Just out of curiousity...

[DaForce]

...I was just wondering what everyone who drives is doing since gas prices have jumped up to over $3 a gallon?

I haven't had a car since Oct. 2002, and I haven't looked back since. I pay exactly $100 a month for transportation fees (that's for both the bus and the train). Sure, it takes roughly 30-40 minutes longer to get to and from work than it would while driving, but I don't have to deal with car payments, insurance, repair costs, garage fees, registration fees, and flucuating gas prices as dictated by the Saudis and the oil companies.


I've also noticed that the buses are quite a bit more packed than they used to be.



So....how are gas prices affecting how you live, if at all?

[sickness]

I live about 4 miles from my gym and 6 miles from work (same direction, two miles farther). I don't have to face heavy traffic at all and can avoid freeways entirely if I feel like it (for instance when I'm driving home during the evening commute) without making it real work. I go through a tank once every two weeks or so (since I don't just go to the gym and work... although, I am at the gym twice a day, three days a week, in addition to once a day, three more days a week accounting for the bulk of my gas use overall). It's a pisser to see the price go up but it really hasn't put the squeeze on me and won't for some time to come. If I were filling up every few days, then it would start to get to me.

Although, if it does get terribly more expensive, I may dump my cardio at the gym, fix my bike and ride the half mile from my apartment to the light rail system and another half-mile from the light rail to work. It'll add 20 or so minutes to my commute but it's a very reasonable solution if gas prices go up enough.

[KingVoyeur]

In the town I live in (Columbia, MO), you can get from one side to the other in about 10-20min. I work on the opposite side of town, so I do have to make that trek everyday, but I can take highways the whole way. What I'm worried about is that this summer I have to make several long-distance drives once or twice a month in May, June and July (Chicago, several trips to and from St. Louis and KC (both 2 hours away), and a dreadful two-day trek to Nauvoo, IL and then from Nauvoo IL to KCMO then back to Columbia, MO). As it stands right now, I'm filling my tank 2-3 times a month at about $34 per tank.

With rumors of gas going to $4/gal. in our area (we're paying $2.79/gal right now) later this summer, things are gonna be pretty tight. I am getting a roommate to help ease costs, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do if prices continue going up. My friends and I are seriouslly entertaining what was originally a joke idea of selling our cars and all our stuff and using the money to move to London, where they have a damn good transport system!

[Jakester]

Wow. $2.79 is CHEAP!

[KingVoyeur]

Wow. $2.79 is CHEAP!

One of the many reasons I'm staying in the mid-Missouri for now!

[kah]

Midwest does NOT equal cheap gas. We are paying $3- $3.09 up here in Wisconsin. We had a huge price jump because all of a sudden, it's popular to add ethanol to gas outside of Milwaukee. We've been forced to used ethanol for years, but it's made here, so it shouldn't be as expensive to transport. Now demand has gone up, and it is killing us. We have had over 40cents in hikes in the last month alone. I don't drive much, because I am a stay at home mom, but the bf drives 30 miles to and from work every day, besides being a truck driver. If the gas prices go up much more, I don't know what the trucking industry is going to do. Diesel was over 50 cents a gallon more and sometimes a dollar more for most of the last 6 months. It was finally passed by gas again this past month. We combat high prices by owning our cars. We don't have car payments, our insurance is dirt cheap, and we buy Honda or Toyota, so we get roughly 25-35 mpg and with just regular maintence, they'll last us 300,000 miles.

[Trazalca]

http://www.99x.com/morningx/images/map1.jpg

The current state of prices countrywide at the moment.

[Kaeos]

Oh sweet relief! I paid $2.98 today.

Oh wait that still sucks

[TrixieB]

I got all excited on Wednesday when I paid $2.77 a gallon. I have to make it last for 2 more weeks, though. So, no unnecessary driving... combine errands or stop off on the way home from work and, oh gee darn, I can't drive 2 hours to visit my mother. Rats!

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

I just paid 3.21 a gal. for 89 octane at Shell (the middle one). I hadn't bought any gas in a few weeks, so I was just shocked at the price. It cost me $38 to fill up my tank, which is to me quite unbelievable.

However, I only live 2 miles from work, and I am on medical leave right now, not doing much driving, so I haven't felt any pain yet. However, if the prices keep going up, I may start riding a bike to work.

I don't think I will really suffer much from the prices, no matter how high they go, but this is going to cause the prices of EVERYTHING ELSE to go up, too, which will then start hurting me and everyone else. It isn't like the price of gas goes up, and that is it. It is a symbiosis.

[Kaeos]

right now, not doing much driving, so I haven't felt any pain yet.

