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Old 10th August 2011, 16:31   #61
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

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Originally Posted by mb_jg View Post
I know of a few people in my company who travel all by themselves in their Innova's! That I find, is pushing it a bit.
Will it be OK if the same persons were driving M 800s/Altos? What affects you most, the principle or the size of vehicle?
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Old 10th August 2011, 16:49   #62
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

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This is an auto-forum and anything that projects an image of staying away from cars would be given a thumbs down. But that doesn't make it right (or wrong).
This is not about wrong or right. This is a car forum, for car enthusiasts. This thread is like preaching vegan-ism in a meat-packers convention, or preaching non-violence to soldiers.

Mahatma Gandhi, who is the undisputed champion of non-violence wanted to disband the Indian army, because armies are violent. We all understand his sentiment, but it an Utopian dream.

We all know cars can cause pollution. But we all love our cars, we joined this forum because we all want to talk about cars. Asking us not to ride the car alone is an Utopian idea. We all appreciate the sentiment, but don't push it down our throats like it is a realistic idea.
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Old 10th August 2011, 16:50   #63
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

^^ That's really strange. Why is driving an Innova considered more wasteful than driving any other vehicle?
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Old 10th August 2011, 16:55   #64
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

A few posts have (very rightly) stated that had the public transport system in our cities been far better, more people would not drive to work. Would just like to point out that 2 cities where the public transport system is considered among the best in the World; London and Singapore; have also enforced regulations that increase the cost of car ownership. In Singapore's case, since 1975 and dramatically, including restricting the number of annual car registrations and making it very expensive to register a vehicle.

Carrot and stick.

Even the most ardent petrol-heads here can't claim that driving in a city like Bangalore is a pleasure and that private cars are not to blame for the congestion. And neither can the most enthusiastic tree-huggers seriously believe that doing away with cars without a decent alternative is a viable solution.

What I'm concerned about is that we're heading the way of US cities where even a good public transport system is not enough to offset heavy private car usage, simply because the "culture of the car" is so heavily ingrained in the collective psyche.
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Old 10th August 2011, 16:56   #65
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

I don't really understand whats so wrong about driving a car that I own!

One, I am not using public transport simply because I want to commute when I want to commute, not when the Bus comes to the bus station.

Two, I dont get the buzz around car pooling. I spend lacs of rupees to buy a car and I need to wait for someone to come for me to go home?

On another note, there has been no concrete steps on using other forms of fuel (may be the oil companies are stopping any such initiative). Exhausting petrol and diesel faster might pave way for new discoveries on alternate fuels
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Old 10th August 2011, 16:58   #66
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

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Originally Posted by Gansan View Post
Will it be OK if the same persons were driving M 800s/Altos? What affects you most, the principle or the size of vehicle?
I think it is the size of the vehicle. Though it depends on what other realistic choices he/she had - choices which would depend on weather, traffic, road among others.

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Originally Posted by noopster View Post
^^ That's really strange. Why is driving an Innova considered more wasteful than driving any other vehicle?
Probably because it occupies a lot more space on the road and consumes a lot more fuel as compared to a hatch - all others factors being same. And let's not get into stuff like an empty bus is more wasteful etc etc.

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Originally Posted by Samurai View Post
We all know cars can cause pollution. But we all love our cars, we joined this forum because we all want to talk about cars. Asking us not to ride the car alone is an Utopian idea. We all appreciate the sentiment, but don't push it down our throats like it is a realistic idea.
Did i say otherwise? My reason for being here is same as yours.

Last edited by asr245 : 10th August 2011 at 17:03.
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Old 10th August 2011, 16:58   #67
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

Just a word of advice to people who feel that car pooling is not practical.

I have noticed that when people decide to car pool, they get over-enthusiastic about it and suddenly start car-pooling with 3 other people.

My advice is to take it slow. If you are commuting to office alone in your car right now, first try to find just one person (preferably in your office) with a similar mindset and similar timings.

Then try to car pool with this one person for a few weeks and see how it goes. Once you get adjusted to the pros and cons of car pooling, see if you can attract one more person to your car pool and then one more.

I followed this approach and I have been using car pooling for more than 1 year. But I have to admit that I am fortunate to have 3 colleagues who live nearby and have similar office timings.

The rule which we follow is that the car timings are fixed, if somebody can't make it at the fixed time, he/she should make his/her arrangement for the day. Fortunately, our office provides transport to those people who want to stay back in the evening.

Rohan
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Old 10th August 2011, 17:03   #68
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

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Originally Posted by Gansan View Post
Will it be OK if the same persons were driving M 800s/Altos? What affects you most, the principle or the size of vehicle?
The principle, considering both the people live in the same society & work the same times, overall they are at the same grades :o)
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Old 10th August 2011, 17:09   #69
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

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Originally Posted by noopster View Post
^^ That's really strange. Why is driving an Innova considered more wasteful than driving any other vehicle?
What mb_jg said was "..travel (ing) all by themselves in their Innova's! That I find, is pushing it a bit. "

When a 7 seater is used to ferry just one person on clogged roads, it surely is occupying more road than it needs. Sure the owner has paid for the car along with Road Tax and all other taxes and has all the right to do so, but it doesn't benefit the rest of those who also need the same roads but do not have the means to buy a car. The owner may well have his reasons - that he is optimizing because he may be using the 7 seater at 100% occupancy a lot of times and so on. But the fact is it is sub-optimal to use a 7 seater to transport one person.

