Cost of gasoline, worldwide- Good thing we bike

[shootingstar]

It's supposed to. But our local and state governments are in budget trouble. That means that money goes from where it should to pay for other things that it wasn't designated for.

Yea, that eternal problem.

The interesting thing in our area...is that now when city council debates, it isn't about whether or not we should have bike lanes, it's where and what type. A good thing and very different from 5 yrs. ago.

But still the same *****in' and complaining about lack of roads, which is not the case when a commute drive is only 45 min. from the furtherest edge of city into downtown core/vice versa. It's 60 min. for Vancouver and Toronto.

And Calgary is getting expanded light rapid transit rail, this very moment..they're being built right now. This is quite important in the city politics dynamic because we're in Canada's richest oil and energy jurisdiction. So anything to counteract the economic boom here that is due to the oil exploration,etc (which won't last), is good. Spend that money on mass transit..now. We need it because we're the fastest growing city in Canada.

[Blueberry]

Yea, that eternal problem.

The interesting thing in our area...is that now when city council debates, it isn't about whether or not we should have bike lanes, it's where and what type. A good thing and very different from 5 yrs. ago.

But still the same *****in' and complaining about lack of roads, which is not the case when a commute drive is only 45 min. from the furtherest edge of city into downtown core/vice versa. It's 60 min. for Vancouver and Toronto.

And Calgary is getting expanded light rapid transit this very moment..they're being built right now.

*sigh*

We're so far behind you in terms of that debate. Better than we were 10 years ago, but way behind.

[Koronin]

Good luck with hoping for better public transportation. As gas prices went up so did the cost of tickets for the public transportation system in Charlotte. They also have cut both routes and stops for their public transportation due to the higher cost of gas.

[bmccasland]

The price you pay at the pump is more than the cost of crude, refining, and transportation to your local station. It includes a whole variety of taxes - state and local. I know in some countries the price per gallon (or liter) includes hefty taxes to subsidize public transportation.

[Koronin]

It's not just the cost of public transportation, but also the convenient of it. If it's not convenient it's also not worthwhile or just flatly impossible to use. The public transportation system (the buses) in Charlotte started at around 8am and were back in their base by 10pm. Where my husband worked he couldn't have used it if he wanted to. Day shift started at 4:45am and ended at 3:45pm. 2nd shift started at 3:45pm and ended at 2:45am. No way to use the public transportation system. Charlotte did built one light rail line (southern part of the city) which is has been successful. However they want to build two more lines. The 1 will most likely eventually get built, but right now they can't get funding for it. The 2nd line is never going to get built for two reasons that I am aware of. First several towns that it will run through near will not help fund it because the return they will see to them does not give them enough return for their investment. The 2nd is because the freight railroads that use and actually own the tracks have said no you aren't going to use our lines and interfere with our schedules.

[Koronin]

Also in NC they have been stealing from the transportation fund for years to fund other projects at the expense of roads, bridges and other infrastructure that needs to be fixed. Then of course they are great at building roads to only have to go back and fix them in a handful of years because they didn't built them properly in the first place. Or you get roads like Independence Blvd in Charlotte that is nightmare and at this point is totally hopeless to fix. They need other routes for people to take and get traffic off that road, but instead they keep wanting to expand it or who knows what is the latest idea.

[Crankin]

I've gone from filling up my car every 2 weeks and cycling to work 2X a week for part of the year, to driving for my job and having to work hard to get just a weekly fill up. My car gets very average mileage (18 mpg), it's almost 9 years old, and has AWD, which is necessary where I live. I get reimbursed a decent amount for my mileage, which comes to about 200-300 dollars a month.
I try to do minor errands (drugstore, fish market, bakery) by bike for about 8 months out of the year, but major stuff, like grocery shopping, no.
My dilemma is that while frankly, I can afford to absorb the increased gas prices, it is a huge change from my former lifestyle, where first I lived 6.7 miles from work and then about 13.8 miles. While my clients are all around 5-15 miles from my house, my office is about 26 miles, and I have 2 clients near there. I only go to the office 2-3 days a week and I rarely drive my car on the weekends, as we use DH's. My intention is to stay at my job until I am licensed (at least until the end of June 2013, probably longer), but I recently had a talk with the physician at my office, who also works at the clinic 5 miles from my house. He said he could help me get a job there. The only way I could justify leaving my clients would be the "gas prices" argument. And, I would probably have to work a little more in terms of hours. It's a problem for me at this point.

