Gas Prices vs. Summer Vacation

I’ve tried to switch to public transportation, and it’s not offered for where I’m trying to go on a daily basis. Frustrating. I guess I’ll just suck it up and pay what they ask of me.

What does a $5 an gallon gas price matter when you pay over 25% of your income in taxes anyway? Let’s get our damned priorities right!

I live in NYC, don’t own a car, and take public transit or cabs whenever necessary. The government here seems to be a bit slow in raising cab rates, but I imagine they will significantly once gas prices reach $5.

I’m not naive enough to think that my public transit and more importantly, other indirect expenses (transportation to get food that I buy here, for example) are unrelated to gas prices. But there’s not a whole lot I can do about that.

If I ever do own a car again, especially if gas prices are at $5, I will definitely buy an alternatively-fueled vehicle. I would prefer an all-electric (if I live in a place where I can park where I can plug it in)–otherwise a gas-electric hybrid.

One word: Bicycle!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpy4xNAnWzM

All except New York City where not only can you get away with public transportation and do very well, but it’s actually inconvenient to HAVE a car there! (parking and storage is prohibitive).

I’m feeling the gas prices in how much airfare has gone up. :( I was planning a trip to NYC on Jet Blue, and it was likely a month or so ago and now prices have gone up. Now will probably have to pass. :(

Didn’t you say you were going to look into getting something better on gas?? Hacking Prius’ seems to be catching on.

Currently I am commuting by foot / bus, which is nice. I don’t have the flexibility of a car, but at this point all I need one for is occasional errands. However, being a college student, my life is different than most in that the majority of my work and socialization and residences of my friends are within a small, almost walkable distance.

As for price cutoff, it seems that the marginal value of gas is very high, meaning the price of consuming an additional unit of gas. I think that the demand curve may be more linear than asymptotic for gas, meaning that there isn’t really a fall-off point where everyone stops buying. People tend to try to maintain their lifestyle by mitigating the effects of changing constraints. Also, as constraints (income) tighten, people tend to reduce general consumption rather than cut off certain items before others. This adds to the linearity of gas price vs purchase amount behavior. Those are some of the postulates of human behavior according to economic theory.

So, basically the price will inch up and up and we will gradually compensate, but each person has their own cut off point. For people with access to public transportation, $3.50 /gal may make it worth their time to use it vs. drive. However, the more rural one is located, the more they are dependent on individual vs mass transit, so they may not have a cutoff point at all.

I’m torn about this issue. Poor people are getting hit very, very hard by the gas prices. Imagine if you only made $18,710 (that’s the median for women’s income in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana).. $30 per tank difference is a big, big deal.

Then again, higher gas prices generally will equal less driving which has its benefits. I just wish that the record, and I do mean record, profits would be used primarily to find alternative fuel sources. Those record profits for oil companies started happening in October of 2000. Only 8 months after GWB took office.

Check this out: http://www.ioga.com/Special/crudeoil_Hist.htm
Even accounting for inflation, that’s just mindboggling. If only I had a the skills to make those numbers into pretty graphs. GWB’s term would be off the charts, especially when compared to his father’s terms and Clinton’s. Again, even with inflation accounted for.

Why are we still having these high prices anyway? Am I wrong to assume that gas prices are somewhat related to the price per barrel of oil? Shouldn’t gas be cheaper now than it was when PPB was at $66?

Oops, I didn’t answer your question. I moved to San Francisco from Los Angeles and sold my car last January. Gas wasn’t a primary concern, but it didn’t hurt my decision to do so.

Carpooling. I know it’s not the “American Way” but it works and it saves money.

hi there.

Just keep in mind that your gas prices are still pretty low. Here in Germany a litre of Gas costs 1.30€. So it’s rougly 3 times as high ;)

I myself don’t have a car, but those who have one use it pretty regularly, I’d say.