Cheers,
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Old 10th August 2011, 17:15   #70
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

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Originally Posted by am1m View Post
Even the most ardent petrol-heads here can't claim that driving in a city like Bangalore is a pleasure and that private cars are not to blame for the congestion. And neither can the most enthusiastic tree-huggers seriously believe that doing away with cars without a decent alternative is a viable solution.

What I'm concerned about is that we're heading the way of US cities where even a good public transport system is not enough to offset heavy private car usage, simply because the "culture of the car" is so heavily ingrained in the collective psyche.


Very well put. For me this is the most balanced post in this thread. Nothing more to say/write.
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Old 10th August 2011, 17:24   #71
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

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Originally Posted by diffsoft View Post
What mb_jg said was "..travel (ing) all by themselves in their Innova's! That I find, is pushing it a bit. "

When a 7 seater is used to ferry just one person on clogged roads, it surely is occupying more road than it needs. Sure the owner has paid for the car along with Road Tax and all other taxes and has all the right to do so, but it doesn't benefit the rest of those who also need the same roads but do not have the means to buy a car. The owner may well have his reasons - that he is optimizing because he may be using the 7 seater at 100% occupancy a lot of times and so on. But the fact is it is sub-optimal to use a 7 seater to transport one person.

Cheers,
With that logic, anyone in a car should be driving around in a Maruti 800/Alto or rather a Luna, because these vehicles take up the least space.

There is more to commuting than just saving money. Comfort and convenience are major factors in choosing your mode of commute. Though I'd love to go to office on a cycle or by walk (15 kms?) everyday, I just can't afford to reach office fully soaked in sweat with added terrible body odour.
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Old 10th August 2011, 17:31   #72
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

I have just switched Job and my new workplace is in Noida, what sweetens the deal for me is that my father's office is also in Noida, and now we both can travel in relative comfort of car, prior to this he used to travel by different mode of public transport like bus, metro, shared auto etc. Now he feel far more relaxed after reaching back home. Our cost of commuting has also come down drastically.
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Old 10th August 2011, 17:37   #73
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

If the answer to the thread question is 'bad', then what is good? What is the ideal number of persons for a 5-seater car? What about for 2 seater bike? And for 3-seater auto?

Quote:
Originally Posted by am1m View Post
What I'm concerned about is that we're heading the way of US cities where even a good public transport system is not enough to offset heavy private car usage, simply because the "culture of the car" is so heavily ingrained in the collective psyche.
In US, public transport is good only in large cities say 10 cities. In rest of places, either coverage or frequency is poor.
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Old 10th August 2011, 17:55   #74
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

The premise of the thread is unutilized capacity in cars leading to more jams and more pollution. However if you look at the ground reality, carpooling is not reliable given we work on flexible schedules and flexible locations. Nor is public transport, because really, there is no such thing as public transport in most suburbs of metros.

If metro stations are so far, that you need to park your car at the metro station, you still are driving and the area where you will be driving (home to station), will have the most cars, and thus jams. When the traffic reduces since many people park in the station and take the metro, you wont be driving to enjoy it. So you are shunning driving freedom, for those who choose not to take public transport, which is counter-productive

The other issue (pollution), is a non-issue. This is because if you are not using fossil fuel, someone else is. The demand for global fossil fuels is outstripping supply constantly, as can be seen by the prices. The only time the price falls, is when demand drops due to recession. Of course that is not a desirable scenario. So considering you dont use your car today, you are not increasing the time for which humans have fossil fuel, because the industries/airlines/railways/power stations are lapping it up. Even if 20% of the car owners in the world, choose to not drive on a day they choose every month, it will not make a significant change in oil being drilled out for that month, which can be proved as historically OPEC only reduces production when prices face recessionary pressure(meaning commodities in short selling spiral or large industrial units stopping some shifts). They don't have much impact by lower automotive fuel demand, as seen in 2010, which was a low car sales year globally, but the fuel price did not reduce.
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Old 10th August 2011, 18:03   #75
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Re: Single Person Commuting in a Car ? Good or Bad ?

To take this argument to its ridiculous extreme, when hailing an autorickshaw or a taxi, please ensure that you share it with at least 2-3 more people going in the same direction. Where does this stop?

The government has to take some responsibility for the absolutely pitiful transport infrastructure in our cities. If I don't drive my car to work the next best option is a rickety bus where I sit with 2 other people, cramped and uncomfortable- and that is NOT the public bus service I am referring to, it's my company bus! I don't even think there is a public bus service from where I live (which is a fairly developed residential area incidentally) to my workplace!

I am going to renew my attempts to find a good set of car pool buddies and in the process at least knock a couple of cars off the road now, but damned if I am gong to feel guilty driving alone in a car that I worked my butt off to pay for.
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