Gas Prices - What do you think?

[Mr. Nevermind]

I tried having a car, but the expenses that followed didn't fit into my lifestyle so I got rid of it and bought a bike! One of the best decisions I've made!

Having a bike is a wise move. I work form home so i don have to drive much but if i have to go to the store for some papers aor just one thing i will take my bike in a heart beat. If i drive its only when going form town to town, but if im just runnng to the store i will use a bike. It saves me alot of gas since most weekdays i wont even have to start my car nevermind drive. Plus its good exercise.

Its amazing the amount people walk or bike in a large city. Most will walk 5 miles a day or ride even more. But in smaller towns noone walks and most barely wal a hlaf mile a day which is why so many people are fat. but if those people just walked not only would they save money but they would get in shape. In NYC its not a big deal to walk 10-20 blocks , people do it all the time. But in a small town most people would refuse to walk even half that distance and thats sad.

If its close, walk or ride a bike.





Nevermind

 

[marx2k]

Oil companies are recording record profits - as in 45 BILLION last year. That's profit, not sales. Something's wrong when they keep raising the prices to continue that kind of profit taking. Keeps their shareholders happy at the expense of those who can't afford to get to work and have no public transportation to help. Costs me almost a day's pay to fill my tank, but I can't get to work otherwise. Our family has one car, my husband takes the train to work. My daughter will start driving soon. We had thought we'd be adding a second car this year, but I think we'll continue to rent a car if we need one to go separate places.

Sounds like you're in a city without good public transportation? Consider a scooter or even a motorcycle (for yourself OR your daughter) - both use less gas. Also, renting a car just to go somewhere? Isn't that REALLY expensive? You should see if your city has a community car program ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=community+car&btnG=Google+Search )

How long is your commute to work?

 

[marx2k]

High gas prices suck.I have a bigger problem with water prices,$8 a gallon for water should be a crime.If a .5 litre bottle of water is a dollar,and some costs more,that's $8 a gallon.Thats freakin crazy.

Buying bottled water is ridiculous in the first place. Don't even consider the end-user price, but consider the energy spent getting that water INTO your hands.

A better alternative is having a home-installed reverse osmosis unit which gives you fresh. clean water or most supermarkets have reverse osmosis units that you can use to fill gallons of water with. COst per gallon for those around here is $0.34 and $0.24 if you re-use the bottles.

 

[tyler]

i pay 5$ per gallon for 95 octane gas and 7000$ per pound for weed..ok i dont pay that,people pay that to me..usual income for a person is 900-1000$ / month where i live

 

[marx2k]

Having a bike is a wise move. I work form home so i don have to drive much but if i have to go to the store for some papers aor just one thing i will take my bike in a heart beat. If i drive its only when going form town to town, but if im just runnng to the store i will use a bike. It saves me alot of gas since most weekdays i wont even have to start my car nevermind drive. Plus its good exercise.

Yep! I love biking. I bought my bike 2 years ago and haven't looked back. I bike to work, around town, to the supermarket (if it's a larger shopping trip, my girlfriend brings her bike) with a backpack on (this also helps us not overeat and/or take more trips to the supermarket by bike - you can't bring back more food than can fit in a backpack), to get to school I bike to the bus then put my bike on the front OF the bus to bring to school with me.

The only issue I have with bike riding is that in the winters here, it gets to be about -25, -30 with wind chills. Now, Im not complaining about ME being cold - thats not really an issue - but if you leave your bike out in cold like that (say you're biking to school and you got to leave the bike outdoors during classes), what happens is the gear cassette in the back freezes up and when you pedal, you go nowhere since it doesn't catch. So essentially pedaling forwards is exactly like pedaling backwards. You pedal, but the wheel doesnt turn. The answer for that (and this is what I plan on doing this year) is to buy a single speed bike. Since they don't have gears, there is no hub/cassette in the back to freeze up.

