There are lots of articles suggesting that travel habits are changing because of the high cost of gas. Some are even suggesting that our suburbs are going to become crumbling wastelands because of $4-a-gallon gasoline. I don’t think so.
Will behaviors change? Of course they will. But will it be so drastic to turn Torrance, Calif., into a slum or lead to the demise of Columbia, Md.? Somehow, I think these stories are written to shock the naive and sell papers. Granted, if current conditions prevail, these doomsday scenarios might come true, however, when reality shifts new solutions are created.
Just as $8-a-gallon gas prices in Europe haven’t shut down the auto industry in Germany or France, $4-a-gallon gasoline here at home will have some effects. But it won’t lead to the demise of the suburbs and the auto industry. SUVs may disappear or be outfitted with hybrid engines and better restaurants might start to sprout in suburban neighborhoods, but our way of life is not on the verge of collapse.
The infrastructure of schools, shopping centers and libraries are here to stay as are the local residents who use them. What will change over time is a new focus on mass transit, shifts in working hours, four-day work weeks and a more people-friendly system of scheduling buses and regional trains.
I’ll bet local tourism will flourish as airfares rise. Regional hotels and B&Bs will offer deals that will provide enough savings to pay for gas. Resort hotels that have recently been making excellent profits will scale back their room charges through creative packaging with airfares. Look for more and more deals within a couple of hour’s drive of major cities. Chances are, there is plenty to see closer to home that previously had not been considered.
Even when today’s $8-a-gallon gasoline is used to fuel a rental car in Europe, traveling by car is a better deal financially and from a travel flexibility point of view than taking that continent’s excellent and well developed rail network.
Travel may change a bit, but travel by car is here to stay and more than likely grow in the coming years.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
