We love our cars, and our bikes, trains and buses, but roads for cars still need the most help, whether they have green cars or not rolling on them.
State tames its taste for gas
Sales fell in 2007; high prices, greener vehicles may be key.
By Tony Bizjak - tbizjak@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PST Friday, February 8, 2008
Californians still love their cars. They just may not be driving them as much.
The freeway state tallied a record 33 million registered vehicles in 2007, but new data show drivers bought less gas than in any year since 2003.
The switch has economists and hopeful environmentalists debating the causes. They say it probably boils down to consumer reaction to $3-a-gallon gas prices, and a slowdown in commercial activity after last year's collapse in home buying and building.
It is also likely that Californians really are going "green," buying better-mileage cars, driving less and living closer to work.
Economist Joe Fitz of the California Board of Equalization, which monitors gas-pump purchases, thinks it's about high gas prices.
He acknowledged, however, that California's recent highly publicized fight against global warming may be having some impact on motorists' choices.
Californians bought 15.8 billion gallons of gas in fiscal 2007, down from 15.9 billion the previous year.
The gas sales drop was the first sustained downturn in California since a recession in the early 1990s, and a dip in the early 1970s when oil shortages led to gas rationing, said state board spokeswoman Anita Gore.
