Gas Prices

[DonDraper]

So with the absolutely insane increase in gas prices over the past several months, I'm curious to know if there is a cost where you would significantly decrease gas purchase (25% to 50% reduction in gas) and if there is a point where you would stop purchasing it all together and do your best to use public transportation, etc.

 

[tvguy]

Well, our Suburban spends more time parked, and we drive our Focus more often , but other than that, we drive so little, most of it to work and back, I can't drive any less.
Public transportation isn't an option because I have to be at work at 3 am, and my wife at 4:30 am and public transit doesn't start until 5:30 am.
Other issues with public transit are, the 13 mile one way commute that takes 10 to 15 minutes by car each way, takes almost 2 hours each way by public transit. And, now that gas is $4.01 a gallon, I'm spending a total of $80 per vehicle for gas for all driving. A monthly bus pass is $100, so the bus makes no economic sense.

 

[laurie31]

We're spending about $80/month more for gas, but there's not a thing we can do about it. There is no public transportation in any form here.

No matter how high gas gets, we will have to buy it. We'll just have to cut back on other things.

 

[katesorad]

San Diego has awful public transportation. There just isn't much of it at all. We have a trolley system, but it doesn't go to that many places.. and the places that it does go, I really don't need to go to them. And the buses are awful. I'm spending $4.50+ on gas right now for premium.. I spent $70 filling up my BMW 3 series a few days ago. It was ridiculous. I'm working my way to getting a smaller car. My car is fairly small, but I'd really prefer something even smaller. DH spent $100 filling up his '91 pick-up truck this week. Kind of ridiculous!

 

[Northstar]

I notice that everyone so far has avoided answering Dan Draper's question... at what price would you cut your purchases of gas and make real changes in the way you drive. Wonder if it's because we're scared!

Well, gas here in Nova Scotia is way more expensive than you have in the U.S., but at $1.33 a litre I'm not changing my habits. I think if gas prices roughly doubled I'd take drastic measures... ride sharing with neighbors for grocery shopping, choosing DD's activities based on whether they take place in the neighborhood, maybe even biking the 20 kilometres to work when the weather permits.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I'm not sure what the magic number is, but I am afraid to find out.

We are using our van as little as possible and using DH's commuter car more, even though it isn't as comfortable.

We are cutting back on things like yesterday DD11 had a volleyball camp on the other side of town. Rather then driving her there and coming home like I would have done, DD9 and I stayed over there. I bought her $3 pancakes at McDs and spent 3 hours at their Playplace.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

So with the absolutely insane increase in gas prices over the past several months, I'm curious to know if there is a cost where you would significantly decrease gas purchase (25% to 50% reduction in gas) and if there is a point where you would stop purchasing it all together and do your best to use public transportation, etc.

Well we don't have "public transportation" to use safely or easily. So that option is out.

However we are talking about selling one of our trucks and our "fun" convertible to buy 2 used cars with great mileage. We are spending about $600 month on gasoline right now.

I drive a Yukon XL and dh drives a Tahoe (we would sell this car). We would park the Yukon because it is paid off and we need it to pull our boat.

So yea, we have reached our threshold.

 

[bdcp]

I don't know that there is a true cutoff point for us. Currently DH and I work in the same place but take our own vehicle due to different work hours, plus flexibility. There is NO public transportation to where we work. Let me take that back, there is ONE metro bus in the am and one in the afternoon that stops near our building, outside the gate, out on the main road. It's a good 1/2 mile walk to the building. Not to mention, from where I live, there is NO bus at all anywhere nearby. So, those that think public transportation is the answer obviously don't realize it doesn't go everywhere in the suburbs, which is where we live and work. We commute 13 miles each way each day and none of it on interstates.

Our gas bill is currently around $300/month as long as we don't take weekend trips anywhere. I drive a Honda Pilot and DH drives a Toyota Solara convertible. Neither gets phenomenal gas mileage.

 

[Nancy]

I don't know if there is a magic number for me that would make me cut down on my driving. We do have a road trip planned in October so I am hoping things come down a bit because high gas prices will cut into the budget.

At home I already try to drive less. My husband could either walk to work or ride his bike. His job is much closed than mine. To take public transportation for me would mean going south to go to a workplace that is north of where I live and would involve 2 bus transfers. Looking at a minimum of an hour for a 10 minute car ride and that does not include the walk to the bus stops or the 15/20 walk to my building from the drop off bus stop. Our public transportation stinks unless you work downtown, and I don't work downtown.