You’re worried about five bucks a gallon? Here in the UK because of our rape and pillage government policies on petrol / gas taxation we pay 95pence a litre - that works out at (3.79 [multiplication factor for litres to US gallons] x 0.95p = £3.60 x 1.9722 [exchange rate]) USD7.10 per gallon (US)…

So we pay seven bucks a gallon (US) already… poor us you might say but don’t think about five bucks - when the going gets tough we’ll all be paying 10bucks a gallon. Think what that will do to our collective (Western) economies. If Iran gets aggressive with its nuclear weapons watch that oil price soar soar soar!

When American gas prices reach $4 a gallon I will:

Still want to move to America since here in the UK we’re paying something like $8 a gallon. Stop whining :P

Not sure what the prices will be later on in the year. But as we do every year we will be getting in our Chevy Aveo loading it up to the top and heading out West to Gnomedex. Taking in all tourist stops in between here and there.

Well like a number of your other commenters I do not own a car. I sold my car in 2004 having owned it for 4 years - but having only driven it for ~13,000 miles (yes in four years). Having paid much more than $1 per mile just to own that car, I figured that was a pretty clear sign I really didn’t live a lifestyle that needed a car.

I now live in San Francisco (sold the car when I lived in Chicago), so eventually I may need to join the rest of CA and buy a car again - but I really don’t look forward to doing so.

The price of gas actually is only a very minor factor for me - at my very low level of usage (even when I owned a car and drove it much more often than I did in the 2000’s, I rarely if ever drove more than 10,000 miles in a year) the other costs of a car far outway gas. Financing the car (or tying up a lot of cash in a car), paying for insurance, parking (in San Francisco if you can find it - and I live in a area where a rental space would be hard to find it will if you are lucky be $250/mth - and typically more), maintenance etc. It is quite easy for all of that before gas to be $500-750 even $1000/mth. (and of course much more if you buy a very expensive car)

In contrast I pay $45/mth for a monthly Muni pass (which is higher than a similar pass in Chicago which would have been about $21). I take the occasional BART or Caltrain and occasional taxis, but even with all that I probably rarely spend more than $150 on transportation in a month (excluding taxis to airports and while on business travel). I could rent a car every weekend and still be unlikely to spend $500 on transportation. (I also have city carshare which is a car sharing program that I currently use but so rarely I will probably cease to use it - but it does give me access to cars by the hour when/if I need one)

Shannon

I live about 100 miles north of Chris, so here in Bellingham, we see those higher prices before Seattle does. What’s the real zinger of it all? I live within 12 miles of a refinery. In truth, this means nothing I suppose, but it sure feels silly to me.

Unfortunately, I can’t change my driving habits all that much. I drive to work, I drive home. The grocery store and random errands are in the mix but i really don’t drive that much. That being said, I have already made the decision that I will never own another SUV in my life. The next car I purchase will be a hybrid mid-size. I’ll worry about how I am going to cram the kids into it later!

At age 40, I’ve never owned a car on my own, although I have had one through marriage a few times. I’ve chosen jobs and homes and priorities based on avoiding driving. I do rent on occasion, and borrow my cohousing neighbors’ car/trucks, and I’m a CityCarShare member, but generally walking plus bike plus transit gets me most places. Once you develop a good working model of bus schedules and patterns, it becomes intuitive, you learn what connects well and where the weak spots are, and how to be productive, transportation as meditation. Get enough of the top-blogging movers-and-shakers bringing attention to this, and we’ll bring about rapid reform in the transit-funding system, and create the necessary infrastructure. Remember, though, that land use is an integral element of the equation, and that starts to get into an area of far more political “third rails”

When you look at the larger macroeconomic effects of the wars necessary to maintain our lifestyle, and to mitigate and prevent the climate-change impacts, $5 per gallon is not nearly high enough. We have a system that rewards externalization of true costs, making it “someone else’s problem”. Does that need to change to bring about reform?

