100 Business Days Out: Day 28- What's Really Going On?

Since I have the time to be on this “science fair project” I can take time out of the day and talk to those who I normally would have been too busy or too distracted to converse. Today, I talked to NYC taxi drivers and a limo driver who drove me from Manhattan to JFK. A month or so ago, I opined that our commuting habits and patterns would not change until gasoline prices hit $8.00 per gallon. That was not actually my theory, but Jeff Brown’s, but I agreed with it, so I have to be honest about it, that I also didn’t think that we drivers and consumers of convenience could change until the pain was much much higher. Maybe, Jeff and I are wrong because today I had two different drivers tell me that in the last week, that the commuter traffic outside of New York City has dropped significantly in the last two weeks. I might have not believed it other than today I drove from Park and 53rd to JFK in just at 20 minutes. Okay, no big deal, right…it was Sunday morning. If it was Sunday morning, then that makes all the sense in the world. But, this was not Sunday morning, this was 12:30pm on a Wednesday afternoon on May 14th. 20 minutes to JFK at this time? Doesn’t see right for midtown does it? The drivers both attribute that the rising gas prices are changing the way that commuters are moving in and out of the city. So, maybe we are already in the change and we don’t know it yet. The shift could be occurring and we don’t kow it just yet. What does this mean for me, well like everyone else, as you learn and know more, you need to adapt your thinking and behavior. Don’t be surprised that for the next meeting in the neighborhood that I show up on my Vespa.