Cost of gasoline, worldwide- Good thing we bike

[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.

[hebe]

... My car gets very average mileage (18 mpg), it's almost 9 years old, and has AWD, which is necessary where I live.

I think this illustrates perfectly one of the differences between countries with a history of lower fuel prices and those with a history of higher prices. In the States there doesn't seem to be any real pressure on manufacturers to make cars that are more economical to run. Over here, it's not just a case of how much it costs to fill your tank, but also how much tax you pay on your company car and how much VED (erroneously known as road tax) you pay - both are mimimised if you run a car that has lower CO2 emissions. Once policy changes are announced we soon see changes in the new cars that are offered to us. Over here, 18mpg would be considered quite poor, rather than average. I have a small car that does a lot of stop/start short journeys and I typically get 48mpg from it. I should be getting more too. I think my husband's last-but-one one was an Audi saloon with AWD, and that cleared 30mpg on shorter journeys. I honestly think that there needs to be a seismic shift in what car manufacturers are offering, in order for fuel usage to come down.

[Blueberry]

FWIW I'm in the US, and I don't think 18 mpg is average for a car. Maybe an SUV, but not a car. One of our cars averages in the mid-20's (up to 30 on the highway). The other, newer one approaches 40 on the highway.

I don't know of very many cars here that would approach 50, though....

[tulip]

I agree, 18mph is quite low for a car. Even my friend's pickup truck gets 22-25. My little car gets 30 last time I kept track, which I consider only okay. I put just over $50 in it a couple of weeks ago; thankfully I don't drive it much.

I do think that car manufacturers are starting to finally offer higher mileage vehicles, although it's taken them way too long over here. Part of the reason is that people won't drive small cars here. My car is small here, and when I rented one just like it in Europe, it was considerably larger than many of the cars on the road. I would love a Peugeot 206 diesel, but there's no way to get one here.

[Catrin]

I agree that 18mph does sound much lower than average - for a new car. Wasn't it just 3 years or so ago when the car industry had their hands slapped for advertising much higher gas mileage for many of their models than anyone with average driving habits could hope to attain?

My last three cars got >30mph, and it tends to be higher in the summer as I do more highway driving.

I am happy with my move from the Lancer to the Soul. Still a foreign car, but the Soul gets slightly better mileage, I sit up higher so I don't feel lost in a forest of SUVs around me at the lights, and it doesn't take up much of a parking space. For some odd reason it is considered a "small station wagon", but it works.

This year I hope to get a bit more comfortable with urban riding so that, perhaps, I can start riding for a little more than pleasure. Considering where I shop though I can't see my being able to do that by bike... I live 20 miles from work, and would like to attempt a commute at some point, we will see.

[Owlie]

I agree, 18mph is quite low for a car. Even my friend's pickup truck gets 22-25. My little car gets 30 last time I kept track, which I consider only okay. I put just over $50 in it a couple of weeks ago; thankfully I don't drive it much.

I do think that car manufacturers are starting to finally offer higher mileage vehicles, although it's taken them way too long over here. Part of the reason is that people won't drive small cars here. My car is small here, and when I rented one just like it in Europe, it was considerably larger than many of the cars on the road. I would love a Peugeot 206 diesel, but there's no way to get one here.

Depends on how old the car is, though. My Honda's nearly 13 years old and gets about 20 mpg city and 27 highway, ideally. As far as I can tell, that was decent back when the car was new. A 2012 Accord (with approximately the same specs as my car) gets 23mpg city and 34 on the highway.

My car gets better gas mileage than my friend's Pontiac of the same year, though.

[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.

[Koronin]

Shootingstar, I remember Toronto's rail system about 15-20 years ago being very accessible as far as tourists go. I went there with my dad for a weekend for vacation and we used the subway/rail system while we were there. Most US cities don't have any public transportation and if they do it pretty much is useless to the majority of citizens. New York City and Washington DC are the exceptions of having decent to good public transportation. I know Boston and Chicago also have public transportation, but I've never used either of their systems.

[Crankin]

Our public transportation system is in the throes of financial crisis, at the same time that ridership is increasing quite quickly. There have been all kinds of public forums where riders and now major employers are speaking out about the cuts being proposed. People are willing to absorb a fare increase at this point. Our transit system is quite inexpensive compared to other major cities. This morning I actually heard that one of the proposed cuts would be on one of the lines that serves the Longwood Medical area, i.e. Brigham and Woman's, Dana Farber, Children's Hospital. Those employers have a ton of clout, so we shall see.
Change happens very slowly here. There are a lot of people who depend entirely on public transportation, too. Not sure what's going to happen in the end.

[shootingstar]

Even when my parents finally bought a car, they made sure each time they moved from 1 home to another, that the home was within a 15-min. to public transit.

All of my siblings have acquired homes in very different areas of Metro Toronto and even for those who have cars(1-2 cars per family), they each bought a home within 15-min. walk of local transit. Of course, being accessible, in Metro Toronto and Vancouver to transit, can add value to your home property.

Parents' decison-making on home location, can influence way down the road of the type of lifestyle, home location a person chooses later in life...amongst others factors, housing market value, location of job, etc.

Someone at work here, told me she met a woman whose 2 children (now young adults) had never used local public transit in their life. And they live within our city. In the city where I live and knowing its configuration, it's almost unimaginable (to me). Light rail transit has existed in our city for the past 20 yrs., bus service longer than that. (We used to have streetcars running through downtown core.)

[Koronin]

The one light rail line in Charlotte was built within the last 5 years. They've had bus service longer. However, get outside the major metro areas and public transportation is non existent. I never did use the public transportation in Charlotte, but we lived outside of Charlotte and with hubby's work hours it wasn't available and I worked in the town we lived in the most part. When I did work in Charlotte I had the same issues, the hours I worked were not compatible to public transportation. The city I grew up in never has and does not have public transportation. It's a city of around 50,000. I have no issues using public transportation as long as it's convenient and well actually useful.