Do You Really Want to Reduce the Price of Gas in the US?

[tbrown 26]

Hey, I did it ! Just changed jobs and got one half the distance from home as the old one (pure luck actually). I now use less than half a tank a week for my commute.

And I'd take a bus if I could, but there's no bus line available, especially not as I start (by choice) at 5:30am. But a few years back I used to take a bus to work at Boeing up in the Seattle area - and it was great. I could settle in, read, listen to music on headphones, even go back to sleep, and was dropped off right outside my building. Same for the trip home in the afternoon. But people "don't like" buses or trains, they think they're "low class", or "expensive". They'd rather sit in the middle of miles of free parking on the freeway, inching their way home at 3 mph, usually all by themselves.

People in Europe are paying something like $7 a gallon, but they sure as hell have smaller cars and some of the best train service in the world.

And I won't even get into the question of whether or not skydiving is a "frivolous" use of jet fuel.... Of course it it, but how else are we going to jump ? I'm really not into BASE.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[kelpdiver 2]

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Start driving japanese cars! you could save 5 gallons a month and still drive fast!

A Toyota DOHC TURBO small car would kick most American cars asses and still only burn 1/4 of the fuel.

You're making up numbers again.

[happythoughts 0]

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It's all down to choice, and we're all choosing to drive. There are solutions out there, but most of them do lie with government or industry.

I change jobs about every 2-3 years.
I used to move to an apartment close by, but now I have a house. Therefore, 2 years from now, my job may be in a different place. Instead of 20 miles west, it may be 25 miles east.

Florida is totally lacking in public transportation. I would gladly use it. It rains 90 afternoons a year here. If I could take light-rail to near my next job, then I would need another way to get to the site.

I applaud cities with subways, or good bus systems.
When I was in San Fran a few years back, I took a bus everywhere.

[livendive 8]

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Stopping people driving behemoth 6litre, 8 cylinder 4x4's to drop the kids off at school would be start.

......

What do you care if I drive a 5.7 liter 8 cylinder 4x4 as my daily driver? Actually, my current engine is a 4.7 liter, I'm just planning to upgrade to a 5.7 in the next few months. My commute is 0.8 miles each way during the week, 125-140 each way on the weekends.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[billvon 3,132]

>What do you care if I drive a 5.7 liter 8 cylinder 4x4 as my daily driver?

I think some people care because such cars drive up fuel prices for _them._

[livendive 8]

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>What do you care if I drive a 5.7 liter 8 cylinder 4x4 as my daily driver?

I think some people care because such cars drive up fuel prices for _them._

Given that I need a pickup truck to move my trailer around every weekend, 125 miles from home, an economy car wouldn't make sense for me. Sure, I could ditch the trailer and commute 500 miles every weekend instead of 250, but the fuel savings would be dramatically reduced and I'd lose an extra 4 hours per weekend. I could also ditch the trailer and just hotel it every weekend, but the cost savings would be minimal, if any, and I wouldn't have the creature comforts of a home, such as the ability to cook dinner and watch a movie with a glass of wine...such things become important when working 7 days a week. Thus, I do need a truck on the weekends.

My weekday commute is 0.8 miles each way. I could and should walk it most of the time, but getting groceries/running errands after work usually nixes that. I *could* buy an economy car to drive during the week, but who thinks the fuel savings on such a limited number of annual miles would offset the cost of purchasing, maintaining, and insuring an additional vehicle? If I got 3 times the fuel economy of my truck (45 mpg versus 15) and I drove a hundred miles a week (I rarely approach that) and gas were $5/gallon (which it's not...yet), I would save $1155/year on gas. A bunch of that would be eaten up by maintenance and insurance costs on a second vehicle, the remainder would be what I have to cover purchase price. It just doesn't make sense. Of course if someone else wants to buy me said economy car, I'll drive it whenever I don't need a truck.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[billvon 3,132]

>Given that I need a pickup truck to move my trailer around every weekend . . .

We've solved that problem three ways.

1) Got a hotel when we didn't have time to make arrangements
2) Stayed at a friend's house 4 miles from the destination
3) Just left a van there all summer.

>such as the ability to cook dinner and watch a movie with a glass of wine

We've been able to do that with all three options!

> I could and should walk it most of the time, but getting
>groceries/running errands after work usually nixes that.

My commute is 4-5 miles. When I don't need to do anything else I just take a regular bike. When I need to get groceries or go to Home Depot (about 10 miles) often I'll take the electric bike, with a trailer if I have to carry home lots of stuff.

>Of course if someone else wants to buy me said economy car, I'll drive
>it whenever I don't need a truck.

I often thought they should just give away a free Geo Metro with every Hummer sold. Wouldn't add too much to the cost overall and would allow you to drive the Metro most of the time, and save the Hummer for navigating the blasted countryside after WWIII destroys all the roads.