 

[Freyja]

Well....here in Iceland it costs me around $160 (yes, US dollars) to fill my Dodge Durango. Which means that we hardly use it anymore, unless the 7 of us are going somewhere all together. We use our Mazda 3 for all short drives and have cut longer drives almost out of our budget. We don´t drive up to my dads summerhouse just for the day like we used to do for example. Our gas budget is now almost as high as our food budget for 7 people, which in my opinion is INSANE.
I´d love to be able to sell the Dodge and buy a more economical car but there´s no way we can get rid of it at the moment, with the situation here in Iceland like it is.

 

[Art 1]

I'm trying to figure out when to raise my fee's. At this point I'm thinking at $4.25 if it gets that high in this area.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I have a gas prices story for you. It's one of those if you didn't laugh you'd scream stories about my DD16. Such a smart kid but doesn't always use the brains God gave her.

So the other day a bunch of them are going to the mall. She says since gas is so high we are going to carpool. Great! Less driving, less gas, less time. No, she figured sicne I was already taking her, I'd just take everyone. Sure, that is great for the other moms, but I spent more time and gas going to everyone's house to get them take them there then same thing on the way home, drop them all off at home.

When we got home I explained to her that while it was nice of her to save EVERYONE ELSE, what did she save me? She said well, nothing but yo uwere driving anyway. True. But I wasn't driving the extra 15 minutes here and there before and after.

She is a good kid, would do anything for anyone, it wasn't her being a jerk or anything, just not thinking, but come on kid!

 

[disney1990]

I have a 45 minute commute to work and no public transportation available.

I am now setting my cruise control every chance I get at between 55 and 60.

I don't care how fast the cars are going around me, I am getting the best gas mileage I can get by doing this.

 

[momof1princess]

gas is up to $3.79 per gallon here in NE alabama, and once it hits $4.00, my SUV will be parked. DD13 will have to start riding the school bus, and ballet lessons will be cut out. we just can't do it. DH's car gets about 27 mpg, and he needs it to drive back & forth to work, so that will be the only car we use.
we live in a rural area about 13 miles from the nearest town with NO public transportation at all. the area is very hilly and the country roads are terrible. people also drive like maniacs on these back roads so bike riding would be impossible, unless you WANTED to die. we can't afford a car payment, so trading my SUV for something more fuel-efficient is out.

 

[Colleen27]

We don't have public transportation and even if we did it would be useless for DH's work (contractor) so there's really no choice. We have to pay whatever it costs to keep gas in the tank.

My elementary schooler rides the bus, my middle schooler rides his bike, and I do most of my errands on foot when the weather allows so there's really no way to cut down my driving any further - I put maybe 200-300 miles per month on my van. It is keeping gas in DH's work truck that is killing us, and there is no fuel-efficient option for someone who has to haul tools, ladders, and such to and from jobsites. I'm not sure where the point is that it'll make more sense for him to fold his business and find a job that requires less driving, but I hope we never find out.

 

[OceanAnnie]

I'm wondering if gas has ever been this high here in the states?

I don't know the answer to your question, OP. We don't have public transportation. We do condense our trips when are running errands. Other than that, anything else we would cut would cut down on our quality of life. I don't know another way to put it. We do the things we have to do and the things we like, like everyone else.

 

[Acklander]

Public Transportation has been drastically cut in our area, so it's not a good solution for getting to work. When the gas prices went up a couple of years ago dh got a scooter and he uses that for his commute (weather permitting). It gets about 80 miles to the gallon so it helps a lot.

 

[ugadog99]

We're spending about $80/month more for gas, but there's not a thing we can do about it. There is no public transportation in any form here.

No matter how high gas gets, we will have to buy it. We'll just have to cut back on other things.

Yep, us, too. There is no public transportation, so we will have to purchase gas, no matter the price. That just means other things will be cut back drastically.

Oh, and right now, I'm spending WAY more than $80 a month in gas!

 

[Colleen27]

I'm wondering if gas has ever been this high here in the states?

I don't know the answer to your question, OP. We don't have public transportation. We do condense our trips when are running errands. Other than that, anything else we would cut would cut down on our quality of life. I don't know another way to put it. We do the things we have to do and the things we like, like everyone else.

The record high for the US average is $4.11/gal, set in July 2008. We will probably break that in the next few weeks and almost certainly will before the start of the summer vacation season.

 

[OceanAnnie]

The record high for the US average is $4.11/gal, set in July 2008. We will probably break that in the next few weeks and almost certainly will before the start of the summer vacation season.

Wow. I think I purged that from my memory.

Yes, we are on the fast track to those prices and beyond now.