lowered gas consumption in France
 

The gas consumption lowered by 12.3% in august 2008 compared to august 2007. -16.9% for gasoline and -10.6% for diesel. In June it was -8.1% and -1.4% in july.

Baisse record de la vente de carburant en août 2008 - L'Internaute > Auto
This is as much CO2 not generated :)

Denis.

Wow, thats really good! What do they attribute the reduction to, people just driving less?

Yes, people drove less.

More stayed at home for holidays, others gone into holidays didn't used their car to visit.

Denis.

Here's a google translation:

The sale of fuel was already in decline for several months. In June 2008, according to figures from the UFIP (French Union of Petroleum Industries), it fell by 8.1% and 1.4% in July 2008. The decline in sales of fuel reached a historic high in August 2008: - 12.3% compared to August of last year. This fall, in detail, has mainly affected gasoline with -16.9% while diesel drop of 10.6% (as always in August of last year) "This means that households but also the road have reduced their consumption," said Jean-Louis Schilansky, managing director of the UFIP. The current financial crisis and declining purchasing power could continue this decline in sales of fuel. The mechanism of supply and demand could significantly drive down the price of crude oil and thus ultimately fuel prices at the pump.

I don't know what the train system's like in France, but if it's anything resembling Italy I can understand people not taking their car to travel long distances. Where I was they have "fast" trains every 20 minutes, and it's dirt cheap. Here, inter metropolitan train is positioned in the transportation market as being upscale, so it's 50% or so more expensive than the bus (which is already expensive imho), and it's not faster than the bus because it frequently have to stop to let freight trains pass.

The French train is the fastest on wheels :

• the slowest one, stopping at all stations, is as fast as country roads (90km/h = 56mph)
• the general train is as fast as highways (130km/h = 80mph)
• the fastest called (TGV), less than 5 stops when crossing the country, is twice faster (250 to 320km/h = 155 to 200mph)

A lot of people use the train, as it's cheaper than the plane. As the waiting times are important for plane travels, the door-to-door times are smaller for train travels when the TGV is available.

But the true reason is the one indicated :
Thousand of transport companies, restaurants, bars... have bankrupted since beginning of year. Renault will licentiate thousand of employee only in France... The US economical problems during last weeks will not help the situation.

Denis.