Sticker shock at the gas pump!

Keith Tanner said:

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

I might just be able to find enough dead Geo Metros in the wrecking yard to put together a few running cars to flip.

Every time gas prices spike, that one guy in town with 6 Geo Metros (about half of which run) is convinced he's struck it rich.

Doesn't matter what town, every town has that guy.

Not in the part of the country where they put lots of salt on the road.

I use to walk to work now I drive 40 miles....21MPG ugh.... I could take the bus and add 2 hours to my commute  One place local was charging $4.49

I almost wish I'd kept the TDI, but like Keith I don't really drive enough these days for gas prices to affect me that much.  I've actually been sick with a cold since the middle of last week and haven't left the house, so I don't really know how much prices have gone up in the last week or so.   I do kinda regret not filling up the minivan last week, but whatever.  I'll live.   RUG was about $3.50 when I last filled up back on Feb 19. 

4.19 a gallon here, needless to say, I parked the 8.1 truck, still DD'ing the civic 

Major concern about the price of gasoline, yet I see 40-50 cars idling for 20-30 minutes while waiting to pick up school children plus the mileage to and from the school to drop off and pickup daily. On the other side of the school are the yellow buses less than half full. I experienced the gasoline price increases in 1973 and 1978 and again in 2008. This will pass and most will continue consuming gasoline at a higher price as they always do. I remember when gas was 20-25 cents per gallon. One  dollar would allow me to cruise all night.

frenchyd said:

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to frenchyd :

There is plenty of oil for the next several hundred years and more.  This is being driven by politics.  Enjoy.

Yes the situation with Russia is the prime reason for oil price spike. But if you do a spread sheet at these prices it's getting easy to justify solar and Wind generators. 
     Personally I just like the idea of plugging in in the garage rather then going to a gas station. It was 14 degrees this morning when I filled up. $90 will get me 1-2 days in the bus. 

I agree.  However, we have plenty of oil and natural gas to have cheap energy for the entire world for a really long time.  I did reserves estimates for 11 years.  This is all driven by greed, politics and taxes.  In reality green energy is largely being pushed due to greed too.  It isn't the perfect solution it is presented as for many reasons.  There is no perfect solution.  It's the greedy people trying to control everything and everyone making this so awful though.  They got all they could get out of the previous crisis, time for a new one.

John Welsh said:

In reply to rslifkin :

I was talking to a 23ft powerboater yesterday.  He was speculating boat gas could be $6 this summer.  He's at a dock this year rather than trailer.  I advised him to spend the $20/each on a couple $5 gal utility jugs and bring 10 gal every outing.  

My big cruiser has 100 gallon tank  so this spring is going to be brutal.  

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

frenchyd said:

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to frenchyd :

There is plenty of oil for the next several hundred years and more.  This is being driven by politics.  Enjoy.

Yes the situation with Russia is the prime reason for oil price spike. But if you do a spread sheet at these prices it's getting easy to justify solar and Wind generators. 
     Personally I just like the idea of plugging in in the garage rather then going to a gas station. It was 14 degrees this morning when I filled up. $90 will get me 1-2 days in the bus. 

I agree.  However, we have plenty of oil and natural gas to have cheap energy for the entire world for a really long time.  I did reserves estimates for 11 years.  This is all driven by greed, politics and taxes.  In reality green energy is largely being pushed due to greed too.  It isn't the perfect solution it is presented as for many reasons.  There is no perfect solution.  It's the greedy people trying to control everything and everyone making this so awful though.  They got all they could get out of the previous crisis, time for a new one.

 I just like the idea of controlling as much of my life as possible.  We have a garden for fruits and veggies, 10 apple trees 1 plum 1 cherry, and nuts.  Plus a lake full of fish.  I'd like to add solar and wind.  

In reply to outasite :

It shocks me just how many people leave their cars running sitting in a drive through, picking someone up, leave it running while they go into a store, etc.  Or it's a little bit cold out, so they have to remote start the car 10+ minutes before leaving.  I wouldn't be surprised if a good 10% of gasoline burned by personally owned cars is wasted by pointless idling. 

In reply to rslifkin :

Nah berkeley getting in a cold ass car.

And berkeley sitting in a hot ass car waiting. 

yupididit said:

In reply to rslifkin :

Nah berkeley getting in a cold ass car.

And berkeley sitting in a hot ass car waiting.

If it's really hot out, that's one thing.  But I see it all the time in weather nice enough for people to have their windows down.  They just never think to shut the car off.  In the cold, unless I need defrosting, I just throw on gloves, turn on the seat heater and go.  Stuff warms up faster when moving anyway. 

It's not just idling.  Buses are often less than 1/2 full while mommy takes time off work to drive the kids to school so Little Johnny and Susie  don't have to stand on the corner at wait for the bus. 
I'm driving a SPED bus this year   That means if the student isn't there I have to wait 3 minutes before I can go.  That means I can waste 48 minutes idling .  Can't shut off because then I have to go reset the child check. If I fail to get it in time  the alarm goes off, the horn honks, lights flash, and I spend time getting terrified kids calmed down  before I can buckle back in and go.  
     I travel through  14 suburbs  each day  morning and evening plus my midday. Where because of special needs I carry 1 kid at a time. 

I mostly ignore gas prices because it's not like I have much of a choice. Yesterday (Sunday) was a near perfect weather day and we decided to get out and do some cruising in my newly acquired bugeye WRX and stop and do some hiking and while out I needed some gas. I was shocked at the $55 ($4.45/gal for 93) that it took to fill the small car. I routinely spend more than that filling our GMT900 Escalade ESV but something stung a little deeper knowing the $55 just went into a 2.0 liter wagon!