I just changed jobs and am now commuting 90 miles round trip every day. Even though my car gets about 35/mpg, I am already seeing myself use it less and less. I now work from home 2 days a week just to save on the gas, and weekend excursions are now closer to home.

well i sold my astro that got 11mpg and bought a car (93 geo storm) from my uncle $300 and it gets 35mpg. i use to have to pay around $65 to fill the astros 26 gallon tank and now i can fill the storms 12 gallon tank with alittle over $20 and i get a longer range too. but if it gets to $4-5/gallon i dont know i will have to work on building a hydrogen powered internal combustion engine with a device to get the hydrogen out of water.

Hey Chris,

I’m currently hunting for the family motorcycle.. with air conditioning.. or atleast heat..

Seriously, I’m not changing any kind of plans this summer, yet, but if it does hit $4, I’ll be hurting. $5 and I’ll be looking for a 4 banger. Currently dring a 6-cyl.

Welcome to the real world. We are paying around $6 in Europe but we also use cars which only use 8 liters per 100km. Maybe americans should consider buying more efficent cars and become more thoughtful about the envrionment…
I can recommend a VW Golf Diesel (get 6l per 100km) ;-)

To the people living in the UK: I’ve often heard about your expensive gas prices but I also hear that you are a geographically smaller country that doesn’t drive as much and has better public transportation. Perhaps it all evens out ;)

Shannon,
I used my car a lot when I lived down in Los Angeles. I moved to San Francisco and my top priority was selling it — after car note, insurance, parking fees ($$$), gas, maintenance, etc I was paying, on average, $15,000 a year to have the car. So I sold it and now I have the cash to pay for a private university. I love my Muni pass, Zipcar,and taxis :D

George W. Bush is burning bodies, burning money, and burning futures in Afghanistan and Iraq. American citizens must have the provisions of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness protected. Without those provisions, soldiers have no safe home in which to return.

The White House has a choice. It may invest in alternative fuel sources and research. It may care for its fellow Americans, or it may neglect and abandon its fellow Americans. We see now which course the president has taken, neglect and abandonment of the people.

People are expendable; oil isn’t expendable to the beast sitting in the White House. The beast sitting in the White House is draining blood from American citizens and the innocent citizens of the Middle East. The situation may become worse than it was in the 70’s, unless the people stand for their rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and buy foreign cars with better gas conservation.

sweet-jane-says

First, if you can’t get decent mileage out of an Acura, I’m not sure what you’re expecting. Maybe you just need to drive less. Second, don’t lament the price of “gasoline” since over half the cost is purely taxes. Lament the high taxes that’s pricing gasoline out of your comfort level (though see my last comment).

I grew up in Chicago and didn’t need to own a car for transportation, but since I moved to the ‘burbs, where one is vital, I’ve owned cars that got decent mileage. My current vehicle does NOT get good mileage however (though it has important advantages), so I drive it like the proverbial little ol’ lady and as little as possible.

To me, since I’m down to essential driving anyway, the price of gas is irrelevant. I’ll pay whatever it is because I have to have it for what I do. I’m not going to complain because I know most other countries pay FAR more than we do in the States (and it’s pointless to complain about the tax portion since governments are as addicted to gasoline taxes as most of us are to driving).

I don’t own a car. I don’t use public transportation. I use my feet and a bicycle. I bike 35 miles a day to/from work.

You want to fix the gas situation?
You want to fix the carbon footprint issue?
You want to fix the global warming issue?
You want to get better alternative energy solutions?

Answer:
Raise gasoline to $18.00/gallon or higher and have the government subsidize bicycles.

This will curtail usage of the car by at least 33%. This will reduce global warming 10% the first year. It will create an incentive for private industry to come up with cheaper alternative energy. And it will hopefully eliminate the ever increasing obesity problem forcing people to exercise out of necessity.

“… Raise gasoline to $18.00/gallon or higher …”

aka the “let them eat cake” solution.

I changed my vehicle of choice about six years ago. The car is a Saturn SL1, the SL is for slow.

