Changes beginning in response to end of cheap oil

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Ethan Johnson, a member of the Madison Peak Oil Group, caught a relevant article by Larry Sandler in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

$3 gas is driving us to conserve, state motorists log fewer miles in 2005

For the first time in nearly a quarter-century, Wisconsin motorists drove fewer miles last year, as high gas prices changed habits in a way that usually takes a recession.

At the same time, statewide public transit ridership last year scored its biggest gains since 1997. And southeastern Wisconsin buses and trains continued to draw more passengers in this year's first quarter, powered by double-digit growth on long-range commuter buses.

Though the shifts are not huge, the latest figures from the state Department of Transportation and local transit systems indicate that paying $3 a gallon for gas is enough for some consumers to start rethinking how they get around.It would seem that high gas prices are starting to affect they way Wisconsinites travel. For the first time in nearly 25 years, Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in Wisconsin went down in 2005.