I had a crazy idea the other day. Maybe it could work - of course it would require someone to lobby the big petrol companies and governments and so forth and while I know by blog is good ;-) I don't know if it is that good yet.
In order to reduce the traffic in the cities we could increase the public transport use. That is a known fact and many big cities are promoting that. However taking a bus, the metro, a subway or train in most countries costs a fortune. And the prices are going up every year. It is like they are trying to get rid of customer!
Now what if the big oil companies did a super PR stunt. They would sell the gas for all buses in the cities at cost. i.e. no profit for them. Even maybe donate some of it (it isn't like they are low on cash - what with all the Iraq resources being opened to them in the last few years). They get a label on the buses saying they have sponsored that and it's great PR for them.
Then we get all the taxes on these buses and metros cancelled, just slash it down to nil. Basically nobody makes profit on the money - but everybody makes profit on the environment sustaining itself a little longer.
The oil companies get good PR on it. The Politicians get good PR on it. The people get less cars and less polution.
We all get to live a few years more on our lovely home.
Well it was a thought, if you have a comment POST it.
PS: It's great to be back.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
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2 comments:
I like your idea!
It would be so nice if the world worked out like this...
The problem is that everybody want all the money they can get their dirty hands on.
The oil companies may get some PR, but no money..
When everybody starts using public transport, there will be less cars and such stuff, to buy their gas.
But I like your idea!
2 Notes:
1) Oil Companies are all corporations and are required by law to maximize their profits for their stockholders. You would need to prove how giving away their product at cost (which, BTW would probably only amount to a few cents difference per gallon) thereby subsidizing a transportation method whose raison d'être is to reduce the amount of fuel used, and thereby the corporations profits. We often focus on Oil companies record profits without taking our record breaking usage into account.
2) Why is it that we believe that the answer to the problems of automobile usage is to resort to reviving the very systems that cars replaced because they were inconvenient, dirty, smelly, and dangerous?
Here's a radical idea, how about requiring that all broadcast automobile ads prominently feature (perhaps letters that fill at least 1/3 of the screen for at least 12 seconds) both a realistic MPG and an average per year fuel cost? All print ads and all cars on the lot should have a similar requirement.
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