From the Roundtable: Will Columbia be winner or loser as energy costs escalate?

In any situation there will be those who win and those who are not so fortunate and end up losing. As the cost of energy in this country escalates, some of the winners and losers are already well known. Today’s losers, though, could end up becoming tomorrow’s winners, and I like Columbia’s chances in this evolving environment.

The biggest loser right now is the United States. This country’s precarious position vis-à-vis petroleum and the government’s sluggish and all but inept position in dealing with the situation leaves me piqued. The popular anger that accelerates daily in pace with the steadily rising cost of petroleum products will sooner or later lead to a bold program that will hopefully make the U.S. a winner when it comes to energy. To solve the problem, we need to wage the equivalent of a war effort.

Selfishly thinking about our own area of the country, I believe Columbia will end up a winner. Unfortunately, this will probably be at the expense of areas that lie within the existing zone of commuting that extends dozens and dozens of miles outward in all directions. Certainly this is not without precedent.

Major population shifts have occurred in waves over time as the United States shifted from an agrarian to an industrial and service-based economy. Rural areas have been depopulated as cities and their suburbs saw their populations increase and territories expand as measured by succeeding federal decennial censuses.

A substantial number of the people who work in Columbia and its immediate outlying area don’t actually live here. Stories abound of daily commutes up to 90 miles each way because Columbia is the location of good jobs that pay pretty well, while back home there may not be any place to work.

Gasoline used to be an expense of trifles. At $4 a gallon, more and more of us are now asking what it costs to go somewhere before we set out. While a round-trip to St. Louis (250 miles) may be a little far for a commute on a daily basis, this excursion now costs $40.00 in a vehicle stingy enough to get 25 miles per gallon. A year ago, that same trip would have cost about half as much.

Many who work in Columbia have typical commutes that range from 60 to 100 miles round trip. This leaves those individuals with an increased chunk out of their family budget just to get to where they work. For example, take the thousands who commute from Columbia to Jefferson City or vice versa who spend at least 300 miles on the road a week and based on 25 miles per gallon are spending at least $48.00 to get to their jobs and back. Surely things will have to change.

How much time will pass before some entrepreneur decides to open up a bus line between Columbia and Jefferson City? There used to be a bus line linking the two cities that was operated by Missouri Transit Lines, but that’s now just a memory.

In addition to restoring links to the state capital, I anticipate new bus connections will tie Columbia to other communities in the region. With ridership on Columbia’s municipal transit system surging, the Wabash Depot could be really stressed as the nexus of a regional mass transportation network.

Then some commuters may get tired of driving while family economics may force others to something really drastic: move closer to their jobs. Here’s a huge economic opportunity for the Greater Columbia area. It will begin as some look for a place to “crash” during the week to curtail the number of fuel-consuming round trips. I envision a market for thousands of sleeping rooms occupied four nights a week that would rescue what is now conceded to be an over-built rental market.

Some may consider buying a house. Thousands of new residences would be built. With careful planning and assurances of affordability, the boom would be inevitable. From the selfish view of someone who lives within Fortress Columbia, I like the city’s chances as the energy situation tightens up. Growth and expansion will continue so we better plan for it. The current energy crisis is going to put Columbia in the winner’s circle.