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Commuters Opt For Frugal Lane
As gas prices soar, Washington area commuters are increasingly turning to fuel-efficient motorcycles. Drivers who make the switch also gain admission to the region's HOV lanes, including on I-395, above.
(By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)
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"Something we're really pushing is you can get an average of 54 miles per gallon riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and that's on the low end," said Tammy McClanahan, marketing director for Harley-Davidson of Washington, DC, in Fort Washington and All American Harley-Davidson in Hughesville. "We're using that as a huge approach for how to sell our bikes."
Jimbo Wheeler, sales manager at the store's District branch, said customers are coming in "several times a week" asking about bikes for commuting, a once-a-month occurrence in years past.
"A lot of them are putting the saddlebags on" to carry items for work, he said.
As of late this month, enrollment at Apex Cycle Education training school was up nearly 50 percent over the same period last year at the school's three locations in Fairfax, Manassas and Fredericksburg. About 25 percent of students cite high gas prices as their reason for taking the course, said Linda Grambow, who runs the school with her husband, David Hepburn.
"This spring it's like the lid's just blown off," Hepburn said. He offers a three-day course for $349, and riders receive a temporary motorcycle license upon completion. "We're seeing about 100 students a weekend in all our locations, and as quickly as somebody cancels, somebody is taking a spot."
Apex student Jim Smith, 35, of Woodbridge recently bought a Yamaha sport bike to commute to work. Smith, an information technology worker in Fairfax City, said it costs $60 to fill his Chevy S-10 pickup, which gets 16 mpg. He can fill his Yamaha for $15, and it gets about 60 mpg.
Gas prices "just kept building, building, building, and I finally said 'That's it,' " Smith said. "It doesn't look like it's going to stop. It's just going to keep going up. . . . I probably never would have [gotten a motorcycle] if gas prices didn't go up."
Pinning down just how many Washington area residents are commuting on two wheels is difficult.
According to the 2006 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau -- the most recent data available -- fewer than 1.5 percent of commuters in the District, Maryland and Virginia got to work by "taxicab, motorcycle or other means." When the numbers are crunched for 2008, that will likely change, said transportation expert Alan Pisarski, author of "Commuting in America."
"People were relatively comfortable with $3-a-gallon gasoline," said Pisarski, who lives in the Falls Church area. "They gritted their teeth and took it. But $4 is really pushing people to make those changes. We haven't seen people who use motorcycles, motorbikes as an economic efficiency tool in probably 30 years. It's obviously going to be a very different cohort, if you will, more people who are opting for this vehicle."
Software engineer Hector Malpartida chose the used bike route after landing a job in Bethesda that tripled his commute from Springfield.
Malpartida, who recently bought a Suzuki SV650 for $2,800, plans to take it to work twice a week after he has gotten used to his new route. His wife, Sarah, a nurse, does the same about once a week on her Harley. Malpartida's bike gets 60 mpg, and even his tiny Mazda Miata (26 mpg) can't compete with that.