Eventually, the market will decide what the price is. With the supply just keeping up with demand, expect the price to go up. When people grow weary of the hit to the wallet, their habits will change. There’s no reason to set an artificial price. Besides, politicians will only be raising funds for the next couple of years anyway.

Add up your car payment(s), insurance, gas, maintenance, and license fees. Be honest, and don’t hold back. Anything that has to do with common automobiles is a bad investment. We all know that don’t we, then why do people get into such things?

Emotions, make the right choice, it’s time for you to decide.

Personal Blog Looking for a new Computer Keyboard Gas Prices vs. Summer Vacation Dual Monitor Duel: DVI Divinity Twitter Hacks Parental Control Software Suggestions? Greek Cruise Crash? Easter Egg Hunt for Toys and Candy What is SMB - Small Business? Political Cartoons Did NASA Fake the Moon Landings?

Those that can afford to lead by example don’t…

Many of us have seen this time and time again. The people who can afford to lead by example don’t. What is most interesting here is that many of these people are the loudest ones complaining about environmental issues or gas prices. Al Gore in my opin…

Current price of gasoline at the geographical nearest station to my home converted into dollars per gallon (it’s $6.77 for those who are too lazy to click) … please, fellow Americans, do not whine about your ridiculously low gas prices in front of an international audience which pays double, tripple or even more for the same stuff. Thank you!

And to answer your question: a raise to 4 or 5 dollars per gallon will not change a thing. You’ll hear people talk about efficient cars more often, but nobody here (in Germany) changed his/her habbits when gasoline became as expensive as it is now. The price of gasoline has to climb to something with 2 digits to make driving a car expensive enough to see a change in behaviour …

Chris:
KHS bike corp said it best: “Gas Sucks, Get a Bike”. I live in Gold Level city, Tucson, Arizona and bike commute everyday to work. I like it and I don’t like the hassle of traffic when I can blow through lights and watch the looks on folks faces when it takes less time for me to ride home than it took for me to drive. BTW, we are working on becoming the first Platinum city in the U.S. Over 5,000 folks commute per day on their bikes and with an improvement, this number is expected to break 10,000 per day.
So folks, what will it take? $3.00/4.00/5.00? Try this, it costs about $9.00/gal in some places. We have this to look forward to.
James M.

The current price of gas in Denmark (Europe) is $6.88 per gallon so there is a long way to go. Here in Denmark it means that there is about 1½ cars per household, they are older and on general have better mileage.

Parkylondon, Iran has got no nuclear weapons. They only want to develop civil usage of nuclear energy. It’s the USA which wants Iran not to be a beneficient in the new order after oil peak. For further reading on the situation in Iran I recommend this: http://baltimorechronicle.com/2007/031007RUIJTER.shtml

Anyway, your comment on prices after any possible conflict is right. I only wanted to clear who the agressor there is.

Great Post!

I have one serious suggestive read for all of you curious as to the why we are where we are today with regards to gas prices.

Read a book called Internal Combustion by Edwin Black. This book was extremely well documented with facts from public records and historical perspectives as well.

Basically we can thank GM for really making us all dependent on the gas guzzler. Thanks Detroit for your lack of empathy towards the hard working American!

Its not the Arabs fault nor is it a government conspiracy its big buisness period. BTW I will never own an American car after reading this book not to mention my 17 y/o Volvo runs w/o a single problem!

Gas isn’t too expensive-you, and most Americans just use too much of it. In 2004, I bought a VW Golf TDI (50 MPG), expecting gas prices to skyrocket. And sure enough they have. But I didn’t need a crystal ball to see this coming; experts had been predicting it since Jimmy Carter was president. Oil is a finite resource, and someday it WILL run out. People need to get their heads out of the sand and prepare for it. Soon, $3 will seem like a deal. Nobody forced you to buy that gas guzzling SUV, truck or whatever. You made that decision, now you’ll have to live with it. I, for one, hope that oil prices go higher. It’s better for the planet, it’ll make future oil wars less likely, it’ll make instability in the Middle East less threatening, it’ll make the highways safer, it’ll fight urban sprawl, it’ll relieve congestion and it will conserve an important resouce. It hurts alittle now, but we’ll all be better off in the long run.

