[lordofthemark]

thanks to all for your suggestions. I would like to try Lake B again, and may just try that causeway thing even before the Chambliss bridge is done. Once the bridge is done could be a nice ride.

and yes, I will give LRT east of the library a try.

[lordofthemark]

http://economics.about.com/od/priceelasticityofdemand/a/gasoline_elast.htm

“One such study is Explaining the variation in elasticity estimates of gasoline demand in the United States: A meta-analysis by Molly Espey, published in Energy Journal. Espey examined 101 different studies and found that in the short-run (defined as 1 year or less), the average price-elasticity of demand for gasoline is -0.26. That is, a 10% hike in the price of gasoline lowers quantity demanded by 2.6%. In the long-run (defined as longer than 1 year), the price elasticity of demand is -0.58; a 10% hike in gasoline causes quantity demanded to decline by 5.8% in the long run.”

[lordofthemark]

@DismalScientist 23228 wrote:

I haven’t claimed that the gas tax is set at the right level, just that it may be the best, if imperfect way, to impose a user fee.

My jargonized answer for lordofthemark is that I see no empirical evidence suggesting the long run elasticity of gas tax has a different sign that the short run elasticity. In English, I doubt that raising the gas tax would induce sufficiently higher mileage cars that the increase in tax would result in a net reduction of revenues. Remember that much of the potential revenue comes from trucks moving stuff around the country. I doubt that there is much room for greater efficiencies in these vehicles.

The collection of gas taxes is relatively anonymous from the perspective of the driver. I don’t want to tell the government how much I have driven every year.

1. IIUC there is currently further research going on on the elasticity of VMT wrt to gas prices. The a priori reason to think its higher in the long run are due to the slow turnover of the vehicle fleet. Also, IIUC, there are differences in gas mileage among differerent trucks. There is also room for economies in truck operation, including changing the number of empty miles by changes in head haul vs back haul rates.

2. The govt can treat the odometer readings as confidential for revenue purposes only, with firewalls, etc. I fully understand many people will not trust that. But if thats the case, then there are larger problems with income taxes, census records, etc. It seems to me the cost benefit on this is pretty strong.

[lordofthemark]

@DismalScientist 23216 wrote:

The gas tax conceptually is pretty close to a user fee.

One could argue that gas taxes are not set at the appropriate level to account for the costs of driving based on one gallon of gas. Another issue is that different road have different social costs per gallon of gasoline burned. Similarly the costs that individual cars impose differ from the car’s MPG. The gas tax is probably the easiest method to impose a cost on drivers for road. It does not allow government potential monitoring individual road usage than toll booths, separate assess based on mileage, and GPS-based systems.

The other problem with the gas tax is that revenues decrease as vehicles get higher MPG’s – which may be a desirable result on other grounds, but does not solve the highway financing problem. If we do not raise the gas tax, we don’t have enough revenue – and if we do, we increase the incentive to more fuel efficient vehicles – again, not necessarily a bad thing, but only makes the highway finance problem worse.

And its possible, IIUC, to have some tamper proff odometer check system that would capture number of miles, without indicated where those miles were driven. Incremental costs for particular roads would of course require a more intrusive system.

Is this too far off topic?

[lordofthemark]

@JimF22003 23207 wrote:

Sounds like we live within a few blocks of one another. I’m not exactly sure where you’re trying to go (too lazy to google map it I guess).

Shirlington. 4MR trail towards MVT. Beverly Hills section of Alexandria. Old Town Alexandria. Holmes Run trail in Alexandria, Cameron Station, Ben Brenman Park.

Or even to Landmark, or the business on LRT east of the library.

Re Lake Barcroft – the time I did that was one of my first rides since getting back into biking, and I was hardly shifting correctly. I still need to improve, but maybe I would find the hills there easier now.

Note also, the only bike I own now is a mountain bike, which on the one hand makes the upgrades harder, but on the other makes the sometimes rough surfaces on the park trails more doable.

[lordofthemark]

@washcycle 23144 wrote:

But threats of violins are OK, even though I prefer woodwinds.

By any chance did you visit the Baltimore Museum of Art in the 1980s?

http://pictify.com/63703/violins-violence-silence-bruce-nauman

[lordofthemark]

By any chance did you visit the Baltimore Museum of Art in the 1980s?

http://pictify.com/63703/violins-violence-silence-bruce-nauman

[lordofthemark]

I’m pretty sure there are sections of LRT east of the library where there are no service lanes on either side, and even no sidewalks on either side. That’s the problem.

I am thinking maybe use Alpine from Evergreen to get past the first of those sections? Not sure how bad it is further east, but maybe use Pinecrest Vista to detour around part of LRT if necessary? Not sure if that will be much of an improvement over the alt routes in my OP.

[lordofthemark]

A friend has found an old U lock he no longer needs – but thanks to all for your thoughts.

[lordofthemark]

Would a cable lock be adequate for leaving a bike for a few minutes?

[lordofthemark]

@essigmw 22618 wrote:

I switched over to the Metrobus. I ride my bike to one of 3 bus stops within a mile of my house that allows me to catch either the 17K, 17G, or 17H express bus (with this flexibility a bus is avaiable nearly every 10-15 minutes which is better than the 40 minutes between VRE trains). I load my bike on the front of the bus and take this bus to the pentagon, then with my bike ride the 5 miles from the Pentagon to the Navy Yard. Most days the entire trip door to door takes about 1:15-1:25 minutes depending on traffic.

Yes, I am considering something similar – either the 29G (closest to my home) or a slightly longer ride to where the 29G and 29H join, and then use the bike from the pentagon to my work place to avoid the up to 30 minute metro ride.

I will post more specific questions about Annandale rides later.

Thanks to all for the welcome!

[lordofthemark]

@Tim Kelley 22615 wrote:

Welcome! Out of curiosity, how did you find out about the Washington Area Bike Forum?

I don’t remember precisely, I’ve been lurking for a while. I think I was browsing around the Arlington County bike/ped material and found it.

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