Gas Prices Soaring....Again?
gloom
2,765 Posts
my peoples are telling me that gas is rumored to be FIVE dollars (atleast in the midwest) this weekend due to the hurricane down south...anyone else hear this. ps. hope all strutters and everyone else down there is getting out or holding on tight! stay strong.
Comments
TTYL
When I got my oil changed last week -- post-Katrina price gouge -- the workers mentioned that there will be a definite price increase come October.
do yall see gas prices getting cheaper down the line?
high prices and auto taxes dont seem to stop europeans from driving, but prepare for this shit to hurt the pockets if you are car reliant...as many of us are.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Klein-Attitude-XX-2005-XTR-top-of-range-and-upgraded_W0QQitemZ7184178433QQcategoryZ27947QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Think yourself lucky. In the UK we pay the equivalent of $6.50 a gallon.
Correct me if I'm wrong but they do that intentionally through taxes in order to lower the use of cars.
What you're probably not factoring in is that (from what I've heard), Europe has an excellent public transportation system.
Not so in the US. With the exception of New York (and maybe a few others) most cities in the US don't have dependable (read: frequent/convenient enough) public transportation so driving is essential.
it would be political suicide to propose a gas tax
I still get to my store in half the time when I drive. I get almost anywhere in half the time when I drive. Going across the city - from the tip of Brooklyn to the top of the Bronx - would take you 2+ hours on the train, but it would take me an hour at most in a car. The train runs 24/7 but you are liable to wait up to an hour after midnight for it. Construction is always going on, in the worst way. If they were to try to make the system better, they would have to get real serious about cracking down on cronyism and porky contracts for new construction projects.
I can't go to home depot and pick up a safe and a motion detector street lamp and some planks and wood glue on the train (or on the bus). I can't go to the furniture store, I can't go look at a collection in the outer city, etc on the train. Rush hours on the train are as you might expect - sardine style.
That said, we do have a train and it does go almost everywhere. Most cities are far worse.
Yeah man. Try living in l.a. though and you will be thankful for what you got!
Hey I took some buses and trains from LBC airport to Wilshire, took about 80 mins and I never saw so many badly dressed white people in my life. Truly the end of the line.
JP is pretty much spot on about trying to do business in NYC without a car. Impossible unless you are made of money. And the MTA is used as a cash cow to subsidize all manner of corporate pork instead of re-investing and expanding. How many years has that 2nd Ave line been planned -- 60 or something? And it might get done by 2050.
I wasn't comparing it to LA, which is one of the most poorly-designed transportation nightmares I can think of... I was comparing it to London, Mexico City, Chicago, Spain, Tokyo, other cities with good transportation systems.
Serious co-Sign. I used to live in LA about 10 years ago, and I remember everywhere being at least 45 minutes away...by automobile...via freeway!
SG
I thought everything was "20 minutes" away from everywhere else?! Traffic must have improved.
Berlin's subway and train system ROCKS! Not to mention cycle paths.... and trees n shit. I think I'm moving there eventually.
everybody here knows why la is such a nightmare right ?
no man. you know the story. the oil and tire companies bought out all the mass transit in LA and shut it down so more people would be driving cars and buying gas and tires.
Same thing happened in the UK after they privatized the trains 10 years ago - bus companies started buying train lines and then cutting service/raising prices coz they had a monopoly
i was just kidding.
ugly history right there.