Getting To Work, The Cheap Way

With gasoline costing so much and at times in short supply, people are finding fun ways to save money and the environment.

More people are going from four wheels to two and finding all kinds of benefits along the way to work and back. Like one of Blue Cross Blue Shield's presidents, who said when his wife won a pink scooter at the "Pink" breast cancer benefit back in February he just had to get his own scooter.

"We found out it's really a lot of fun," Steve Coulter said.

So much fun that Coulter rides his red Buddy 125 scooter to work from his home on Signal Mountain. That's right, a president at Blue Cross Blue Shield having fun with his commute and saving a ton of money too.

"I used to fill my car once a week, now that's $70 to $75 to do that," Coulter explained. "Now I fill my car about once a month."

Coulter said he fills his scooter once a week, spending just $4.75 the last time he topped off the tank.

Besides cheap transportation Coulter said he loves the idea of less pollution, causing less traffic congestion and never having a problem finding a parking space.

While many are finding scooters to be a great solution to so many costly problems others are finding another two-wheel solution with even more benefits - bicycles.

Blue Cross Blue Shield employees Eric Renneisen and Art Thompson are among the growing number of people riding bicycles to work in the downtown area.

"Yeah, actually I have lost a couple belt sizes since then, I've always tried to stay fit," Thompson said.

Besides spending nothing for gas, biking to work means Thompson and Renneisen don't have to get caught in traffic. They don't hunt for parking spaces. They produce no pollution.

Sure, when the weather is bad they drive to work but they've developed a clean habit that keeps them in great shape.

For people who commute from greater distances there are options.

"Come up with alternatives, if you do live far away you can drive part of the way and find parking in the Riverpark and cut down your gas bill that way," Renneisen said.

Another solution he said is to use CARTA, because main line buses have bike racks mounted on the front.

Downtown companies like Unum are providing more parking space for two wheelers since the idea is catching on, whether it's motorcycles or scooters. And who knows, with the sky rocketing cost of gas we may be on to something that our friends overseas have been doing for decades.

"We just got back from Israel and there are as many scooters as there are cars over there," Coulter said.

The Motorcycle Industry Council reports scooter sales in the U.S. are up this year by 66%, with high gas prices fueling most of the interest. Several bicycle industry groups say sales of bikes are up about 9%.

All this at a time when sales of cars and gas guzzling trucks is down 30% or more depending on brand.