Man, count your blessings. I am on the road basically every single day during the week. Any given day I am driving a minimum of 30 miles one way just to see one of my "local" customers. Twice a week I have to criss-cross the state to see cleints.

Even with my really efficient little Kia (40 miles per gallon - 10 gallon tank, the math is easy) it's still killing me. At this point I am spending an average of $120 a week for gas.

This crap has to end. I just get more and more enraged when I see Dubbya trying to play it off like it's just normal seasonal shift. :romy:

[Monic]

Today, the gas price was 1.16$/litre, since there is 3.78 litres in 1 gallon, it means around 4.38$/gal. It is in Canadian dollar, of course.

I personally pay 99$ for a monthly card to take the train and the subway to go to work. It is cheaper than driving.

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

I want to emphasize again my point about "symbiosis." The rising price of gas directly impacts the cost of virtually everything else. We need to drive demand for gas downward, and that can only be done by using more fuel efficient vehicles, and by adjusting behaviors so that unnecessary driving is avoided.

Instead of driving to nearby places, start walking to them (or riding a bike).

Instead of using the drive thru at your local fast food place, shut off your engine, park, and walk into the facility to order (during peak times, when the drive thru wait can be a long one).

Make sure you keep up with routine maintenance for your car, like oil changes, tune-ups, tire rotations, etc. Also make sure your tires are staying inflated to the proper pressures.

Keep you speed on the freeway down. Going 75, 80, etc., uses up more gas. If you're in that big of a hurry, then try leaving to get where you need to go a little earlier next time.

The point is, we can bring prices down with a little attention to details.

[MPG]

...I was just wondering what everyone who drives is doing since gas prices have jumped up to over $3 a gallon?
Where I live, a gallon costs the equivalent of $6.20. :D

I haven't had a car since October of 2004. I walk 20 minutes to work each day (a bit less than 2 miles). There's a grocery store on the way and there's another grocery store in five minute walking distance from where I live. So the gas price really doesn't have an direct effect on me.

[omicron]

I am not hurting, but it's definitely a pisser to fill up. I live in the suburbs and work downtown, so it's about a 25-30mile commute every day. It also doesn't help that:
1)I have to use high-octane gas(I have a sports car)
2)it's got a 17gallon tank

Last fill up was at 2.95 and cost of 50 bucks. Now gas is 10cents more(at least) around here, so it's gonna be closer to 55 to fill up.

I keep an eye out for lower prices, and I try to fill up at those store. It blows my mind that one place will be selling for 3.15 and a block down the street it will be 3.05. Why do people fill up there??

I changed my driving habits by driving in 4th instead of 3rd, and managed to get my mileage up around 19-20mpg now. I also try to keep the heavy foot off the gas, but it's hard with almost 300hp. :)

Omicron

[Adam54]

Midwest does NOT equal cheap gas. We are paying $3- $3.09 up here in Wisconsin. We had a huge price jump because all of a sudden, it's popular to add ethanol to gas outside of Milwaukee. We've been forced to used ethanol for years, but it's made here, so it shouldn't be as expensive to transport.

Yeah, I agree with this. Wisconsin also has some ridiculously high gas taxes as well. I'm probably a 20 minute drive from Wisconsin, on the Minnesota side. Gas here...I just got back in town, but I think I saw $2.72 last night, and it's about $2.95 in Hudson, per wisconsingasprices.com. It's usually 10-20 cents more, on average.

At any rate, I'm not hurting horribly yet. I live about a mile and a half from my job, and the weather is certainly nice enough that I'll start walking to it. My essential shopping can be done within a five mile radius, so that's not a huge issue either. I just won't be able to do as much fun stuff, and I haven't been able to see my family, who live on the opposite side of the state, since January because of this shit.

So...yeah...driving is most definitely at a minimum now. And I'm worried as hell about when the truck drivers will inevitiably hit the line of too expensive. Not gonna blame them at all, but their extra gas cost will get passed to us, and then everything gets more expensive. That's gonna hurt.

But hey...all part of living in George Bush's America, right? Dipfuck's answer to all this is to ease environmental restrictions on the oil companies for a little while. Douchetard. Argggghhh :romy:

[Adam54]

Forgot to mention....gasbuddy.com is a great place to go to find cheap gas in your area.

[KingVoyeur]

Here's what GW had to say on the recent gas prices:

Bush on Gas (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4943378.stm)

Of course put it on companies and consumers to find alternative fuel sources, God forbid we do anything to restrict the oil companies. Bush didn't drink milk as a baby, he was fed oil. :angry

[MPG]

Here's what GW had to say on the recent gas prices:
"Mr Bush said that he is asking the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to look into whether the higher price of petrol was being caused by market manipulation."

