Gas Prices

[AriPVD]

I don't really drive much, so this doesn't affect me...but I'm curious:

How high do gas prices need to go to curb driving? It MUST be starting to pinch if you drive 50 miles for work everyday, or need to get into a car to drive 10 miles for every errand. Any enlightenment would be helpful.

[basachs]

I don't really drive much, so this doesn't affect me...but I'm curious:

How high do gas prices need to go to curb driving? It MUST be starting to pinch if you drive 50 miles for work everyday, or need to get into a car to drive 10 miles for every errand. Any enlightenment would be helpful.

[runawayjim]

there's a lot of discussion about this in the main UP coffee house. the consensus is that gas prices would need to sharply increase in a short amount of time (like increase by $1-2 overnight). otherwise, people, as has happened, get accustomed to the higher prices and just learn to deal with it and accept it rather than actually make changes to their driving or lifestyle. so basically it would have to hit $4 a gallon tomorrow, but if it slowly increases something like $0.01 every few days, it's not going to make much of an impact as people just accept it.

[oak]

I don't really drive much, so this doesn't affect me...but I'm curious:

How high do gas prices need to go to curb driving? It MUST be starting to pinch if you drive 50 miles for work everyday, or need to get into a car to drive 10 miles for every errand. Any enlightenment would be helpful.

[Cotuit]

What's a car?

[runawayjim]

What's a car?

[Frankie811]

the gas price increase only costs me about 30-40 bucks more a week

[Cotuit]

Gas prices on the Vineyard this weekend were around $3.80.

[basachs]

Only 30-40 bucks!!!??? You say that so casually. They must be paying you well if you can absorb higher gas prices without batting an eye, and eat out several times a week.

[basachs]

Gas prices on the Vineyard this weekend were around $3.80.

[runawayjim]

I was at Mohegan last weekend with friends and gas on the reservation was 4.25 a gallon for regular. I realize this is an anomaly, but it was amazing. They get your money coming and going (for those that dont know, the gas station is on the way out of the reservation)

[Frankie811]

I was at Mohegan last weekend with friends and gas on the reservation was 4.25 a gallon for regular. I realize this is an anomaly, but it was amazing. They get your money coming and going (for those that dont know, the gas station is on the way out of the reservation)

[runawayjim]

Well, if your a regular there, which I'm not, they'll give you coupons for free gas. Of course only their best customers who spend money at the casino get these coupons.

[Frankie811]

if you're not a regular... how would you know this?

[eltron]

I was at Mohegan last weekend with friends and gas on the reservation was 4.25 a gallon for regular. I realize this is an anomaly, but it was amazing. They get your money coming and going (for those that dont know, the gas station is on the way out of the reservation)

[runawayjim]

REALLY?

Huh - in upstate new york, driving west from Ithaca, there is a notorious indian reservation (not sure which one) that is a REQUIRED stop for gas, cause its at least $.50 cents cheaper than regular market gas (guess no federal tax on gas on reservations either?). The mashantucket pequot or whomever must be raking!

[Frankie811]

REALLY?

Huh - in upstate new york, driving west from Ithaca, there is a notorious indian reservation (not sure which one)

[eltron]

Is it the Stepping Stone Casino?

[xine]

no - that is east of syracuse.

the one I am talking about is the senaca nation reservation near sallamanca, south of buffalo. Only place I've ever seen gas sold like that...

[Recchia]

I drive 38 miles a day four days a week for work and any further gas price increase would really screw up my strict budget. I'd get rid of my car in a heartbeat but A) bus service to Taunton doesn't fit my 10 hour day and B) I frequently have to travel to meetings in Fall River and New Bedford in the evening. So unless Thom Deller needs some help in the planning department or I find a job at Statewide Planning, I'm stuck. And there's also the fact that I love my work at my curreny job.

[atheorist]

Once you have a car you are making payments, paying insurance, taxes, etc. - $20 or more a day - whether you drive the thing or not. Another tankful is not going to be the deal killer. In for a dime, in for a dollar.

One of the best ideas I have heard to make folks stop and think before they hop in and turn the key is pricing insurance by the mile. Having a car would be cheaper but every decision to drive would have larger consequences.

Even if getting to work via public transit were 100% easier, going car free would remain unthinkable for most people around here because routine shopping is so car oriented. In middle class neighborhoods there might be a dozen restaurants in walking distance but if you need to pick up a head of lettuce or a roll of toilet paper, you probably have to drive. Poorer neighborhoods may have a market every few blocks but being able to drive to a supermarket and not pay double for stale goods is great incentive to obtain a car. There it is again: Once you are in the car so you can drop the kids over at the daycare and pick up a few things on the way home, might as well drive to work too. In for a dime...

Replacing a car oriented shopping pattern with a pedestrian oriented one is a chicken - egg situation. Ensuring opportunities to purchase fresh food and mundane necessities at reasonable prices is an overlooked element of effective transit planning.

[runawayjim]

insurance is already by the mile to a degree. if you drive more than a certain number of miles a year, your insurance premium can change. you give them an estimate when you sign up, but after that it can change depending on your actual mileage. however, it's generally grouped, and the difference is in the thousands of miles and i don't think the price difference is that much.

the gas tax should only be increased if they decrease the car tax. as nice as it might be to tell people to go car-free, some people do need them to get to work because there certainly aren't a ton of jobs in the city or with easy access to public transit. but the gas tax won't get a lot of people to change their driving habits unless it's changed drastically. it would need to increase the cost of gas to $5/gal for more than a week.

i'm considering going "car free" (quotated because we'd still have 1 car for the household between me and my fiancee). however, public transit isn't convenient for me to get to work and do shopping if the car happens to be gone (considering the eagle square shaws is closing).