Automobile
(noun)
1. A private vehicle used for the transportation of people, with up to nine spaces for passengers. Most automobiles use internal combustion engines, and those cars are the type of land transportation that produce the most contaminant emissions. Cars with combustion motors are also the primary source of noise in urban areas.
2. The second-most-valuable asset owned by most individuals, behind real estate.
3. A big expensive thing that usually has a lot of extra space that usually goes to waste when you commute. Just think of all the money you could save by taking on a couple extra paying passengers.
4. A car. An autocar. A horseless carriage. A motor car. A bedroom on wheels. Your mobile office. That thing that has all your stuff in the backseat. C’mon people, we’re hoping that if you have access to the Internet and speak the English language you don’t need a definition for this.
5. Seriously, you’re still reading this?
6. It has several advantages over, say, a train, which you could also probably afford.
Bus
(noun)
1. A public transportation vehicle with a determined path or route that is frequently used in urban settings.
2. This guy:
Carbon Tax
(noun)
- A government-imposed tax on the carbon content of fuels.
- A method of carbon pricing.
- A way to ensure that the market price for fossil-fuels accurately reflects the true environmental, health and social costs inflicted upon society by their consumption. In theory, such taxes (known as “Pigovian” taxes) seek to include the cost of damages inflicted by accelerated climate change.
Slug Lines
(noun)
- A queue for casual carpoolers (slugs).
- A group of people waiting in line to be picked up by a random driver; where slugging occurs.
- Certainly one way to go about carpooling, but frankly Amovens is a lot safer.
High Occupancy Vehicle Lane (HOV Lane)
(noun)
1. The carpool lane. Specifically reserved for high occupancy vehicles, often with fewer tolls.
2. Not the place to try this.
3. Faster. Less crowded. Cheaper. Just generally a more awesome place to be.
4. The lane with the cars speeding past you during your SOV commute.
High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV)
1. A vehicle occupied by more than one person.
2. A car eligible for the HOV/Carpool lane.
3. A party in your car.
4. One way to catch some extra sleep on the way in to work.
Single Occupancy Vehicle (SOV)
(noun)
1. A vehicle occupied only by the driver.
2. A leading cause of commuter stress.
3. A car for someone lacking friends.
Carpool
(noun)
1. The arrangement between two or more drivers to split the costs and duties of commuting.
2. That thing you have to talk to the neighbors about this weekend to make sure they know Billy’s staying late Tuesday for soccer practice.
3. A really, really unfortunate Tom Arnold movie from 1996.
4. No, seriously, does anyone know why the above happened?
5. A web-based talk show where there android from Red Dwarf interviews people in his car, which we’ve never seen but sounds kind of awesome and which you should probably go check out once you’re done reading this post because he’s interviewed Patrick Stewart and Corey Doctorow.
Parking lot
(noun)
1. A mostly useless piece of land that has been covered in concrete and unsightly lines painted on the ground.
2. Where bored teenagers gather to do doughnuts with their cars.
3. The thing they paved paradise over for.
4. The place where most automobile accidents occur.