Price fixing isn't even the problem. Of course there's price fixing, that's what the OPEC is all about. But there's always been price fixing. It's my understanding that one cause of the problem is that there are a lot more people who get a profit out of the gasoline that is being sold to the consumer. There are people who buy large quantities of oil, because they know that the prices will invariably go up, then sell the oil and pocket the profit - why buy stocks when you can invest in oil? There are just too many people in the producer->consumer profit chain that shouldn't be there.

[Natalie]

This gas thing has definitely been an issue, but with my job I'm on the road 4 out of 5 days during the week making trips in excess of 100-180 miles each day. I did get a new Santa Fe which is a better than my Sportage was and is getting pretty good mileage so far, but the cost is just going to get worse. This time last year the company I was with was kind enough to raise the mileage pay to $0.485/mile, right now it's $0.445 which helps but isn't exactly great.

Until I can't get a sandwich and gas in the same week, I guess we'll just grin and bear it!

[Meathead]

You think you have it hard at $3.10/Gallon?
Try $1.079 per LITER and get back to me.
$1.079/L CAD = $4.10/Gal CAD (3.8L/US Gal) or about $3.64/Gal.

I'm just lucky I drive a Volkswagen Golf. I get really good mileage, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. On a hlaf tank (23L) I get 260km. Something in the neighbourhood of about 11.1L/100Km, or 34 miles per Gallon. Not too shabby when work is only 9 km away, and most of the fun spots I go to are less than 5. For short hops, and even some intercity travel, it's great.
I went from Toronto to Buffalo and back on a little under half a tank of gas, about a 275km round trip. :D

[Son of Gilbert]

I hired a Chinese boy to pull my rik-shaw to work and back and it only cost a buck fifty for the whole month, hoo-ray child labor

[Bill_the_Pony]

:rolleyes:

[sickness]

Come on, Bill. You didn't find that the least bit funny? I love deadpan, myself.

[MPG]

I'm with sickness on this one. In fact, it makes me chuckle every time I read it. But I'm easily amused. :D

[Bill_the_Pony]

Back on topic, I brought up a few months ago the subject of using acetone as an additive in your gas tank, possibly aiding in better mileage. I finally decided to try it out, and while it's too early to tell, the car's performance does seem to run considerably smoother.

Read about it here, and pass the link on.

http://www.pureenergysystems.com/news/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/

Someone mentioned cutting down on using drivethru's....

the Starbuck's I work at has a drivethru, and I despise it. They keep me off of it, I hate it that much. I hate everything a drive thru ANYTHING stands for, it's overused, abused, and brings out really shitty behaviour in people, from road rage to loud stereos, to multiple people ordering, to spitting out bits of junk like chewing gum and cigarette butts to other garbage in the drive thru lanes, and people seem to think it's their right to be treated first and fastest because they are in a drive thru. Big assed-SUV's, whatever.....it is so retarded. I watched this morning as cars lined up for up to ten minutes in the drive thru, with TWO people parking, walking in and coming back out before any cars moved.

SO retarded.

And so typically American.

We get the problems we deserve.

[Kaeos]

Breathe Billy, breathe. :smirk:

[Bill_the_Pony]

For change to take place, we have to go to the very core of our behaviours and accountabilities.

I just do not see it happening.

[KingVoyeur]

An idea that's most likely a bad one....

Senators to push for $100 gas rebate checks
Under proposal, most U.S. taxpayers would get one

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Most American taxpayers would get $100 rebate checks to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline, under an amendment Senate Republicans hope to bring to a vote Thursday.

However, the GOP energy package may face tough sledding because it also includes a controversial proposal to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, which most Democrats and some moderate Republicans oppose.

Democrats are also expected to offer their own competing proposal, as members of both parties jockey for political position on the gas price issue.

"Our plan would give taxpayers a hundred dollar gas tax holiday rebate check to help ease the pain that they're feeling at the pump," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced Thursday. "It also includes strong federal anti-price gouging protection to protect consumers against anti-competitive behavior by oil companies or other suppliers of gasoline. Our free market system works, but it works best when there's full accountability and full transparency."

Frist said the rebates would go to single taxpayers making less than $125,000 per year, and couples making less than $150,000.

Republican senators said they hoped soaring gas prices would inspire Democrats to support their proposals.

"A lot of these other things we're talking about today, supply, like ANWR, have had Democrats oppose them in the past, when gas was $1.25, $1.50. Gas is now $3," said John Thune, R-South Dakota. "I would expect that there would be a lot more bipartisan support for proposals that would increase supply in this country."

