Changing motorists' minds, one $100 fill-up at a time

I never fully appreciated the variety of elephantine SUVs and mastodonic pickup trucks available until they all started to squeeze into spaces at my park-and-ride lot.

Buses are crowded to standing-room only, and likely to stay that way. Nothing quite says "All aboard" like $4.25 gasoline and $5 diesel.

Motorists have weathered nasty increases in fuel prices, but nothing like this fast, pernicious spike. I think the leap to $100 fill-ups is compelling enough to not only change behavior, but also change minds.

Public transportation is headed toward a radical redefinition for Puget Sound. Buses, light rail, commuter trains and streetcars will be — gasp — a way to travel from Point A to Point B.

Better for the environment? OK, fine, whatever. Something a city does to be considered world-class? Oh, please. The next new thing is pure pragmatism, moving people and goods efficiently. We want optional ways to get to work, shopping, school, appointments and community events.

Expanding public transit is expensive. Making up for lost time always is, but a more fundamental recognition has taken place with the latest household financial crisis. We motorists are already paying a confiscatory tax in the form of extortionist prices and receive nothing in return. No options, no alternatives to ever-higher expenses.

We consumers have no leverage at the pump to move gas prices down. Sure, we are using fractional amounts less, thanks in part to those new commuters who parked nice rides to be shoehorned onto Metro buses and Sounder rail. But there is no long-term relief other than not driving.

A word about two-wheeled transportation. Portland has embraced bicycles big time, but the geography and topography of that city are friendlier to cyclists. Seattle has a commendable new bike plan that will encourage new riders, but not everyone is cut out for urban hill climbs and wet commutes.

This region needs transportation options, and we are left to provide them for ourselves. We will be reorganizing as the oil companies prattle in the background about drilling off the Washington coast. Another great offer: We take on the risk of fouling our beaches and fishing grounds so they can pump oil for an international market.

Oil companies are drowning in profits, but do not expect them to invest in new refining capacity any time soon. They have had all the excuses covered. If they were not crying poverty, it was those pesky environmental hurdles. Creaky plants whose production can be slowed for "repairs" are even better than shutting down for bad weather. After all, who can start a hurricane?

Consumer behavior is already changing, wholly in the absence of governmental mandates. Exhibit A is the new wave of bus riders in the past couple of months. I recently witnessed a more dramatic change on Interstate 5 driving back from Portland.

After years of ignoring cruise control because I thought it used more gas than it saved, I gave it another chance. A bit rusty, I set the speed at a rather odd 64 mph. To my complete surprise, I passed lines of cars and pickups going slower. Later, a visiting sister-in-law confirmed a similar experience.

Lower the speed on the freeways? Already happening.

This week offers fresh reminders of how we are responsible for our own energy futures very close to home. The Wall Street Journal reported how Vice President Dick Cheney's office forced the Bush administration to abandon a new position in favor of regulating greenhouse gases. In this absence of federal leadership, seven states and four provinces working as the Western Climate Initiative released a draft plan Wednesday for progress on climate issues.

A regional package of light rail and bus improvements picked up support among the Sound Transit board for a vote this year. I opined in May in favor of a pause, to allow time for a consensus to build.

Two months and many expensive fill-ups later, popular and political opinion has raced ahead. Public transportation is no longer philosophical, ideological or virtuous — just plain practical and overdue.

Lance Dickie's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is ldickie@seattletimes.com; for a podcast Q&A with the author, go to www.seattletimes.com/edcetera