At this point, I despise driving. I used to not hate it (I never actually enjoyed driving. Im not sure what people enjoy so much about sitting down, pressing a pedal or two and turning a wheel), but with so many people on the road now and people playing their stupid little competitive driving games and putting the lives of everyone around them in danger, driving has become ridiculous. Any time I have to drive anywhere, it raises stress levels through the roof. I really think that the motor vehicle industries in America lobby the federal government to lower test standards for new licenses so more people can get licenses, with the result being that people CANT FUCKING DRIVE FOR SHIT OUT THERE. I never thought that a backup-beeping-system would be essential for driving/parking. Shit, when I lived in NYC, parking skills were essential. Now, Im not in NYC, thank god, but people here (and I imagine in most places in the US) have to have multiple re-do's to park in a fucking parking lot space. Come on! Who gives these people licenses?!

Its amazing the amount people walk or bike in a large city. Most will walk 5 miles a day or ride even more. But in smaller towns noone walks and most barely wal a hlaf mile a day which is why so many people are fat. but if those people just walked not only would they save money but they would get in shape. In NYC its not a big deal to walk 10-20 blocks , people do it all the time. But in a small town most people would refuse to walk even half that distance and thats sad.

It's sad but it's also kind of nice (I live in one of those no-one walks cities). Nice for me, because the sidewalks are clear of people so I dont mind biking on the sidewalk What's funny is as cars drive by, I can see all those fat little faces staring out in amazement that someone is getting around without a car. It gives me the feeling like I'm a fish and the people in the cars are amazed onlookers in submarines, gawking at me as they float on by.

Walking and biking really makes me appreciate my life more. As I've been saying to people - It's hard to appreciate life and take notice of things when it all blurs by at 55+ MPH

If its close, walk or ride a bike.

Hell, even if it's NOT close.. adapt

 

[marx2k]

As far as high gas prices, as you can imagine by reading my previous post, they don't effect me all that much. I was able to leave my car in the driveway for all of last summer, fall and winter. (The downside to that is that my tires deflated from the extreme cold and non-use and had to be reinflated.)

I would say the gas prices dont effect me at all, but they will at the higher ranges. The reason is that products will become more expensive due to the cost of transporting them to me. I have been making it a point to buy local and I think that will be the answer in the future. It's going to cost a lot less for me to buy a potato from my state than to buy one from Idaho when the price difference appears due to gas prices. I think it will be a positive thing though, when it causes consumers to start buying local which they should be doing now anyway. Especially from farmers markets and local co-ops.

But in general, thanks to my bike and my own two legs, I'm pretty immune to higher gas prices wether it's 3.20/gal or 33.20/gal. I'm guessing the self-absorbed douchebags who purchased SUVs will be getting a lot more of that just-raped look on their faces as time goes by.

Hm, 40 gallon gas tank @ 3.20/gal = $128 at each fillup. Good luck with that. Ah, the costs of driving a living room on wheels.

 

[Guest]

I'm guessing the self-absorbed douchebags who purchased SUVs will be getting a lot more of that just-raped look on their faces as time goes by.

We should document this via telephoto lens.

 

[Dan42nepa]

My g/f and I ride these and have a blast. They get about 90 miles to a gallon and top speed is around 43. We also take them on trails in our local park. In this state you only need a class c license.

 

[marx2k]

Ya! Scooters are great, especially for in-town transport. Im considering trading in my car for a Vespa

 

[Guest]

its 25¢ for 1 gallon of RO water here.

It should be more like $.15. It's not 'cuz illegal immigrants are driving up the demand. All I see loading up at those water windmills is illegals and growers.

Funny, when Americans go to Mexico, we don't drink the tap water. When Mexicans come to America, apparently they don't drink the tap water either

 

[TNTBudSticker]

I was reading around and saved this scooter link and the price was half of that like $1,500

http://www.321global.com/motorscooters.html

Not sure if its real of not so beware...But other Scooters go for $3,500 instead

I had a car crash and collected insurance money and just saving the cash.Gas prices doesnt affect me cuz I take da bussssssss..
Oh yea...local golf course is right off the bus stop so thats the only thing I do..matter of fact...Any place I go to is right off the bus stop..Just under $1.00 one way

 

[Dan42nepa]

ours are hondas.. Best be careful about what you buy. There is a store near me that sells chinese scooters and its hard getting parts and some have alot of problems.

 

[Hunt4Hazez]

Gas prices are fucking rediculious. It has become like 10-15% of my budget (considering 20% of that budget already goes to the govt.)

