Has The Price Of Gas Changed Your Habits?

Don't just waste that styrofoam, throw it on the big styrofoam bonfire I have going!

 

It's mind boggling why no local, state or federal gov'ts mandate/help fund better public transit.

Is it because they think - and maybe they're right - that there is no demand for it?

But I have to say this: The price of gas is affecting everything I do. I just swore off Starbucks and coffee shops tonight. I promised my wife I'm done. And, I just got off the phone with my cable company for the second time tonight after trimming my options and bill.

 

Birdie, I like and respect you, too. This isn't personal, even if some people would like it to be personal. But here's the thing -- and feel free to tell me I'm wrong here, because I like real debate, and you've raised some good points: Is it not ridiculous that a city the size of Los Angeles -- the second largest city in the U.S., as far as I know -- has a non-existant public transportation system? That doesn't make any sense. It's completely illogical. But that's what cheap gas has gotten us: commuter culture, jammed expressways, smog warnings, you name it. 60 percent of L.A., in terms of land area, is devoted to roads and parking lots. THAT'S INSANE.

So, what will correct that? Good intentions? Not so much. Decades have passed without anybody changing their behavior, which again, is destructive on many levels. If anything, traffic's gotten worse. (And I've yet to hear anyone say that the more time people spend in their car, the better, because that's just not true.)

The only thing that motivates people today, by and large, is money. Now that people are feeling the pinch -- now that they're paying something close to what gas is actually worth -- cities like L.A. -- cities like Dallas, cities like Houston -- might finally figure out that public transportation is a necessity, not tinsel on their Christmas tree. Hell, better yet, you want to tell me that we can't invent an engine that runs on something other than oil? It hasn't happened because there's been no financial incentive for it to happen. At last, there might be.

And yes, France is smaller -- but I would guess that the vast majority of American gas consumption takes places within cities; people driving cross-country would pale in their consumption compared to daily commuters. So the geographic argument is a non-starter for me. What has expensive gas gotten the French? Safe, efficient trains that travel 300 k/m an hour. A beautiful subway system in Paris that will drop you within three blocks of any address in the city. The Chunnel, for God's sake, with its high-speed service to London.

The hard fact is -- and I know there are people like you who have to drive, and I understand that it sucks -- but the hard fact is, expensive gas is the only thing that will change long-standing behaviors that are, ultimately, unsustainable. L.A. can't be L.A. forever. It's too bad we went down the wrong road for so long. Now there's a correction taking place. It's going to hurt. But I'm a rationalist about these things. It's going to hurt, but it's going to happen. It has to happen.

 

Public transportation is a great concept along the urban corridor of the east coast, and inn larger cities elsewhere.

But ain't no high-speed line in rural Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico or and most everywhere else in the west. You drive to get where you need to go. And $3.50 gas doesn't do anyone any good.

 

It's coming in the way we spend. In some ways it already has. We used to frequently take weekend trips with the kids. You know, go to a big city, see the zoo, maybe a baseball game, etc. No more. And my wife rarely drives our van when I'm at work unless necessary. It's gotten to the point where I put more miles on my Neon - rarely leaving the county in it - than we do on her Sedona while using that to take our less-frequent road trips.

In the near future, I will likely stop using the lawn care company that we use. Possibly switch phone/internet companies just because someone else is offering a cheaper promotion rate for the next year, etc.

Trips to see my parents/brother in Kansas City will almost die if gas prices keep rising. And I hate to think of how much it's going to cost my brother's family when they fly to Japan every other year to see my sister-in-law's family. Already freakin' expensive.

 

That's the unique thing about America. We can't really be compared in regards to gas consumption to France, etc. because of the rural population. I live in a city of about 40,000. There's something of a bus system, but I live quite a hike from the nearest stop. There is nothing west of the city I live in. Nothing. Public transportation in cities like those is a taxi or two.

 

It is still a very small part of the family's overall budget, so no changes for us. Then again, my car gets 38+ a gallon and I only need to fill it up every couple of weeks anyway. And there ain't viable public transportation to and from my office, so that's moot.

BTW, I'm with Jones. Republicans for Jones!

 

Expensive gas also, apparently, gets Republicans to vote for Canadian socialists. It must be spring!

 

You're not getting my vote, you freak!

 

Oh, I'm a funny kind of Republican, especially when it comes to cars.

1) Any pickup truck or truck-based SUV purchased outside of fleet sales carries a $5,000 surcharge that goes directly to the state's transportation department.

2) Any car larger than a compact (Corolla, Elantra, Civic, Cobalt, etc.) or that gets less than 28 MPG on the highway carries a 25 percent luxury tax that again goes straight to the transportation department.

3) Any pickup truck purchased outside of fleet sales is included in the car company's PASSENGER vehicle mileage rate.

That's my general starting point.

 

I vote for kleeda!

Amazing how our family of four fits in a Corolla -- you know, a car with four seats.

 

Got four in my Echo coupe today. The kids are still young, I won't need a Corrola for 5-6 years.

You know, I grew up in Texas, know plenty of people in the oil bidness, good friends with the son of one of the men that "discovered" the Barnett Shale in North Texas and made his own self about $100 million off it.

But if you thought cheap gas was going to last forever, you weren't paying attention.

Finally, on the subject of oil company profits, a good dealer doesn't kill the user. They're freaking out about this, too, afraid you will come to your senses and actually save energy. Trust me, they can pump it out of the ground for at least another 100 years.

Jones, I figure gas at $8 is about the tipping point.