving I do is the grocery store, about once every 2-3 weeks, and I could do most of that shopping locally by bike.  With drastically reduced traffic, riding my bike there would be safe again!

There used to be train service through my little community; the rails are still there, and I maintain hope that *someday* we'll be able to take the train to town again.

[Chip Haynes]

Yeah, I have to admit, even with all of our cycling and walking, we sure do put the miles on our old truck.

But we also know that that could end right quick here.

Few people outside of this forum get that.

[pamela]

I like your idea Chip.
 

remember during the last big recession when people just stayed at home and rented movies or played games or whatever?
they called it "Cocooning" LOL
I started doing it then, and never got out of the habit!

[boiler_92]

You know, I read through these transportation threads all about motorized bicycles, sail powered rail cars and can I run my SUV on fermented weasel spit?, and I have to say: I think we all know better.

Speak for yourself, Chip.  I'm running a 1978 Gremlin on weasel spit right now.  Problem is, the SPCA won't give me any more weasels.  Something about my spit-milking procedures being barbaric.   

[Chip Haynes]

So maybe using that noisy shop vac tipped them off.

I swapped the valves around in an old bicycle pump, and no one hears a thing.

 

[mousewizard]

Five years ago I quit my job and started working from home full time. Nearly starved to death (not kidding - without my stored food we'd have lost the house; it was that tight), but made it through and now have lots of work and a good future as long as the electricity and internet stay up (there will be people that need my services right up to the point where the lights go out - I'm a "top feeder"). I bike to the grocery store, hauling a trailer when necessary, otherwise using those great steel baskets (thanks for that pointer, Chip).

This winter I'm installing a full videoconferencing system in my office so I'll be able to meet my remote clients via telepresence instead of relying on trains, planes, and automobiles. That infrastructure is finally mature enough that all of my clients have access to it at reasonable cost, and they are happy to do it because it's a lot cheaper than paying my hourly fee for days of travel expense just for a single day's worth of meetings. Ironically, arguing that telepresence has a lower carbon load has no effect. It's purely financial. My hourly rate makes it too painful for them to endure paying for a full day of travel out and back. The flight costs are trivial by comparison. Oh well, whatever works.

This should allow me to support my family fairly well through at least the first part of a PO slow crash. Fast crash / multiple crash and all bets are off. Then it's time for plans B, C, D... right on down to medieval fighting skills and crafts.

I'm not bragging here (OK, maybe a little), but my main point is in support of Chip: Have you taken action to put yourself and your family in the best possible position you can, given the way things are going? Or are you an "armchair survivalist?"

[nicekitty]

You guys are forgetting horses and oxen.  They won't get you anywhere fast, but still an option - self-repairing, easy to get more, (relatively) easy to maintain, etc.  While probably not an option in the city, we're planning on having some on the farm.

The elephant in the room is the amount of population reduction that would be necessary in order for 'just staying home' to become at all viable...

[Capella]

I have been living car free for the past five years. And even though I'd say that my quality of life has not suffered from it, it really is true that I go out less. I still go to parties, visit friends and such, but seriously, the thought of having to ride the bike through rain and darkness for 30 minutes or longer get somewhere (and knowing that I have to come back the same way in the middle of the night), makes me stay at home on many evenings especially in winter.

Going to another town for a concert, a fair or another event has become much more complicated as well. I can either take public transport (which is slow and tiresome and involves the risk of being stranded if I miss my last train/bus back) or hope that someone gives me a ride. Hitchhiking has become much more diffcult over the past years, too, people just don't stop anymore.

So, yes, I do stay home a lot more. And even though I sometimes have the feeling of missing out on something, I have gotten used to it. I like staying home. I read a lot, I like to play board games with my housemates, watch DVDs, listen to music and write doomer novels.

[Chip Haynes]

"You guys are forgetting horses and oxen."

If ever I had the overwhelming urge to swear on the internet (and I don't), it would be here. Now.

*&^%^%$$#@!!!!!!!!

The truth of the matter is that I am, in fact, remembering horses and oxen, and let me tell you right now: You do NOT want to use them as daily transportation in leiu of oil and gas. Those animals are huge and not the least bit potty trained. They pee and poo by the gallon, any time they feel like it. If you use them on the public right-of-way, who's going to clean up that mess? Not me- and most likely not you, either. Just one is a health hazard. If you have more than one, the local roads become an unsanitary, unsightly health danger rather quickly. Do not, and I'm begging here, think it's a good idea to use incontinent livestock in place of cars, buses, trains and bicycles. Read some detailed accounts of life in New York City- on the streets- around the year 1900. It was hideous. So do us a favor and don't.

They're a dumber idea than Segways- and that's going a distance.

Whew.

Ok, I feel better now.

 

[Xenopus]

Do not, and I'm begging here, think it's a good idea to use incontinent livestock in place of cars, buses, trains and bicycles. Read some detailed accounts of life in New York City- on the streets- around the year 1900. It was hideous. So do us a favor and don't.

Chip, I fear you are missing the whole point. With ox poop all over the streets, typhus typhoid etc. will become more widespread and we shall achieve the die-off we all so ardently desire.

[Chip Haynes]

Actually, I thought that was my point.

I've heard this "I'm gonna ride a horse!" argument ever since I started reading about peak oil, and I have yet to find the perfect argument to shut down these later day would-be cowboys.

Maybe this would work instead:

Can you afford a horse now? No? Then what makes you think you'll be able to buy a horse when the oil gets scarce and everyone wants one?

Or afford to feed it?

Yippie-ki-yay, little buckaroo.

[Xenopus]

That is absolutely and utterly true. People are releasing horses all over the place because they can't afford to feed them. In Victorian England, an upper middle class family would have one horse, which could be used in the carriage or ridden when it could be spared from plowing and hauling goods. And that was the top 5% or so of the population.