I think they should make a nice nitrogen engine that compares to a 4 cylinder gas engine. 6 cyl. 8 cyl. ECT.

Hybrids are real trendy but they dont have any power and you cant even hear the thing when you turn it on.

Gasoline is obviously bad for the environment when burned in extremely massive quantities DAILY as it is at the moment, so alternate fules must be used.

Nitrogen comes to mind because supposedly the only byprouduct is H20 or water.

 

[Verite]

Im getting much better mileage after trading in my Chevy for a Kim Chee. Turns out he runs on ethanol too.

 

[WoW maannnn]

not porportional to:
the GNP
earning poetiential
job prospects
the ingrained "consumer" lifestyle
my wallet, glad I at least bought a LEV
went up 40 cents in TWO DAYS!

 

[Guest]

A lot of the people I see on the road these days are driving by themselves with at least four empty seats. I'm talking about four empty seats that four other lonely drivers could fill with their gas-wasting asses. I also notice a lot of people jumping in the car for trips they could walk to make just as easily.

If you drive a big ass SUV all by your lonesome, you really should buy a scooter or a motorcycle and figure out how to use it. Even the fast ones get 40mpg+ and don't cost much to operate. There are more than a handful of scooters that will go highway speeds. The thing of them is you have to actually pay attention while you're driving or you will get turned into a greasy wet spot on the pavement faster than you can tell someone else how much money you're saving on gas. The car, with its built-in crash cage, makes things a lot "safer" for idiots who don't like to pay attention to their driving, let alone the rest of what they do in life.

And if you can walk you really shouldn't be so lazy as to drive. Walking is good for you. Before the advent of the car people walked, and long after the cars all die people will continue to walk. Just because you have a car doesn't mean you get to stop walking. I myself can't wait for gas to go truly through the roof, so much so that nobody can afford it anymore. Maybe then people will get angry enough to start thinking properly again.

 

[The Uncola]

I've been carpooling to a temp job for the last few months. I see the skyrocketing prices with some amusement but concern as well. I wonder what kind of road rage levels we will see here in the US this year. There will also be plenty of petro thefts. I don't see many people making significant lifestyle changes. Americans in general are too obese to ride bicycles or walk for more than 100 yards. It is sad but true. I sometimes feel intimidated at the grocery store since the average person is 300 lbs to my 150.

If this is what it takes to force change on the apathetic masses- As the erudite popular and well spoken GWB would say- "Bring It On!"

 

[marx2k]

What I find ridiculous is the hybrid SUVs that get as good (or bad depending on how you look at it) mileage as a large sedan. Why not just buy a large sedan, asshat?

America IS car culture. It's sickening but unfortunately true. We have an energy problem and a pollution problem and a traffic problem, so what do we do? Alternate fuels, hybrid cars and more roads. It's like going to the doctor, being told you have cancer and instead of asking the doctor to remove the cancer, you ask the doctor to make it so it doesnt bother you so much until it kills you.

Shortsightedness is one of the major human shortcomings.

 

[genkisan]

What I find ridiculous is the hybrid SUVs that get as good (or bad depending on how you look at it) mileage as a large sedan. Why not just buy a large sedan, asshat?

America IS car culture. It's sickening but unfortunately true. We have an energy problem and a pollution problem and a traffic problem, so what do we do? Alternate fuels, hybrid cars and more roads. It's like going to the doctor, being told you have cancer and instead of asking the doctor to remove the cancer, you ask the doctor to make it so it doesnt bother you so much until it kills you.

Shortsightedness is one of the major human shortcomings.

Fucking right.

Alternate ways with which to perpetuate the malignancy of our patriarchal resource-hoarding paradigm are NOT what we need....that just extends the death throes of our species.


Humanity needs a total paradigm shift....away from rampantly malignant and self-destructive economic and technological growth for short-term gain and towards a much lower impact, lower tech lifestyle geared towards long term survival..

Humans are gonna have to learn to be happy with a lot less toys....or there just won't be any humans very soon.

 

[WoW maannnn]

Fucking right.

Humans are gonna have to learn to be happy with a lot less toys....or there just won't be any humans very soon.

yep! get it soon or don't...get... it?

at least now I am brainwashed into wanting a new camero.