New York
The daily changes in energy prices are giving America's fuel-guzzling drivers heart palpitations at a time when the threat of another rise in New York's subway and bus fares next year is looming over public transport users.
One of the immediate results of the energy crisis (and it certainly feels like a crisis) is that not only are more New Yorkers spurning cars in favour of buses and trains, but more are taking to two wheels.
'I've never seen so many people ride bicycles as I have this spring,' said Wiley Norvell, spokesman for the pro-cycling advocacy group Transportation Alternatives.
The city's recent policies may also have helped. In his environmental blueprint, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has launched several projects to promote bike riding, such as a three-year construction project that aims to add 320km to street bike lanes by next year, and a programme that has handed out more than 10,000 free helmets to cyclists since 2006.
These seem to be having the desired effect. With bike ridership jumping 77 per cent since 2000, the mayor's team won the unofficial title of the most bike-friendly administration from cyclists, and the city climbed from its previously low rank to be recently listed as one of the 84 Bicycle Friendly Communities in the US by the League of American Bicyclists.
But unlike some European or Asian cities where bikes are ubiquitous, cyclists have a tougher time competing with the more established commuter groups such as drivers, pedestrians and public-transport passengers.