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The American Energy Consumer
Table 7-18.Major Trips by Household
Head, by Transportation Mode, by Race, 1972-1973 (percent of
household heads)
| Transportation |
Black |
Other |
|
(percent) |
| All household heads |
100 |
100 |
| Percent making one or more
major trips |
|
|
| None |
58 |
31 |
| Auto |
29 |
63 |
| Railroad or bus |
11 |
6 |
| Airplane |
12 |
26 |
| All major trips |
|
|
| 0 |
58 |
31 |
| 1 or more |
42 |
69 |
| Auto |
|
|
| 0 |
71 |
37 |
| 1 or more |
29 |
63 |
| Railroad or bus |
|
|
| 0 |
89 |
94 |
| 1 or more |
11 |
6 |
| Airplane |
|
|
| 0 |
88 |
74 |
| 1 or more |
12 |
26 |
| Source: Washington
Center for Metropolitan Studies' Lifestyles and Energy
Surveys. |
to use the car for commuting in one-car families, regardless of
race; the husband, virtually always the chief breadwinner, takes it
(Table 7-20). Since many black households have no car at all, the
black working wife is much more likely to ride the bus than her
nonblack counterpart. Also, she is less likely to carpool.
WHAT
ENERGY COSTS
The average
energy expenditures for blacks and other households show a near
classic case of the disadvantaged in the retail market. Blacks use
less electricity and natural gas per household, spend less money
for it, but they pay more per unit (Tables 7-21 and 7-22).
Gasoline
prices are the same, whoever pulls up to the pump. Not so for
electricity and natural gas. Blacks have less choice than most
people when it comes to the energy sources they have at home.
Segregation and limited mobility still are so much a part of black
life that when a family moves to improve its living conditions,
other factors besides energy are the important