Are the ultra high gas prices hurting you?

JTE83

Man, gas is getting really expensive! 5-24-08 it's 3.79 / gal in Houston.

Ok, it's time for me to sleep or else I'll get insomina. Will post more later...

Powerful Pete

You Americans make me laugh. We are now paying something like 1.50 Euro a liter. You still have it easy.

And yes, I am walking/taking public transportation/pulling the trigger on the purchase of a commuting bike due to the high price of gas/diesel.

And to think that some analysts do not rule out oil hitting up to $200 per barrel. If only we could get the dollar to appreciate a bit, then things might ease off a bit, but then again that will not happen until after the elections.

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TheDarkLord

Why are you worrying about gas prices when you have a $26,000 bike collection? Or is that sitting in a showcase somewhere gathering dust while you drive all over the place??

TheDarkLord

It is around 1.45 euros here PP. But the problem is that Americans have subscribed to a model where they would rather drive from place A to place B (whether they are several tens/hundreds of miles apart or within the city) rather than use "public transport". Except for some parts, there is really no train network worth speaking about.

Also, you know the American mentality of "we have to change the world to suit us" rather than "we have to change ourselves to adapt to the changing world". (btw, for the Americans reading this, this is partly a joke, but I think it is partly true as well).

Powerful Pete

You are right Darklord, but unfortunately here in central Italy people have the same mentality. Cars everywhere. Very few people would even consider cycling as an alternative to driving. C'est la vie.

Only weirdos like me...

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Pendejo

Well, I'm an American and I couldn't argue with anything negative said about this country, because it's usually true. But, as to using bicycles in place of cars, I think it's totally impractical in most places for most purposes. For example, here in Florida it's very hot for a good part of the year. Just standing outside for ten minutes will make you sweat. How many places would I like to arrive, having gone by bike, soaking wet?

Many of my car trips involve transporting goods of some kind, groceries, books, heavy packages, etc. Most of the time I take my little famous dog with me (www.dogtellsall.com). How about when it rains, either going or on the way back (here, not just a deluge, but lightning, too).

I'm a dedicated cyclist (training and racing), but even if they had beautiful bike paths all over the place, I still wouldn't or couldn't use the bike for most other purposes.

Powerful Pete

Pendejo, all that you are saying is true, but in your country, like in mine, it is an issue of bicycling culture. You are either a serious recreational cyclist or you do not use a bicycle.

How is it that the northern Europeans use bicycles in miserable weather to get around without any problems?

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limerickman

Prices here are € 1.37 a litre and people here are complaining as well.
Gov are trying to encourage people to use public transport.
I use public transport any time I can ...........or use my bike.
I drive only when I have to.

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kdelong

Pedejo does have a point. Here in the US, many employers do not supply any type of shower facilities for their employees, and usually washing up in the restrooms is not feasable, especially if one has to intereact personally with clients or customers.

Concerning public transportation, we are lagging far behind the rest of the world in providing it. I live a little to the north of the city of Cincinnati in Ohio and there is no public transportation here. I have to go four miles to get to the nearest bus line, which only runs into down town Cincinnati, and bicycling is not an option for me because it is located just off of an Interstate Highway in a high density retail area with extremely high density traffic. We have no light rail in the area at all, no subways, no street cars.

Most of my freinds live 45 miles to the north of where I live. Once again, there is no public transportation from here to there either. I live here because it is close to work. I do bicyle there when it is not raining or extremely cold. I also live here to be close to my elderly parents in case something does happen. Unfortunately if I want to go anywhere else, I usually have to drive.

The public transportation in this area is spotty in coverage and only operates within strict boundries. If there is public transportation in a given area, they do not coordinate with adjacent public transportation entities to be convenient to the rider who has to cross boundries. It is not conveinient at all to have to walk 5 - 8 KM from one bus line to catch another bus line.

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JTE83

Wow, P. Pete - 1.50 / L = $8.95 / gal! Life is expensive in Europe!

Me, my last several fillups for a week of driving ranged from $24 to $28.57 for 7 days of driving, gas between $3.49 and $3.699 / gal. So it's still really affordable to me simply because I bought a 1999 Civic HX M/T beater car that gets me 44 mpg avg weekly tank. I just did a long road trip with it, and for 143 highway only driving at 65mph with A/C on/off every 5 miles I got an awesome 46.3 mpg!

America is highly dependent on the car, because many places don't have good public transportation. I blame it on the layout of the city, mostly, if it's not a grid like Chicago, it has horrible P. T. like Atlanta, Nashville, Louisville, and Houston. Plus many suburbs.

I also planned ahead and got 3 great commuter bikes with racks and 2 Jandd Commuter panniers. Plus a Burley Nomad for heavy duty shopping. I kept records since I bought my OCR 1 in 2005 of how much equivalent gas I saved by biking. Total as of 5-25-08 -> $197 in gas!

Gas can go up to $5.50 / gal and my weekly gas bill would be around $47 - what I used to pay for my minivan at $2.65 / gal!

Crankyfeet

IMO it's because of GM, Ford's and Chrysler's political influence over the last 100 or so years.

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Canzures

the gas prices are definatelhy hurting me...I have to work overtime just to makeup for the higher prices which the inflated prices of food, clothing, entertainment expense...

gas prices here in the DC area has now reached the $4 threshold for regular this past week and diesel for my work truck is $4.99. I'm sure its just going to increase as the summer drags on.

I've rediscovered cycing recently and have been an irregular mtbiker for the last 4 years, but the gas prices are preventing me from going to the trails that requires driving more than 20 miles. Also I have made an effort to commute by bicycle this past week and purchased a road bike for the 12 mile one way ride to work and made my first commute to work by bike this past saturday and hope to do it on a regular basis.

maburkhalter

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JTE83

Part of the blame why gas hurts many Americans is that they drive gas hogs! Anything less than 32 mpg hwy sucks! Back in the late 80s to early 90's they made cars that got 50 mpg hwy, but now the best new ones can hardly break 40 mpg. There's too much safety requirements now that make even small cars a tank. And then it seems mfgs don't want to make a car that's less than 5 star crash rated.

High gas prices are really gonna hurt suburban and rural Americans. I road tripped past a rural countryside and saw many dependent on gas hog trucks, and nearest shopping was far away.

If gas gets too expensive I'll move closer to work and bike only when the weather is good.