4 ms·

poor city planning and urban sprawl contribute far more to fuel consumption than low gas prices. See Los Angeles.

by ouid 9y ago

singlow 9y ago
But low gas prices are a cause of sprawl. If gas was more expensive it would change the economics of commuting.
- dublinclontarf 9y ago
  No it wouldn't. Gas is about 2x as expensive in the UK. I work in London but commute (by motorcycle) from the next county. Plenty of people commute by car even though it's considerably more expensive.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
tomjakubowski 9y ago
> See Los Angeles. See what? Los Angeles -- whether you slice by city, county, metropolitan statistical area, or combined statistical area -- ranks nowhere near the top of per capita household vehicle miles in the United States. In fact, the Los Angeles-Long Beach combined statistical area has the second-lowest household fuel consumption in the country, just behind New York-Newark (at least according to a poorly-sourced Forbes article [1]). Unfortunately, publicly available fuel consumption data split by city/county/Census area is much harder to find. But what I have found suggests that Forbes's ranking of Los Angeles relative to other US metro areas is probably accurate. The National Household Travel Survey [2] is likely the best source of raw data for investigating this question. [1]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2011/05/10/americas-biggest-and-least-gas-guzzling-cities/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2011/05/10/am... [2]: https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/subject_areas/national_household_travel_survey/index.html https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/su...
- wutbrodo 9y ago
  > Los Angeles -- whether you slice by city, county, metropolitan statistical area, or combined statistical area -- ranks nowhere near the top of per capita household vehicle miles in the United States. In fact, the Los Angeles-Long Beach combined statistical area has the second-lowest household fuel consumption in the country, just behind New York-Newark (at least according to a poorly-sourced Forbes article [1]). Wow, thanks for the info. As someone born and raised in LA, I never would've guessed this.
- dublinclontarf 9y ago
  > ranks nowhere near the top of per capita household vehicle miles It's not about miles covered, it's about energy consumed. 100 miles on the freeway would use the same amount of fuel as 30 miles in the city with traffic.

poor city planning and urban sprawl contribute far more to fuel consumption than low gas prices. See Los Angeles.

by ouid 9y ago

poor city planning and urban sprawl contribute far more to fuel consumption than low gas prices. See Los Angeles.

singlow 9y ago

But low gas prices are a cause of sprawl. If gas was more expensive it would change the economics of commuting.

dublinclontarf 9y ago
No it wouldn't. Gas is about 2x as expensive in the UK. I work in London but commute (by motorcycle) from the next county. Plenty of people commute by car even though it's considerably more expensive.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

tomjakubowski 9y ago

> See Los Angeles. See what? Los Angeles -- whether you slice by city, county, metropolitan statistical area, or combined statistical area -- ranks nowhere near the top of per capita household vehicle miles in the United States. In fact, the Los Angeles-Long Beach combined statistical area has the second-lowest household fuel consumption in the country, just behind New York-Newark (at least according to a poorly-sourced Forbes article [1]). Unfortunately, publicly available fuel consumption data split by city/county/Census area is much harder to find. But what I have found suggests that Forbes's ranking of Los Angeles relative to other US metro areas is probably accurate. The National Household Travel Survey [2] is likely the best source of raw data for investigating this question. [1]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2011/05/10/americas-biggest-and-least-gas-guzzling-cities/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2011/05/10/am... [2]: https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/subject_areas/national_household_travel_survey/index.html https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/su...

wutbrodo 9y ago
> Los Angeles -- whether you slice by city, county, metropolitan statistical area, or combined statistical area -- ranks nowhere near the top of per capita household vehicle miles in the United States. In fact, the Los Angeles-Long Beach combined statistical area has the second-lowest household fuel consumption in the country, just behind New York-Newark (at least according to a poorly-sourced Forbes article [1]). Wow, thanks for the info. As someone born and raised in LA, I never would've guessed this.
dublinclontarf 9y ago
> ranks nowhere near the top of per capita household vehicle miles It's not about miles covered, it's about energy consumed. 100 miles on the freeway would use the same amount of fuel as 30 miles in the city with traffic.