Gas Prices

[alembic76407]

gas has hit a new low -------- $2.76 a gallon
in  Okla City  WOW!!!!!!

[jacko]

My heart goes out to you americans. Over here, a gallon of petrol costs ?4.81 or $8.46 at todays exchange rate ;-(
 
Graeme

[adriaan]

Just across the smaller of the two ponds, in the Netherlands, 1 litre of petrol costs 1.49 euro. A gallon is 3.78 liters, that makes it 5.63 euro/gallon - crunch, crunch - that's very close to the UK price in dollars.
 
Of course that includes all kinds of taxes plus VAT, but that pays for a lot of those public welfare institutions and conveniences that you won't find in the US.

[811952]

We need a coherent mass-transit system..

[adriaan]

You need taxes before you can even start thinking of that.

[hydrargyrum]

Well, here in Missouri at least $0.36 of that $2.76 is taxes.  I imagine that is a paltry sum compared to what our European neighbors are paying in taxes, but certainly not insignificant from my perspective.  The real tragedy is the way that the automobile industry was able to succeed in removing America's light rail networks back in the late forties.

[glocke]

We need a coherent mass-transit system..
 
This is frequently brought up on another board Im on (macrumors.com)...
 
Outside of major metro areas, mass transit wont work very well in the U.S. Im afraid.

[white_cloud]

A small number of extremely selfish and greedy people are becoming unimaginably rich on the back of oil.
 
Production of the gigantic resources of oil are being carefully controlled to keep the price as high as possible. And dont buy into the fear mongering that says supplies wont last much longer, there is enough to last a few hundred years at least (and by then we wont need it any more anyway)
 
Uk prices are completely outrageous - in keeping with the other tax greedy grabbing policies of our weak and useless government.
 
John.
 
John.

[811952]

These folks are doing it and making money:
 
http://www.megabus.com/us/
 
I used to live in Los Angeles, and it didn't work very well there either.  High fuel prices have changed the landscape considerably though.
 
Light rails between cities and towns would serve us all nicely, and greatly diminish oil consumption.
 
John

[keith_h]

Part of the problem with the intercity light and heavy rail we have now is it actually costs more than driving. When I went to Philly for the RTF concert I had looked into Amtrak since it runs right through Raleigh. The travel time was approximately the same however the fare alone was twice my fuel costs at 20 mpg. Add a rental car on top of that for site seeing and there is no incentive not to drive. All in all taking train costs about as much as it does to fly.  
 
When I lived in the Chicago area or have gone back for visits I typically took the commuter train down into the city. It's cost is cheaper than gas and parking not to mention the lower stress of not having to drive in city traffic.  
It also has convenient schedules. The same is true for Washington DC. We always stay out in the burbs and use the Metro to get around.
 
If they could get intercity service to function like commuter services it would be great. In particular here on the east coast the travel time would be on par with driving or flying. I also think we have the population density to really support it. The thing is they have to bring the cost down such that it makes more financial sense to take the train over the car.    
 
Keith
 
PS: To keep to the original subject we are around $3.70/gallon. AAA says we are the highest average in the country at the moment. It is all due to the  gas pipeline shutdown from hurricane Ike.

[811952]

We're at $3.129 in Terre Haute, Indiana..

[terryc]

white cloud, jacko et al..this is the discussion of friday night drinking in pubs, we put the world to rights but no one listens and look too, our local councils invest money in icelandic banks and along with the rest of the world banks is going into liquidation.
It looks like planet earth is going into economic meltdown.
But I ask a question..whre does this money disappear to?? does it vanish into the aether??

[811952]

It vanishes into stuff people buy.

[terryc]

811952 - okay we buy stuff but that is tangible, you can hold it, use it.
But when the statement 'billions of dollars/pounds were wiped off the stock exchange' where does that go? Okay you have a stock certificate worth so much and now it is less than what you bought it but was worth anything in the first place?
Houses are devalued but they are only worth what the market says when you sell and we all need a place to rest ourselves.
Like I say where does this hard cash disappear to?
It hurts my head..I think I will go back to playing my bass!!!!

[hydrargyrum]

I was shocked to hear recently that the way oil is traded amounts to the exchange of virtual barrels of oil.  Unlike in the past, the number of barrels of oil in trade may or may not reflect the number of barrels in existence.  Its not hard to imagine money simply disappearing if you consider we are trading goods that never existed.