For those who do not know or are not aware, the gas situation here in Atlanta, Georgia is getting pretty crazy. You can pass 5, 10, 15 gas stations without finding one that has gas. If you do happen to find one that actually has gasoline, you will recognize it quickly, because it will be the one that has 20 cars lined up in the street outside waiting.
I have never seen anything like it.
But I have read something like it. What I have seen reminds me of the stories about the failures of supply in Eastern European countries just before the general collapse of Soviet-style Communism. The queues for vital supplies, like bread, milk, eggs, and... gas. (The reason supposedly being because all of these countries were spending their national wealth on the military to keep up with the West. The reason more likely actually being simply the failure of Communism to allocate and distribute resources efficiently).
This has gone on for two weeks now and shows no signs of abating any time soon. If anything, it’s gotten worse.
It seems to me that this should be big news, since if people cannot drive to work, we could be facing a severe economic collapse here before long. Somehow, even in the local media, the story is not on the front page. This is a real life issue, and, if not corrected soon, could be a bigger story at least locally than the federal bailout of Wall Street.
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It made the news here. Is it forcing people to take MARTA? Is anyone in Atlanta reconsidering their previous animosity towards public transportation given the current situation? I'd be interested in hearing from you on whether people are changing their habits.
Shawn
This is kind of
Sorry about the hang up there, didn't realize that when I was logging in, I was leaving my comment.
This is kind of belated-- I had company in town and then got really sick, so I stopped really checking the blog and posting for a few days-- but it had caused a notably decrease in traffic. I am not sure all of that had to do with the gas crisis, because with all the job loss, traffic tends to reduce as well, but some of it was probably due to gas outages. I know a lot of people who started telecommuting more, and some people did seem to be using MARTA more. I would imagine that some in both categories--telecommuters and MARTA goers-- might continue to do so because gas is still pricy, but only time will tell.
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