Most efficient routing in city

[pletby]

I have a question for you guys. I have the choice of several routes to work, but there is a main route with stoplights, and various side routes with 4 way stops. The side routes are sparsely travelled and allow me to EOC to every stop sign at low speed (coast from 40km/hr usually). The stop light route pretty much forces me to keep the engine on all the way as I have an AT and can time almost all the lights. It's about 5km either way I go.

I don't have a scanguage and don't want to wait until an entire tank is gone to figure this out. Thanks guys!

[Mustang Dave]

In my case, I take the shorter route. It has more stop LIGHTS, but less stop SIGNS. Stop lights aren't always red. Stop SIGNS are ALWAYS red. Fuel economy is about the same for either route, so the shorter route saves fuel.
My longest route to work takes about the same time as the shorter routes, but gets the lowest MPG of the three. I've never used it since I figured out that fact.
YMMV.

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by pletby

I have a question for you guys. I have the choice of several routes to work, but there is a main route with stoplights, and various side routes with 4 way stops. The side routes are sparsely travelled and allow me to EOC to every stop sign at low speed (coast from 40km/hr usually). The stop light route pretty much forces me to keep the engine on all the way as I have an AT and can time almost all the lights. It's about 5km either way I go.

I don't have a scanguage and don't want to wait until an entire tank is gone to figure this out. Thanks guys!

Tell us the number of stop signs vs. the number of lights. And the speed limit on the main route. And whether the terrain is hilly or flat. When all that is taken into account, you might have a plan that works.

[euromodder]

The US has a major FE potential - simply by removing all those 4-way STOPs and removing STOP-signs where good visibility doesn't demand a full STOP.

Over in Europe we mostly use the "Give Way"-sign when you must give way, but where it's not necessary to stop if there's no need - but I can't recall seeing any of those in the US.

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by euromodder

The US has a major FE potential - simply by removing all those 4-way STOPs and removing STOP-signs where good visibility doesn't demand a full STOP.

Over in Europe we mostly use the "Give Way"-sign when you must give way, but where it's not necessary to stop if there's no need - but I can't recall seeing any of those in the US.

Oh, I couldn't agree more!!! In America this is called a YIELD sign. They are unpopular in the US for several reasons: trial lawyers dislike the idea because if you go through a yield sign and cause an accident it's a prima facie case (meaning by its very nature it is obvious who is at fault) - hence no need or opportunity for a lawyer to try to raise doubt in litigation (and the trial lawyers lobby is politically influential). Also, we have lots of four-way stops here, often due to pressure brought locally by mommies who think that more more stop signs will protect their children and allow them to play in the street (which they regard as their right). Lastly, American drivers are profoundly ignorant (if not outright stupid) about right-of-way, and don't even know what a yield sign means. Sad, but true.

[pletby]

Okay Thymeclock, I have 11 stop signs vs 1 stopsign and 5 lights. Almost perfectly flat. Main route is 60km/h. Lots more traffic.
I did have the engine off for 1.8 km of the 5 km trip today with the stopsigns, but had to accelerate from almost stopped each time.

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by pletby

Okay Thymeclock, I have 11 stop signs vs 1 stopsign and 5 lights. Almost perfectly flat. Main route is 60km/h. Lots more traffic.
I did have the engine off for 1.8 km of the 5 km trip today with the stopsigns, but had to accelerate from almost stopped each time.

Two more questions: what is the make, model and year of your vehicle?

Are the traffic lights timed in one specific direction? (As they are in major cities and suburbs?) Or are they triggered by cross-road traffic?

If you are becoming aware of all these factors, you won't need a ScanGauge to determine how best to hypermile. I had been thinking about all these factors for many years prior to my getting a ScanGauge. Having one only helped me to refine what I already knew and practiced.

[pletby]

My car is under my name, it's The Car... (Ford Contour '98 GL model with optional V6 loaded with gas guzzling extras)

Lights are timed...poorly. Must drive pretty slow in spots to keep moving. Most traffic roars past racing to the next red...

Today I EOC'd for 2.1 km/4.8km with lots of room to expand on that, just need practice. My car seems to coast between 30 and 40km/hr forever.

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by pletby

My car is under my name, it's The Car... (Ford Contour '98 GL model with optional V6 loaded with gas guzzling extras)

Lights are timed...poorly. Must drive pretty slow in spots to keep moving. Most traffic roars past racing to the next red...

Today I EOC'd for 2.1 km/4.8km with lots of room to expand on that, just need practice. My car seems to coast between 30 and 40km/hr forever.

OK. You are driving a relatively large, American car with an automatic transmission (I assume).

I still have some questions, but ones that you probably need to ask yourself as well: Are the lights timed poorly only in one direction? Are they as poorly timed in the other direction (on your return trip) as well? Or are they being overridden by cross-road traffic waiting at triggered sensors?

I would suggest that you try the highway route for a week with no other driving and take note of the FE. You can do this by filling the tank, doing nothing but the specific route, then calculating the MPG when you refill the tank.

Then do the other route, the local one with the stop signs. Fill up, calculate, etc.

Considering your vehicle, my prediction is this: if you can drive the local route knowing where every stop sign is, you can accelerate briskly enough to get into a higher gear, then put the A/T into neutral to coast to the next stop sign. predictably enough so as not to slow to a crawl. You won't harm the A/T any as long as you don't throw it back into gear at a speed of above 10 MPH. You won't have any stress about anyone passing you or pestering you to drive faster. This will give you the maximum benefit of coasting. And probably also the best fuel economy.