"We have been trying for years to do something about supply without their help. I hope now that we'll have their help," he added.

Full story at CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/27/gas.rebate/index.html)

First of all, that's only a temporary solution to a much bigger problem. Why not fix the problem instead of trying to appease people with money? Seems like they're kinda tryin to buy us off. Second, would they make sure that the person getting a rebate actually owns a car? I know that most people do, but I also know people who don't. This rebate is probably coming out of taxpayer's money, and I wouldn't want money from my taxes going to someone who isn't affected by the problem. If it was still winter, I could understand, cause even if you don't own a car you still gotta heat your house. But it's summer!

This just seems like a dumb idea.

[omicron]

Plus, 100 bucks is like 2 tanks of gas. Big woop.

My main problem with this whole situation is that the oil companies claim they are just keeping up with the market.

Really?
http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/26/news/economy/gas_gouge_anatomy/soaring_profits.gif

Second, I am no economist(if you could see my college transcript, you'd know why :) ) it seems to me that they raise prices in anticipation of things, yet they rarely happen; and when they don't happen, they rarely lower prices.

Sure, last summer the hurricanes caused a price raise. I can see that. They were anticipating shortages and extreme damage to pipelines, drilling towers, refineries, etc.

Now it seems the price of oil goes up, and correspondingly the price of gas whenever they can think of a good reason. Iran acting squirrelly? Raise prices. Nigeria being funny? Raise prices. Al-Quada member on CNN talking about vague threats? Raise prices. Meanwhile, oil still is pumped, shipped and refined. At some point why don't they just say "Gas is going up for the hell of it. What are you gonna do about it?" while laughing evilly. :ohwell:

Omi

[sickness]

Not to mention that strictly being done for partisan gain. It's being tied to the ANWR to try to pry open a reserve that's been off-limits for a long time and with good reason. This money giveaway is simply the Republican turn on what Democrats did with welfare for 30 years except that it's being used to support another form of welfare. A multitude of oil companies hold leases on a significant amount of federal land in the plains states. These leases are given at $1 per acre (if I remember properly) with the condition that the holder explores oil opportunity on the land they've leased. Less than 5% of this land is actively being explored or has been in the 10 years of the program so far. Both Clinton and Bush have signed numerous waivers while the price of gas has outstripped the inflation of any other sector by leaps and bounds. Meanwhile, we hear complaints from the oil industry on how much a barrel of crude production costs, etc., while they make money hand over fist and their benefactors in Congress attempt to use the issue to shoehorn into a fragile ecosystem. There's no reason to go into ANWR. There are plenty of opportunities across the Midwest that have been locked up for the sake of profit.

[neglet]

For change to take place, we have to go to the very core of our behaviours and accountabilities.

I just do not see it happening.

Maybe it's because we CAN'T. THE MAN won't LET us.:angry

Okay, so yesterday I decide that since I got a nice comfy new bicycle (it has shocks!) with my tax refund, I'm going to take it for a ride. And since I'm riding, I may as well stop at the craft store and pick up some cord that I need for a project. The craft store is only half a mile away, I can ride behind buildings and avoid the worst of the 45-mph-traffic, and I'm not picking up anything big, so why waste a car trip?

I'll tell you why: there's no damn place to lock up my bike. I got to the strip mall, which has a large department store as anchor, and another dozen little stores, not to mention a bank, dentist's office, and Micky D's closer to the street front. So I ride my bike into the strip mall, not really expecting a bike rack, but hoping maybe there's at least one at the other end from where I need to go. I don't mind walking, but there isn't a bike rack.

So I look for someplace else I can lock my bike. Usually these strip malls have columns that work, but these are made of fat concrete and my lock won't fit around them. The trash cans look pretty sturdy, and they're too heavy to move, but whoops! The tops come off, so that wouldn't be secure. I look out into the parking lot, where they have yellow concrete posts to outline the edge of the lot, but I can't wrap the lock around it tightly enough to make that secure either.

Hmmmm. I ride up and down the mall, seeking anything, but see nothing, excepting a blue postal box, and I don't want to mess with a postal box, I'm sure there must be some federal offense for messing with a postal box. So I ride back down to the store, and finally decide: okay, there are some small birch trees on one of their pretty landscape areas, so small birch tree it is. I wrangle the bike underneath, but then I have to turn it around because it's falling over in the mulch. Finally I get the bike situated and locked. It's taken me five minutes just to park my bike--that's longer than how much time I spent in the store!

Still, I bitch to the store workers about no place to park my bike. The cashier actually says she'll mention it to the manager, she thinks a bike rack is a good idea. So maybe change is possible.

