The Iconoclast Investor

Even though gasoline prices have declined nearly 40 cents, Americans are still driving much less than they were last year. This is probably because high gasoline prices aren’t the only things keeping people off of the road.

The U.S. Department of Transportation released data recently that shows that since last November, Americans drove nearly 53 billion less than they did in the same period last year. This tops the 1970s’ total decline of 49.3 billion miles.

Americans drove 4.7 percent less, or 12.2 billion miles fewer, in June 2008 than June 2007. The decline is most evident in rural travel, which has fallen by four percent–compared with the 1.2 percent decline in urban miles traveled–since the trend began last November.

This is probably attributable to the fact that people in rural areas have to drive much further to get places so they are grouping errands together to make fewer trips. While people in cities are driving much shorter distances and thus not using up as much gasoline with each trip.

I know that I personally haven’t been driving that much less, mostly because I drive about 45 miles a day to and from work. I have been riding my bike around town a lot though, which has been good for both my gasoline bill and my health. Most of my friends have been driving a lot less, riding their bikes, taking the subway and some have even taken up rollerblading again.

What have you been doing to drive less–telecommuting, grouping errands or carpooling? Have you started driving more now that gasoline has come down a bit in price?