In reply to frenchyd :

It's shocking so few people take advantage of the buses. The local K-8 school near me will have at least 100 cars in line waiting for the kids every single day. 

In reply to rslifkin :

I guess it depends. When I lived in California I would have my windows down more often than normal. But in Texas my allergies don't like that game plan. And cold weather, no forget about it. 

And a lot of people don't want bugs, smells/fumes, etc in their car. Which I understand. Now that we're talking about it, there are so many reasons not to cut off your car and roll the windows down. It makes sense to me. 

And I much rather pick up my kids than them take the bus. It gives me more time with them. And the assurance your kids gets to school and back home safe is another one even if you don't actively worry about such things. 

Gas is $3.89 for 87 in Cincinnati and almost $5 for diesel. I have been a little more careful to keep the FoST out of boost during the commute.

The yellow school bus is America's most common form of public transit. 

In our area, many school bus routes have been cancelled sporadically, and walk zones (read: mandatory drive zones) were recently expanded all the way to 1.5 miles even for kindergarten. With all that the bus becomes a more difficult sell every year.

I love walking to pick up my kids, chatting with other parents while we wait, but we're fortunate enough to live that close. I do wish more people would park a block or two away and walk up to the school to collect kids. Idling cars for blocks every day and the traffic jam that results from the pickup line is a pretty sad sight to see, and the folks rushing to drive home with their kids are an extra danger for the kids walking through the neighborhood. Most people are courteous, but it only takes one idiot to hurt someone.

I'm wondering if this is going to have an effect on the prices of used full size SUVs anything like it did the last time we had high prices, or if the current car shortage is going to counter that.

3.99 this morning and 4.09 now for 87 in my town  

I timed the Prius perfectly 

JAdams said:

In reply to frenchyd :

It's shocking so few people take advantage of the buses. The local K-8 school near me will have at least 100 cars in line waiting for the kids every single day. 

The school buses here are a complete joke. You only send your child on them if you don't care if they ever get to school or home. When school lets out at 2:30 and your kid isn't making it home until 6 because he's standing in front of the school waiting for the bus to show up, you pretty much lose all faith in their ability to do their jobs and make other arrangements. 

My son has to take all three of his kids to three different schools due to their incompetence. Unfortunately, the bus system has basically said that they suck at their jobs and they aren't going to change. 

Erich said:

The yellow school bus is America's most common form of public transit. 

In our area, many school bus routes have been cancelled sporadically, and walk zones (read: mandatory drive zones) were recently expanded all the way to 1.5 miles even for kindergarten. With all that the bus becomes a more difficult sell every year.

I love walking to pick up my kids, chatting with other parents while we wait, but we're fortunate enough to live that close. I do wish more people would park a block or two away and walk up to the school to collect kids. Idling cars for blocks every day and the traffic jam that results from the pickup line is a pretty sad sight to see, and the folks rushing to drive home with their kids are an extra danger for the kids walking through the neighborhood. Most people are courteous, but it only takes one idiot to hurt someone.

My school system has several good public schools that don't have any bus service :(.  It sucks.  My son attends one of these schools.

Even worse, they allow parents to choose to send their kids to different schools that are not the standard option, as long as they provide transit.  So lots of parents send their kids to the school near my house.  Instead of like 50 buses dropping off kids in their morning, there are 800 cars trying to turn into the same spot.  The environmental impact is obviously huge, but the traffic is insane.  Never have I been anywhere that had such a difference between school-day and non-school-day traffic.

Edit:  We went through exactly what Toyman described above at the last school my son went to :(.  I'm not sure if this is a regional thing, a generational thing, or what.  Is it a result of less parents using buses?  Cost cutting?  When I last rode the bus in high school (not here), the school bus system was quite reliable.

Until people stop buying 3/4-ton pickups to commute with I'm not going to take them seriously when they complain about gas prices that are still substantially cheaper than most of the world. Yeah, towing to events is going to sting a bit more this year, but my Prius is going to only use about $12 more in gas every month. Sure I drive less than the average bear, but the point is there's good tools out there to combat higher fuel prices by increasing travel efficiency, but too much of the driving public refuses to use them.

rslifkin said:

In reply to outasite :

It shocks me just how many people leave their cars running sitting in a drive through, picking someone up, leave it running while they go into a store, etc.  Or it's a little bit cold out, so they have to remote start the car 10+ minutes before leaving.  I wouldn't be surprised if a good 10% of gasoline burned by personally owned cars is wasted by pointless idling. 

I'm remembering my time in L.A. where everyone complained about high gas prices and terrible traffic.  I was listening to the radio while stuck on the 110 in the valley one day.  They were talking about traffic and cars... while I was surrounded by Escalades, Excursions, G-wagens, and pickups... each with exactly one person in them.  Every once in a while, a Civic or a RAV4 would buzz by in the HOV lane with a few people in it.

I'm reminded of Ned Flanders' beatnik parents saying "yeah, man, we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas."

In reply to JAdams :

School districts around here are so desperate for school bus drivers that they sent all CDL-licensed drivers in the metro area a letter with a big sign on bonus, and big bold letters that said "DMV record OK."

They are running double runs, which means that half of the kids sit at the school for 2 hours while the bus does a run, then comes back and picks up the rest of the kids.

In reply to Toyman! :

With no experience with the bus system, that totally makes it obvious why it is the way it is assuming most bus systems are similar. Very sad that it seems I'll eventually be one of those stuck in that line if that's the case. 

Thanks for the insight!