High gas prices.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

This is everybody's favorite hot topic these days so I wanted some feedback from the Soxtalkers.

 

 

Personally, my little Stratus costs about $35-40 to fill up and gets me as much as 375-400 miles to a tank on the highway. I just kind of roll my eyes when I look at what I just shelled out for gas ( it helps that I get 5% back from mastercard on gas purchases) but I know some people are pinched hardcore by all this.

 

 

Your thoughts?

[Queen Prawn]

My Milan is similar in gas usage - about $40 (at the moment) to fill and I usually get about 400 miles to the tank. Brian has a Marauder and it costs about the same to fill up, but I don't know what his mileage per tank is (he said it surprised him because it isn't anywhere near as bad as he expected - I think he said 18-20 miles per gallon last he calculated).

 

I stopped worrying about it after I realized there is not much I can do - I have to work and no public transportation can get me from home to work in less than 3.5 hrs, 2 trains and 3 buses.

 

That is not to say I like it, but it is one of those things I cannot presently change so I try not to think about it too much.

[NorthSideSox72]

-- I think my next car will be a hybrid (won't need a car for a couple years, and by then the cost of hybrid engine differential will be under 3k and gas will be over $3/gallon, maybe more like $4 or $5 a gallon)

 

-- I think the oil companies that hold the patents for a lot of the alternate fuel technologies will need to be forced to s**t or get off the pot by the US government in the next couple years (anyone else see those kids in CA who built a soy-run car in high school shop class?)

 

-- I am really, really glad that my commute is walk/train (winter) or bike (summer), and that I rarely have to drive anywhere. Gotta love Chicago.

 

-- I am amazed at how many people I still see, particularly in the 'burbs, who troll around in giant SUV's all by themselves to get groceries. I'd be embarrassed. I mean, does North Shore soccer mom really need a full size Ford Excursion with a brush guard and fog lamps on the front, just to get around Winnetka? Hey, buy whatever car/truck/SUV you want, but you look like a fool.

 

-- I love that I can take my choice of two different CTA lines (red, green), a number of different bus routes, and in 2007 the Metra, to go see my Sox play!!!

[Soxy]

I'm not thrilled about it, but I only have to fill up every other week (good gas mileage and I don't drive much).

 

I think it was pretty inevitable that gas prices would some day reach this much (since that's how it is pretty much everywhere else). So I can't say I'm shocked.

 

I do hope, though, that this will be a major impetus to get more public transportation up and running.

 

But I would now (more than usual) like to profess my deep and enduring love to my Toyota Corolla.

[LosMediasBlancas]

-- I think my next car will be a hybrid (won't need a car for a couple years, and by then the cost of hybrid engine differential will be under 3k and gas will be over $3/gallon, maybe more like $4 or $5 a gallon)

 

-- I think the oil companies that hold the patents for a lot of the alternate fuel technologies will need to be forced to s**t or get off the pot by the US government in the next couple years (anyone else see those kids in CA who built a soy-run car in high school shop class?)

 

-- I am really, really glad that my commute is walk/train (winter) or bike (summer), and that I rarely have to drive anywhere.  Gotta love Chicago.

 

-- I am amazed at how many people I still see, particularly in the 'burbs, who troll around in giant SUV's all by themselves to get groceries.  I'd be embarrassed.  I mean, does North Shore soccer mom really need a full size Ford Excursion with a brush guard and fog lamps on the front, just to get around Winnetka?  Hey, buy whatever car/truck/SUV you want, but you look like a fool.

 

-- I love that I can take my choice of two different CTA lines (red, green), a number of different bus routes, and in 2007 the Metra, to go see my Sox play!!!

 

 

 

The soccer Mom you describe is also the one who will b**** the loudest about gas prcies

[WilliamTell]

I'm just going to start riding my bike everywhere. I love it the exercise and it's cheaper.

[AbeFroman]

To quote the simpsons "Welcome to Dick Cheney's America..."

Edited April 22, 2006 by AbeFroman

[Be Good]

I just filled up 10 gallons on my Grand Marquis and it'll get me 100 miles give or take. I pretty much only drive to school and work both are very close. I'm in other cars anywhere else, I only fill up once a week sometimes 2 weeks.

[YASNY]

Let me twist the direction of this topic a little bit. What can we, as a nation, do about this problem? Alternative fuel sources as certainly an option, but it will take some significant time to implement any of them. That's even if the oil companies are forced to stop suppressing innovative fuel saving inventions and other alternatives.