[marni]

when we left the Netherlands in 2004, one Euro was equal to $1.00. Gas at that point was $5.00 or 5 Euros a liter ( 1 gallon =3.87 liter.)

There is a very strong infrastructure of alternate transportation including feet in the Netherlands and always has been. We survived 15 years and three kids with scouting, sports, after school and school activities with 1 car that was used primarily for weekend touristing excursions or if my husband had to drive to the work site in Belgium.

My own little pontiac vibe sits in the driveways several days in a row several times a week. I am very lucky that we live where the only paces I go to on a regular basis are within a 10-12 mile radius, and that the gym is understanding and lets me bring my "bebe" inside and park it next to the reception desk instead of having to leave it chained out in the parking lot of the strip mall where the gym is located.

I cannot see how people like my neighbor (a self employed painting contractor) who have to drive all over , pay for their gas and have to have a larger vehicle for equipment
manage.Nor can I see the city of Houston actually using any of the gasoline taxes for their designated purposes except to build more freeways to empty fields waiting to be filled with ticky tacky houses of suburbia.

Not *****ing, just wondering where all of this is going.

marni

Just sayin-

[shootingstar]

The public transportation system (the buses) in Charlotte started at around 8am and were back in their base by 10pm. Where my husband worked he couldn't have used it if he wanted to. Day shift started at 4:45am and ended at 3:45pm. 2nd shift started at 3:45pm and ended at 2:45am. No way to use the public transportation system. Charlotte did built one light rail line (southern part of the city) which is has been successful. However they want to build two more lines.

Koronin, I'm just going by my personal experience on light rail commuter local transit for Toronto and Vancouver:

I believe their lines open up (except for Sunday which is later) @ 5:00am and close aroun 1:00am. That is the norm. In Toronto there are a few bus lines that run 24 hrs., but not many.

I believe those are the best open available hrs. for any major Canadian city transit system. Maybe the U.S. has a city that runs 24 hrs. service but highly doubtful for all their major lines? Somehow I would doubt that. No one is saying ban cars since night shift workers need to drive.

Metro Vancouver and Metro Toronto have high VERY vocal large number of citizens who express their ongoing need for expanded transit.
Citizen voice en masse and persistent must be there with ongoing participation at every opportunity in open houses, open forums. This is why transit issues in those 2 cities are discussed. People don't give up entirely.

In fact just 1.5 wks. ago , the chief head for Toronto Transit was fired by the commission. He did nothing wrong, he spoke up against the Mayor. He received huge public support....goes to show you the citizens cannot sit back and complain privately.

Vancouver continues to press onward even when their transit authority mistakenly dipped into their reserve fund and left a bit of a deficit. Still the lines are being planned now. In Calgary, there continues to be media coverage for the construction woes. Whatever. But in the end, there will be expanded service.

Controversy is part of the birthing process. Can't back down. I don't know what car drivers expect: do they think they can still drive safety @ 82 yrs. old, 90 yrs. old? Walkable sustainable communities close to services becomes very important over time. Liviing out in rural areas is great...if you have lots of reliable, helpful friends for life. The birth rate is dropping, less people are having children. (Of course, not all children look after their elders, ie. drive them around..)

[shootingstar]

There is a very strong infrastructure of alternate transportation including feet in the Netherlands and always has been. We survived 15 years and three kids with scouting, sports, after school and school activities with 1 car that was used primarily for weekend touristing excursions or if my husband had to drive to the work site in Belgium.

My own little pontiac vibe sits in the driveways several days in a row several times a week. I am very lucky that we live where the only paces I go to on a regular basis are within a 10-12 mile radius, and that the gym is understanding and lets me bring my "bebe" inside and park it next to the reception desk instead of having to leave it chained out in the parking lot of the strip mall where the gym is located.

Marni, since you lived in the Netherlands and had the great experience of raising a family without super heavy use of cars, now living in Texas, you're a poster family of how it is possible to adapt. If the community is properly designed with transportation alternatives.