May 24, 2008
$4/Gallon Gas Memorial Day Weekend
Gerritsen Beach posted this photograph of $4-and-over gasoline in Sheepshead Bay and asked, "Is this hell?" Well, for those drivers who could afford to fill up and head out of town this Memorial weekend, it might be heaven--the Daily News has two photos showing the contrast in traffic between this year's and last year's automobile rush on the Sunrise Highway.
According to the AAA, 37.9 million drivers are expected on the road this weekend, down from 38.2 million last year, which is the first decrease since 2002. And of those drivers, many may be choosing to stay closer to home, given the high gas prices.
Crude oil futures hit $135/barrel (double what it cost a year ago) this week and according to Marketwatch, if oil goes up to $200/barrel ("the upper end of Goldman Sach's prediction" for the next 6-24 months), gas could end up costing $6-7/gallon. Fuel Merchants Association executive vice president Eric DeGesero says "At $6 or $7 a gallon, it becomes less attractive to go to work. We haven't hit that point yet, but we might soon."
Mayor Bloomberg sort of saying "I told you so"--now that more commuters are using mass transit to get to their jobs in NYC, he says congestion pricing would have helped put more money into funding critical mass transit projects and for overall maintenance, "There are some things we can do, but keep in mind that every dollar that we spend in mass transit is going to come out of cultural affairs, schools, police, fire -- there's only so many dollars to go around."
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"...with a full tank of gas for a typical SUV jumping from $65.80 to $82.40."
Aww poor baby. Boo hoo.
Seriously, give it a rest Bloomberg. If you want funding for public transportation look no further than our own government. Instead of increasing funding they cut back.
Gas prices are getting unbearable in all metro areas. I think either people are going to have to demand a cost of living raise because of the prices or people should band together for a work stoppage until gas prices start coming down.
Or they could share rides, use mass transit or ride bicycles in their commute...
Zippy's right. The only real solution in the long term is to use less of the stuff. There are alternatives. Hybrids are also good stop-gap measure.
Buy a Prius, or (dare I say it), a used Geo. You may not get laid, but you'll save money.
I say: if you live in a large metro area, either start using public transportation in a true urban style of living, or move to a rural area in Texas or some place like that where gas is cheaper.
In other words: the gas prices will spell an end to this American invention of "suburban lifestyle" and we will go back to the normal, tried-and-true European style: you either live in the city or in the country. No more this "suburbs" bullshit.
I used to be that one moved to the suburbs for a better life. Everybody who bought in to the lies should suffer. Suckers! The city is where it's at and always wuz.. bitches.
They have suburbs in Europe. The difference is they still take public transportation to work. The homes are smaller and closer together and people walk to the store. They don't tend to have strip malls and mile after mile of big box retailers.
Smug, car-less Manhattanite says:
"What is this gas crisis you speak of?"
Zippy is on the money...
Pop over to London Town Gas or as they call it petrol is $10 a gallon.
Another one rides the bus, the bike or walks
Bravo! all the above! And one can't help noticing the Shell sign cropped to read "hell". That is the world we once lived in: a fossil fuel hell. Here's to the next world, a world without gasoline and its bullshit.
Shell station on Illinois Rd in Fort Wayne had regular at $4.07/gal, while the Speedway across the road had it at $3.97. HAve no idea why the dime differance.
Here in Ft Wayne, the nearest AMTRAK station (ha-its a plastic bus lean to, no phone, no schedule of stops listed, no restroom, not even a pop machine, parking spaces right along the track across the street from houses)is in Waterloo, almost a half hour drive from Ft Wayne. The train is never on time, so if you get a ride from the city, either you get dropped off and don't know when the train is coming, or your ride has to wait. MAss transit here is a joke-buses don't go where anyone would want to go at the TIME anyone would want to go there-and even thats being cut back.
AMTRAK has a car train, that goes to Florida. Guess where it leaves from? Not far from DC. Whats the sense? How many drive to Florida from NY? From the Midwest? What about other areas of the country-anyone know if you can park your car on a train, and, say, go AMTRAK from Montana to Texas? I'd guess not.
Oh-and if you go to Europe and the UK, in a lot of areas, you don't even need a car. Buses and trains go EVERYWHERE, 24/7! Thats what we need here.
trains and buses in Europe don't go anywhere 24/7. And unfortunately many people are now suffering hardships they cant do anything about with fuel costs up so much in such a short time.
5+ $ gas in Los Angeles
UMM. In London people still drive with 12 dollar petrol. In fact even with congestion pricing people drive just not into the centre of London.
In fact SUVs have increased ten fold in the last few years, they call them Chelsea Chariots. Take a trip to Essex and its SUVs or 4x4s ( as they are called over there) everywhere.
The main difference is that most cars in Europe get much better gas mileage. The average car gets over 50 mpg highway.
Even the Korean imports that come here, consume more gas then their European counterparts. WHY? bigger liter engines in the States.
Seems that what will happen next is the same thing that happened in the late 70's. Ford came out with the Fiesta and a little know Japanese company (Honda) came out with the Civix. Both got well over 50 mpg and sold like crazy when people had to line up for gas, and in some states only buy every other day.
If you grew up in the 70's you remember this all too well.
I always love how people in these comments act as if they have the answer for everything. Oh the beauty of dime store advice...
The bigger issue are the millions of cars, trucks and buses that exist throughout this country and lessening the gas price burden as it actually exists. The majority of the people who own cars right now are not in a fiscal position to purchase a new car be it one with better gas mileage or a hybrid. Great for the future (and all it would take is auto manufacturers actually dumping the standard that exists today) but there's a problem in the here and now that needs to be dealt with. If you think that not having a car is a solution you're living in a dream world, this gas crisis is effecting you whether you have a car or not.