Next I have to work on getting a pedestrian path into the stripmall that is less than two blocks from my house. If I want to walk to the store, I either have to walk in the driveway, or cross a grass berm to get from the sidewalk into the store. No pedestrian paths are marked, even though there are at least 200 homes within a one-mile radius.

[Adam54]

An idea that's most likely a bad one....



Full story at CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/27/gas.rebate/index.html)

First of all, that's only a temporary solution to a much bigger problem. Why not fix the problem instead of trying to appease people with money? Seems like they're kinda tryin to buy us off. Second, would they make sure that the person getting a rebate actually owns a car? I know that most people do, but I also know people who don't. This rebate is probably coming out of taxpayer's money, and I wouldn't want money from my taxes going to someone who isn't affected by the problem. If it was still winter, I could understand, cause even if you don't own a car you still gotta heat your house. But it's summer!

This just seems like a dumb idea.

It is. It really is.
But it's an election year, and people are going to be inclined to blame the party in charge for the $3 a gallon prices. Hence the Republicans being for it, and the Dems being against it. My money says that if this goes through, it'll happen late summer/ early fall, just in time for them to grandstand that "hey! we're the party who put $100 in your pocket! vote for us!") Minnesota Senate Republicans are floating something similar. They want to issue a 10% refund on your property taxes, to be paid.....in October of this year.

Crazy how that works.

Personally, I think it's how Omi says it is. Oil prices seem to go up if the wind is blowing strongly in Kazhakstan, and rarely go down when the sun is shining there. Yet in spite of their record profits, do they get new taxes placed on them to help the government?

Nada, says G. Dub.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060428/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush;_ylt=Atcd2DR0c70CQwz5RwIZSq4Gw_IE;_ylu=X3oDMT A3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-

God Bless Texas.

[kah]

As far as I am concerned, they will never drop the prices below 2 bucks a gallon again, because they know we will pay it. Simple. All the things that caused the prices to rise may have been real threats, but when it came to lowering the prices once they had passed, someone said, "But they think $2.50 is cheap now, so why set the prices for what it's worth, when we can make a larger profit until the next catastrophe." I've never seen gas prices rise like they have in the last year. It used to be a couple cents one way or the other, or god forbid, 6 cents. Now, when the prices goes up, it's 12 cents or 15 cents overnight, and when it goes down it's 5 cents over the next 3 weeks.

[Ronnie]

Pummeled by plummeting poll numbers, Bush finally seems to be awakening to the need to address surging prices at America's gasoline pumps.

But the president's formula for dealing with higher gasoline prices is for the most part unlikely to be effective in the short term - through the summer for instance. While gas prices will probably ease somewhat in coming days and weeks, the price cycle is headed ever upward, with the highs in that cycle getting higher and the lows not getting as low as before.

In his speech last week on Energy, Bush failed to adequately address what must be the most essential element of a real energy policy for the nation - conservation.

The president's plan includes:

- Ordering the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate gasoline prices.

This part of the president's proposal is essentially political showmanship. Such investigations of oil profits have been done before, with little impact. Does anyone truly believe that an administration that until now has been cozy with big business and oil interests will suddenly get tough with the major oil companies?

- Temporarily ending the refilling of the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

This would keep more than 2 million additional barrels of oil a month available to consumers throughout the summer, which could help a little. But remember that the nation uses about 20 million barrels a day, so the impact will be small. And Bush would be foolish to stop refilling the reserve for more than a few months. The reserve is there for major national emergencies such as natural disasters or wars.

- Allowing the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily ease requirements for different blends of gasoline in some metropolitan areas to reduce summer air pollution.

Part of the current price crunch is attributed to refineries switching production to "summer blends", but those changes may be too far along to reverse for this year. The immediate impact is likely to be minimal.

- Extending tax credits for high-mileage hybrid vehicles this year. However, hybrid manufacturers are not likely to take full advantage of the existing credits anyway, so extending them is expected to have little impact immediately.

- Promoting alternative fuels such as ethanol. This could help somewhat in the long term, but using ethanol additives to gasoline probably makes matters worse in the short term because of having to modify refinery production.

Frankly, there is only so much that Bush - or any president, for that matter - can do to affect gasoline prices in the short term that would not be incredibly foolish, such as actually taking oil out of strategic reserves.

Despite he recent rhtoric about the nation's "addiction to oil", Bush seems almost surprised by this latest surge in prices.

Instead of just reacting to public resentment at higher prices at the pump, what the nation truly needs is a well-thought-out, consensus long-term energy policy that can be followed no matter which political party is in office. One of the greatest failings of the Bush administration is that it did not start developing such a policy six years ago.