 

One thing I would like to see investigated as an option is the possibility of a rebirth of our railroad system. There are so damn many semis on the road these days. Try running I-40 through Arkansas sometime. You talk about a s*** load of trucks! When you consider all the deisel fuel these things burn and all the damage they do to our highways, the railroad option seems to me like it would have be better than keeping the teamsters union happy.

[Rex Kickass]

Rebuilding our national rail infrastructure would be a great way to help reduce consumption of national resources, both for freight and for passenger traffic. The great thing about New Jersey, is most people in the state live just a few miles from a rail connection to take them into New York or Philadelphia.

[The Beast]

It takes about 33.00 to fill up my Honda Element, its got this reserves system too that provides me with extra gasoline. So it works for me...

[NorthSideSox72]

Rebuilding our national rail infrastructure would be a great way to help reduce consumption of national resources, both for freight and for passenger traffic. The great thing about New Jersey, is most people in the state live just a few miles from a rail connection to take them into New York or Philadelphia.

The rail system, for freight purposes, is already in renaissance. The rail companies have been growing like wildfire. But they aren't profitable enough to stake huge amounts of money in adding tons of new rail, or major upgrades to high speed stuff. So does the gov't foot that bill? It might not be a bad investment. But it is a lot of money.

 

I still think this country can have a successful passenger rail system at a national level. Amtrak puzzles me, always has.

[Rex Kickass]

Amtrak should puzzle you. It never succeded because it was never given an opportunity to succeed. The rail line was never fully funded which made it constantly unable to compete against other forms of mass transportation. It doesn't own its own rail lines outside the Northeast Corridor and as such is given little opportunity to improve speeds, track conditions or even on-time performance (It's routinely given lowest priority on other line's rails.)

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

The rail system, for freight purposes, is already in renaissance.  The rail companies have been growing like wildfire.  But they aren't profitable enough to stake huge amounts of money in adding tons of new rail, or major upgrades to high speed stuff.  So does the gov't foot that bill?  It might not be a bad investment.  But it is a lot of money.

 

I still think this country can have a successful passenger rail system at a national level.  Amtrak puzzles me, always has.

 

 

The freight companies are doing awesome these days. I read last week where Union Pacific reported its best quarterly profit ever. They are benefitting from a massive increase in shipments due to the booming economy and their fuel costs are not an issue because they simply can pass them on to their customers in the form of a fuel surcharge.

 

 

That all being said, they have no vested interest in adding infrastructure to accomodate an unprofitable passenger rail system. They'd rather just let Amtrack and the commuter lines pay them rent for the usage of their existing tracks and leave it that.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

Back in the 70's Brazil made a big push to eliminate the need for oil. They required automakers and the like to start shifting over to renewable fuels and now they are totally oil independent. They actually produce more oil domestically than they need.

 

We need to get on that this very instant. About the only thing I dislike more than hearing people complain about gas prices is that we get most of our oil from parts of the world that are really bad neighborhoods.

[YASNY]

The freight companies are doing awesome these days.  I read last week where Union Pacific reported its best quarterly profit ever.  They are benefitting from a massive increase in shipments due to the booming economy and their fuel costs are not an issue because they simply can pass them on to their customers in the form of a fuel surcharge.

That all being said, they have no vested interest in adding infrastructure to accomodate an unprofitable passenger rail system.  They'd rather just let Amtrack and the commuter lines pay them rent for the usage of their existing tracks and leave it that.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the passenger rail system would be secondary if it were even a consideration at all. But using rails for freight should be increased exponentially.

[Balance]

I keep track of how many miles my RSX gets per each fill-up. Depending on how much city or highway driving I do, I get around 26-29 miles per gallon overall.

 

The only way gas prices are going to come down is if the global demand for oil goes down. I honestly don't mind that gas prices are going up because it's creating an incentive for people to drive less, buy more efficient cars, and concentrate on conserving more energy. If you really want to see change, make gas $8 per gallon. Let's pay what the Europeans pay for gas, then we'll start conserving. Until then, there's no incentive for us to truly change.

[AddisonStSox]

Thought you all might enjoy this.

 

[santo=dorf]

They should start charging NASCAR guys more money for wasting all that gas.

[Cerbaho-WG]

Back in the 70's Brazil made a big push to eliminate the need for oil.  They required automakers and the like to start shifting over to renewable fuels and now they are totally oil independent.  They actually produce more oil domestically than they need. 

