Ashley Sailer wanted to escape the high costs of living in the Washington metro area when she moved back to Roanoke last fall.

But with a new job in Blacksburg, her daily commute required $50 a week in gas.

Sailer cut that cost in half by finding a ride buddy, Kristin Sauls, who also was driving every day between the Roanoke and New River valleys.

Rick Williams of Roanoke cut his consumption even more. Riding a bike to work, the only gas Williams uses is oxygen, and it's free.

Sailer, Sauls and Williams are part of a group that could reverse the annual increase in gasoline consumption, if federal energy analysts are correct in their estimates that the nation is losing some of its tolerance for high fuel costs.

"I recommend ride-sharing to everybody who has to commute. It's so much nicer to have a conversation in the morning than driving up by yourself," Sailer said.

Patty Landovek of Roanoke County changed her transportation habits in September when she purchased a stand-up scooter for running errands around her Catawba neighborhood.

"It's an awesome way to get around," Landovek said. She wasn't sure how much gas she is saving, but she did notice it took longer for her car to reach the 3,000-mile mark between oil changes.

Williams' daily commute is much shorter than the two-valley connection. It's just eight miles from his home in the Williamson Road area of Roanoke to work at TMEIC-GE in Salem.

Williams, 51, rides a bike to work almost every day, a habit he picked up on a temporary assignment in Taiwan.

"I ride for transportation, but my decision is a choice. I could just as well drive every day," said Williams, who is also a member of the Roanoke city planning commission.

For Williams, a clear social conscience and parking-space liberty are among the rewards of biking, but it's not about him alone.

"There are a fair number of people in this valley who ride a bike out of necessity.

"I think it's important to recognize the existence of such folks and the very real obstacles they face when it comes to meeting their daily transportation needs," Williams said, noting that most Valley Metro buses are equipped with bike racks.

In an unusual concession to the weather, Williams tossed his bike into one of those racks Tuesday morning when it was 9 degrees outside and rode the bus for part of his commute along Shenandoah Avenue. "But even with the short stint on the bus, the ride was plenty cold," Williams said.

Still, public transportation is used by only about 5 percent of the work force, census data suggest. And people who bike to work barely make an appearance in census files.

Three-quarters of the work force drives every day, one person per car, the census surveys indicate.

If bicycles are an emerging trend for the workday commute, car pools are an established alternative.

Ten percent or more of workers car pool, including those in the Roanoke and New River valleys, according to 2000 census estimates.

During the 1990s, when gas was more affordable, car pooling faded noticeably statewide and in Western Virginia -- another indication contained in census data.

Still, Jeremy Holmes, director of the RIDE Solutions program for the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission, said its membership database for car poolers is growing slowly.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration thinks it sees another slow change: Oil consumption is headed down, along with mileage driven in cars and light-duty trucks.

When the final numbers are in for 2006, the EIA predicts on its Web site, cars and small trucks will have traveled 2 billion fewer miles than in 2005. It's a tiny decrease, just 0.1 percent. But, when coupled with a year-by-year increase in engines that use less gas or rely more on ethanol, the need for crude oil declines slightly -- which hasn't happened in two decades.

The International Energy Agency's data for 2006 follows a path similar to the EIA. Oil consumption in the 30 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development fell 0.6 percent in 2006, the international agency said. It's the first annual drop in more than 20 years among those countries.

The short-term changes are attributed mostly to slower economic growth, the U.S. energy agency says. Many economists blame the slower growth during 2006 on the increase in oil and gasoline prices.

In the big picture through 2030, the EIA expects a one-third decline in the growth rate for transportation fuels. Continued rising prices, better engines and new biofuels technology combine to form the outlook for slower growth in oil use.

Those predictions by the EIA would fit into the energy policy announced by President Bush in his State of the Union speech last month. He urged that gasoline demand be reduced by up to 20 percent over 10 years through alternative fuels and tighter efficiency standards for cars.

Among commuters, car poolers are the second-largest group. They outnumber public transportation riders 2 to 1, and bicyclists and motorcyclists by about 10 to 1.

Sailer and Sauls started saving gas by using one car in September after they connected through Craigslist, a Web site with free classified ads. Sailer posted a note seeking a car pool partner and Sauls responded.

Now their drive-time chats cover "American Idol," their plans for shopping and other daily events.

The scooter solution that Landovek turned to may be among the more unusual alternatives to gas prices, but she said she's thrilled about it.

She lives on the Bike 76 cross-country route through Roanoke County, where two-wheeled vehicles have been deemed a normal mode of transportation for more than 30 years.

Landovek said she plans to start commuting to work in Daleville on her scooter when the weather improves and she gets a headlight for riding home after dark. For now, though, the scooter's tiny motor gets her around at 19 mph on the 2 ¹₂-mile trip to church and the 4 ¹₂-mile ride to the store and post office in Catawba.

And, she said, "the cost is like a lawn mower."