I Have Seen the Future and It Involves a Bus (or a Train, or a Bike)
This morning oil prices hit a record high, at $139 a barrel, and yesterday The New York Times reported that General Motors had seen sense and is going to drastically cut back production of its gas-guzzling SUV models and concentrate on smaller cars. It is even — yippee — considering offloading the horrendous Hummer, once seen as “the pillar of its future growth” (just how short-sighted can these mega-corporations be I wonder?).
The point is that $4-a-gallon gas prices have finally forced a shift by American consumers towards more fuel-efficient cars and, yes, public transportation.
This has significant implications for all of us in the Bay Area. First off, we all know that we need to lobby for better public transit. And secondly, as reader Surveykid pointed out, we should all be thinking ahead to the location of our homes in relation to existing and potential transit options.
As he wrote in a recent comment:
“CA is highly, highly leveraged to the automobile–and while that is true for much of America – this paradigm shift is going to hit CA very hard. In the future, I am confident that CA will be among the first places in the US to make the transition. However, that will provide little relief in the interim. The result will be as follows: this real estate bust is going to be painfully prolonged by this issue.
… in general you are going to see real estate near public transport maintain its value more competitively, in the years ahead. Also, the municipalities will add more public transport, even as they are financially pressured.”
Thankfully, there are visionaries out there who are doing some long-range thinking. Have a look at this Subway Dream Map for the East Bay conceived by Transbay Blog:
And then put your sensible hat on and check out these three newly listed homes which are all within striking distance of public transportation and will therefore reduce — or even eliminate — your need for a car, small or otherwise:
1377 Francisco Street: 2/1 Craftsman very close to North Berkeley BART. Price: $550,000.
1740 McGee: 2/1 Craftsman also close to North Berkeley BART. Price: $579,000
5945 Chabot Crescent: 3/2 Mediterranean close to Rockridge BART. Price: $949,000.
