----- Original Message ----- From: "Grady Brandt" <gbrandt at Tampabayfederal.com> To: "'Shawn Burns'" <s1burns at ucsd.edu>; <dragaera at dragaera.info> Sent: Monday, March 21, 2005 2:17 PM Subject: RE: Petrol Prices > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Shawn Burns [mailto:s1burns at ucsd.edu] > > <large amounts of previous posting snipped> > > > And my comment about 350 miles every week wasn't about traveling long > > distances so much as a statement about how frequently I drive; I think we > > drive so frequently because we have no other options, not because the > > distances are necessarily longer than other places. My trips are only > > about > > 50 miles around, which isn't very long, but it is regular. Some people > > make > > longer regular trips; some shorter. But most make regular trips. It is a > > culture of suburbs, where few if any people actually travel to the city > > center, where public transit is most common. > > > > Cheers, > > > > Shawn > > A guy I once worked with drove something like 89 miles to and from work each > day. He's a rather extreme example, and I don't know how long he kept it up > (I left the company a few months later). > I currently drive 56 miles each way to work, and my car requires 91 octane or better. Joy. After living in Europe for 4 years, I found that they travel a great deal less than we do. There are not really suburbs as we have here, life is centered around small towns, and every thing you need is within walking/riding distance. Most private businesses had the owners home attached to it. Or several homes, it is common in the center of town for businesses to be on the first level, and the second and third to be homes/apartments. Most families had one car. Even in the rural area that I lived in had several train stations, which I used for most intermediate travel. $10 USD or so for the 45 minute train ride to Schivpol Airport in Amsterdam, and the train station is directly under the terminal. Very convenient, and cheaper by far than driving, even at US gas prices. Jeff