The Vespa dealership at 5928 Broadway is seeing increased traffic as people are looking for more economical ways to get around. Photos by Mary Margaret Tobin

By Mary Margaret Tobin
Contributing Writer

With America’s dependence on foreign sources of oil, along with rising oil demands in other countries, gas prices have risen dramatically over the past year. In San Antonio, gas prices have gone up a little over a dollar and more than doubled over the last few years.

With gas prices on the rise, people from all walks of life are switching from gas-guzzling four-door sedans and SUVs to more fuel efficient, two-wheeled vehicles.

With an engine, or without, a two-wheel trend is definitely developing. Both the Bike World the Vespa scooter stores in Alamo Heights report that they have had significantly increased sales of bikes and scooters spurred by high gas prices.

“If 10 people walk into the shop, eight people ask about the gas efficiency of a Vespa,” Vespa sales manager David Murphy said.

All kinds of people, young and old, have been showing increased interest in the economical Vespa scooters. Young people commuting to work, older people with kids, even retired men and women – everyone is coming to realize the many capabilities of these scooters.

“Not only do they have great gas mileage, they are easy to operate and are a fun, enjoyable way to get from one place to another,” Murphy said.

Those looking to give up the gasoline habit altogether are checking out bicycles, like at Bike World, located at 5911 Broadway.

Other people have decided to switch to traveling by bicycle, freeing themselves of worrying about gas at all. The staff at Bike World Alamo Heights said that in the past year, not only have they had a significant increase in the sale of commuter type bikes, but they have had numerous people bring their bikes in to be repaired.

Although you may not travel as quickly on a bike as on a motor vehicle, you’ll no doubt save a lot of money that would otherwise be spent on gas. Most people, especially in our community, only commute 10 miles or less round trip during their day, which could easily be done on a bicycle.

These bike commuters use city streets and are pressing for the development of more bike lanes and trails. Bikes good for commuting range from about $240 to $1,000 depending on what features you want your bike to have.

“Everyone that comes in to ask about a commuter bike has one thing in common – they are tired of paying so much at the pump,” said Bike World Alamo Heights manager Drew Morganti.

Not only is bicycling a convenient way to commute, it is good exercise and a way to enjoy yourself. Once you get to work, you will be invigorated and ready to go.

“Many employees ride into work, it’s something they did before the gas crunch,” Morganti said. “You aren’t limited by traffic, busy roads … and it’s quiet.”

Whether it’s with an engine or without, many people are starting to believe that cutting the number of wheels they have on their vehicle in half is the way to go. Who knows, maybe in a few years, we’ll see more Vespas and bikes on the roads than cars!

Soaring gas prices are prompting many energy-conscious motorists to consider replacing what they’re currently driving with more fuel-efficient models.

By Tony Cantú
Contributing Writer

A proposed move in Alamo Heights to a four-day work week for city staff – a growing trend in light of escalating fuel costs – ran out of gas recently, before the idea even revved up for discussion.

The possibility of an altered workweek had been inserted in the June 23 City Council agenda for discussion before City Manager Rebecca Waldman pulled the item. Previously, on June 18, the city’s Infrastructure and Services Council Committee had favorably reviewed the item, according to an accompanying memorandum to Council from Waldman and Public Works Director Shawn Eddy.

That memo touted modified hours as a move that “…could allow for the implementation of an alternative work schedule in an effort to achieve stated goals in customer service, sustainable community, productivity, employee benefits and recruitment and retention.”

Eddy confirmed the idea’s abandonment in a reply to a question on the matter: “We had kicked around the idea for a four-day work week, but we are not implementing that. We have more work to do on that.”

Alamo Heights City Council member Bill Kiel – a member of the Infrastructure and Services Committee with fellow Council member Susan Harwell – said the idea was floated as a way to relieve travel costs to city staffers – all of whom, except for Community Development Director Ann McGlone, live outside of Alamo Heights. But the idea may have been dead on arrival because the way it was framed on the council agenda may have proved too intimidating given its drastic-sounding verbiage: “Presentation of proposal for modified hours of operation for city offices.”

“Unfortunately it was listed wrong on the agenda,” Kiel said, noting his preference would have been for softer language alluding to flex work schedules as another option. “It got out of hand, so we decided this was not a way to start this.”

Because state law bars City Council members from discussing items as a quorum outside of Council meetings, Kiel and Harwell were prevented from discussing the idea at length prior to their official gathering. Consequently, other Council members – seeing the item presented for the first time – may have bee taken aback at the measure on first sight, Kiel said.

“The other members like Jill (Souter) and Stan (McCormick) and even the mayor said ‘What is this?’” Kiel said. “Susan and I couldn’t really talk about it beforehand. Those are the lengths we go to in order not to break the law.”

Kiel said his own preference was to allow for flex schedules to cut city staffers’ travel time. While a good idea in theory, implementing a four-day work week would have given rise to other issues such as the availability of extended daycare for parents having to put in a 10-hour day rather than the customary eight hours.

Additionally, a compressed workload could have ended costing the city more money for overtime if tasks could not be accomplished in time – particularly in days when staff prepares paperwork for upcoming Council meetings.

“If they were not working Friday, they would have to have everything done by Thursday and possibly have to work overtime,” Kiel said. “Any money you would save, would then be lost with that overtime. I was never keen on the four-day workweek.”

In revisiting the issue in the future, he said he would push for flexible schedules, which would offer the added benefit of cross-training employees to be able to fill in for their at-home colleagues.

“A flex schedule might make sense, because there would be a lot of cross training,” Kiel said. “Four-dollar-a-gallon gas has really made an impact, but a four-day work week was very problematic. For every good mark, there were two or three marks against it.”

Whatever the city decides as potential relief to its staff, the issue isn’t likely to be accelerated again this summer, Kiel said: “The issue is not dead, but I’m not sure when this will come back. I don’t think it will come up for another two months.”