The New York Times reports:

For three straight weeks, Americans have been buying less gasoline than they did a year ago. Consumption is dropping at a rate not seen since drivers were waiting in gas lines back in the early 1980’s. And people are turning to mass transit in record numbers in some cities.

Meanwhile, back home, a letter-writer to the AJC goes so far to not get it, he’d rather revert to hyperbole (name-calling, straw-man baiting):

Telecommuting, mass transit won’t work

Gov. Sonny Perdue’s request to close schools may have limited benefit for big-picture fuel issues, but to use it to parrot the old plea for increased mass transit and telecommuting ignores reality (”Misdirected energy,” Editorial, Sept. 27).

Even a fantasy-budgeted effort to widely increase mass transit infrastructure could never adequately serve Atlanta and surrounding counties. Atlanta doesn’t have localized hubs of employment.

Those who reply “MARTA” to every transportation question will never understand that the day’s reward for many commuters is to decompress in the leather- and music-rich environment of their personal vehicle, which they worked hard to acquire.

Unlike those would-be society-shapers and editorial writers quick to suggest telecommuting, most of America’s work force does not spend their workday at a computer terminal.

BILL LENTZ, Cumming

So, just because he enjoys his car as a sort of decompression chamber means I should, too?

Atlanta has several hubs of employment: Downtown, Midtown, Perimeter/Dunwoody and Cumberland, just to name a few. The first two are well-served by transit, with a clear benefit to traffic congestion. Perimeter/Dunwoody, especially the Abernathy corridor, would see a benefit if trains didn’t just go south from that area. Cumberland’s office market is, meanwhle, severely limited by the lack of transit that serves the area.

Let’s get real about something, Billy. If a train to Cumming were built, you wouldn’t have to use it. I know that’s an amazing revelation to you. No one is going to force you to take it. But, assuming you take GA-400 south to work in the mornings, you would certainly benefit from that train. While the commuters choosing to take the train can ride their little decompression chambers, you can use yours. The difference is that all those people taking the train aren’t with you on the road. That means there’s more room for you on the road.

Update: Otis White also had a column printed in yesterday’s New York Times:

We’ve learned a lot about evacuating cities in recent days, much of it deeply troubling. But if the failures of New Orleans and the gridlock of Houston show anything, it’s that we urgently need a third way out of cities, something other than flying or driving. Fortunately, there is such a way: passenger rail.