I am not rich, but I am getting sick and tired of seeing people waste money on gas, just because they are too insecure to be seen in a smaller fuel efficient car. If we continue to do this in the end we are only supporting the big gas companies and the nations that produce oil.
So on that note:
I really do wish and pray that gas prices keep rising until more people realize that driving big cars and SUV’s is stupid. These cars only create more traffic jams and road rage. These cars are ok for a family with 5 kids, but come-on, why do I see so many mothers that have only one kid, driving in big SUV’s. In the end if they don’t care about high gas prices, well then gas is still too cheap. This is why all of those Arab countries that support terrorism have so much money.
I can’t wait to see the day when we stop needing to buy oil from them. I hope gas makes it to over $5 a gallon! I’ll just drive a fuel-efficient car or hybrid. If you need to take a big car on a road trip, well then you can always rent one at the time.

There are a few things we can do in response to high gas prices. Save gas . For tips and tricks go here http://www.sonombuzz.com . Next Always always buy at the cheap place . This is a market driven problem and when we force companies to compete based on price points , we can expect the price to go down. Third and lastly write your senator or congressman and ask them what they are doing about it.

The next car we buy in the home will be a hybrid. I will not get anything that gets less than 50 miles to the gallon. This leaves 2 or 3 possible hybrid choices. I will go fewer places to conserve gas and cut out extra trips anywhere.

s advertised mileage. How many people do you know who can go 550 miles on $30 worth of gas? If every car delivered 55 mpg, the Saudi’s would be left to drink their oil. Related Content: It’s a Gas, Gas, Gas Gas Gas GasGas Prices vs. Summer VacationWacky Coverage of the Hurricane Coverage The “Pull My Finger” Project

’t know where to begin research, either - other than trying it myself (and likely losing a few fingers in the process). Long story short: don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.Gas Prices vs. Summer Vacation

a href=”http://media.pirillo.com/”>Video Help</a> | <a href=”http://feeds.pirillo.com/ChrisPirilloShow”>Add to iTunes</a> Alternative Fuel and Hybrid Modifications: Water4Gas? (114) What Are You Paying for Gas? (158)Gas Prices vs. Summer Vacation (39)How Much is Gas in your Part of the World? (45) Energy Efficient Cars: What you Don’t Know (44) How to Save Gas without Gas Savings (34) America, Iraq, Gas. amd Linux (4) The Fastest Flash Drive (16)

OK, it’s been a while:

One, “foreign” countries pay FAR more taxes per unit than even the greediest of American government entities so, yes, gas is more expensive for you (I’ll leave that to you to decide if it’s worth it).

Two, we have MORE known reserves than we had decades ago. There’s MORE, not less. We avoid drillling due to environmental reasons (again, up to you if you think that’s worth the price you’re paying at the pump).

Three, we ARE short on refining capacity (at least in the U.S.). That old bug-a-boo “Not In My Back Yard” prevents investment in more refining capacity. I know someone who lives near a refinery and I have to admit, I don’t want one ANYWHERE NEAR me. Smelly, noisy, and DANGEROUS (they have community drills for when there are fires or explosions at the refinery).

Four, though I don’t think anyone’s mentioned it here, some people blame “greedy” companies while the government’s take is about SEVEN TIMES what the oil companies make on a gallon of gas. If greedy corporations are to blame then the government is to blame seven times over.

Five, Oh, ANOTHER evil corporation is to blame? GM, huh? I don’t recall them ever forcing me to choose a gas guzzler, there must be some pretty convincing arguments in that book (but I’ll take a pass — I never bought a gas guzzler from GM so it can’t apply to me).

Tired of me yet? :)