 

We need to get on that this very instant.  About the only thing I dislike more than hearing people complain about gas prices is that we get most of our oil from parts of the world that are really bad neighborhoods.

 

Their demand for oil and automobiles is also ridiculously small compared to the US. Hell, just look at Rio de Janiero, EVERYONE lives there, so there's no real need to commute. Plus, they've been using biodiesel on a really small scale (from sugarcane), which is the only way biodiesel can be feasible.

[EvilMonkey]

Until then, there's no incentive for us to truly change.

 

On a personal note, not sure what else I can change. I have a 4-cylinder car which gets decent milage, but can't afford $20,000+ for a hybrid. I also can't afford to move closer to my work. If I take my $200,000 home here in Plainfield and plop it in Bloomingdale, I can expect to be paying almost $400,000. I can't carpool, there is no mass transit to get me to work, unless I want to take the train downtown, and then out to Hanover Park or Roselle, and even then I would still need a cab to get from the train station to work. Nothing like a 3.5 hour commute each way. I have a bike to ride around town, if needed, and don't just jump in the car to take a drive. I realize that you may have been referring to all the soccer moms driving Excursions to go the the Jewel, but for every one of those, there are people like me stuck in the middle. How many people that work in Elk Grove Village do you think actually live within a few mile of Elk Grove Village? The average factory or warehouse worker out there can't affort the quarter million dollar homes, they have to commute from Addison, some of the inner suburbs or even the city itself. I too would like to see more work done on alternative fuel methods, and not just ethanol and stuff. All $8 a gallon will do for me is make me more pissed at the world than I am now.

[Rex Kickass]

Join the club. I have a 31 mile commute each way. No effective mass transit means to get me to and from work (although I could go work in NYC via train) and nothing in my area to earn me comparable money at the moment.

[kapkomet]

On a personal note, not sure what else I can change.  I have a 4-cylinder car which gets decent milage, but can't afford $20,000+ for a hybrid.  I also can't afford to move closer to my work.  If I take my $200,000 home here in Plainfield and plop it in Bloomingdale, I can expect to be paying almost $400,000.  I can't carpool, there is no mass transit to get me to work, unless I want to take the train downtown, and then out to Hanover Park or Roselle, and even then I would still need a cab to get from the train station to work.  Nothing like a 3.5 hour commute each way.  I have a bike to ride around town, if needed, and don't just jump in the car to take a drive. I realize that you may have been referring to all the soccer moms driving Excursions to go the the Jewel, but for every one of those, there are people like me stuck in the middle.  How many people that work in Elk Grove Village do you think actually live within a few mile of Elk Grove Village?  The average factory or warehouse worker out there can't affort the quarter million dollar homes, they have to commute from Addison, some of the inner suburbs or even the city itself.    I too would like to see more work done on alternative fuel methods, and not just ethanol and stuff.  All $8  a gallon will do for me is make me more pissed at the world than I am now.

 

 

Join the club. I have a 31 mile commute each way. No effective mass transit means to get me to and from work (although I could go work in NYC via train) and nothing in my area to earn me comparable money at the moment.

 

I agree with both of you. If I had a way to commute via mass transit, I would be all over that option. But I don't, especially in Dallas where EVERYTHING is 30 miles from where you are. How does that happen?

[Soxy]

I agree with both of you.  If I had a way to commute via mass transit, I would be all over that option.  But I don't, especially in Dallas where EVERYTHING is 30 miles from where you are.  How does that happen?

I've been saying ever since I got back from Europe we need their public transportation system. Clean, fast and efficient. I believe that if there was a system available that was also convienent, people would use it.

[NorthSideSox72]

I agree with both of you.  If I had a way to commute via mass transit, I would be all over that option.  But I don't, especially in Dallas where EVERYTHING is 30 miles from where you are.  How does that happen?

That happens because urban planners in the mid to late 20th century were all of the mind that cars were the way to go EVERYWHERE. Turns out maybe they were wrong. Sprawl is killing us. And cities like Dallas, LA, and others that are basically just endless suburbs, have no incentive to increase density. Even if you put in mass transit, everything is too spread out, so it will take decades (if it ever happens) for the city to mature enough to condense around transit locations.

 

There is no easy solution, but one thing that can work is to put in mass transit options and push businesses to build near them (via tax incentives or TIF zones or whatever). Denver has been doing that, and their light rail has been wildly succesful, even though Denver has some sprawl issues as well.