With the rise of inflation of gas prices, people are taking drastic measures to avoid paying at the pump.They can avoid high prices of gasoline by different ways of making their daily commute, by either getting rid of their gas guzzling vehicles and purchasing more fuel efficient ones or choosing a different form of transportation such as, riding their bikes. Presently, the average gas price across the nation is $4.108 per gallon while the highest price in the nation is $4.615 per gallon and the lowest is $3.930 per gallon. Retail prices have escalated 38.5% over the last twelve months. Commercial drivers are feeling the heat too. Over the night of July 8, 2008 diesel prices rose to a devastating price of $4.813.Diesel has increased 65% since last year.In the Garden State, NJ, Exxon regular gas prices are a high of $4.89 per gallon.
this graph shows that there was a consistent inflation of gas prices over a five month period. http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp
From: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-05-08-gasprices_N.htm
In downtown New Brunswick, one would find that there are several ways other than driving a vehicle to move around. Recently, high seniors and GIS interns, Asad Hussain and Jocelyn Im, did some research and found that many people have begun to turn to the bicycle as an alternative way of transportation around the city.They went to New Brunswick and conducted a survey of the area. While performing this survey, they often had difficulty in finding the places on the map; however, they found what they looked for: they discovered that there are a number of bike racks, and in some areas overflowing with bikes. A possible reason people may place their bikes in certain locations has to do with them trying to find the shortest distance from a specific location to another place. However, the interns found that because so many spots were taken, many bike owners had only the option of chaining their bikes to light poles, stop signs, and etc. Furthermore, they discovered that the streets Somerset, Hamilton, and Easton, either had at least one bike rack or none also causing bikers to leave their bikes chained to makeshift bike racks. Due to the lack of bike racks in the area, several bikes were chained to telephone poles and street signs.This could be the result of a lack of money for the area to build these facilities.It is vital, that New Brunswick township government place more bike racks within these areas that are lacking because the many people of the low class are suffering from economic depression. An article by Tom Panik found at http://www.nj.com/ says, “Even though the United States has vast energy resources, our dependence on foreign sources of energy means the American economy is held captive to socialists and foreign interests.”Bike rack website utilizes the application Mappler to locate the bicycles. This also serves to provide an example for all the kids around the country. These two young high school students show that young adults can also use Mappler to demonstrate the problems present in the community.
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Asad Hussain & Jocelyn Im
