Today more and more women are riding public transportation, motorcycles, scooters, and even bicycles to get wherever they are going, thanks to the rising price of gasoline.. In the last ten years or so you, you have seen an increasing number of women on motorcycles usually those that are young, adventurous, and free-spirited. There is another group of women that are in their forties, rediscovering themselves, enjoying the freedom that is felt with the wind blowing on their faces as they race through the streets at high speed. Regardless of the reason of yesteryear, we are now looking for alternative forms of transportation, younger women are purchasing motorcycles and older women are purchasing the more expensive, and more comfortable high-end scooters. Some of these scooters have the power of a motorcycle and can be driven on the expressways, with speed that will reach 125mph. The basic difference between scooters and motorcycles is the scooters are automatic with no gears to change; and the seating position is more comfortable as well as the leg position. These are the reasons why the older woman chooses the scooter. This scooter is more expensive than its equivalent motorcycle.
As another alternative of transportation, you have those, like myself, who have decided to use the bicycle along with public transportation. This has become more of a necessity for some, and for me just a reality check and wanting more quality of life. I want more time living life than making a living. So my riding a bike to and from work at the rate of 24 miles per day is my way of doing that, and the side effects are looking quite nice. I was spending over $120.00/week on gas in my Nissan Pathfinder. It cost me over $1200.00/month just to own a car, not to include regular maintenance, and God forbid if anything went wrong. Now, that this money is in my pocket. I am consistently collecting photography equipment in preparation for this extensive trip that I plan to take when my daughter graduates from college. Not having the expense of a car makes that mission a little bit easier. I see more and more Americans are realizing that the quality of their lives is being sacrificed for the accumulation of stuff and all the conveniences that we lived without before they existed, but can’t seem to live without now, i.e. cell phones.
America also needs to find alternate energy, both to power our cars and our homes/businesses; we are too dependent on crude oil and fossil fuel. Even though gasoline is cheaper in this country than in many others, it is hurting our economy tremendously. Many other countries have already turned to conserving energy as well as alternate forms of energy, which made them less dependent on outside sources for energy. Two of these most talked about alternatives for fossil fuels have been solar energy and nuclear energy, the latter being the most costly. The United States have been considering electric-powered cars, autos that use ethanol, scooters, motorcycles, bicycles, and public transportation, along with increasing the use and expansion of public transportation. In Denmark, whose search for alternative forms of energy was also sparked from crisis after the oil embargo of 1973-74, now has 20 percent of its energy needs generated by wind turbines. Thirty years later, most families only own one car with one spouse relying on public transportation. Americans have to be willing to conserve their usage of energy and look for alternate means of transportation. In the next ten years we should be able to make great strides in this direction. This would put us in the driver seat and we will have control over our form and use of energy. Ethanol seems to be something that is often talked about. There are already engine conversion kits on the market for about three thousand dollars. It takes 26 pounds of corn to produce one gallon of ethanol. The price of ethanol is approximately half of that of gasoline, but it takes almost twice as much ethanol to go the distance as half as much gasoline. Therefore, there is no savings. It is also believed that to produce the amount of ethanol needed to power the cars used by Americans, it would inevitably cause a food shortage, because more of the available land would be needed to grow the corn to produce this ethanol. Compressed Natural Gas(CNG) seems like the better alternative. Not total CNG engines but hybrids using CNG and electricity. That electricity should come from solar power. This may take 10-20 years to accomplish, but it is definitely worth the effort.


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