Cost of gasoline, worldwide- Good thing we bike

[shootingstar]

This is from a woman's blog posted today. She lived in Saudi Arabia for many years since she was married to a Saudi. So she does occasionally talk about an economy so closely tied to oil. Then she returned to the U.S.
http://americanbedu.com/2012/03/04/s...t-of-gasoline/


"In case you were wondering, when compared to other countries around the world, a gallon of gas in the United States could be considered reasonable. I am near Charlotte, North Carolina and tend to pay about US$3.80 per gallon. That cost is outrageous to me but after seeing the following statistics I guess I’m glad I’m in the USA and not Norway!"

Most Expensive Gas in the World: Asmara, Eritrea
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $9.58
Cost per gallon of premium gas: (Unavailable)

2nd Most Expensive: Oslo, Norway
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $9.33
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $9.69

3rd Most Expensive: Rome
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $8.51
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.71

4th Most Expensive: Copenhagen, Denmark
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $8.48
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.77

5th Most Expensive: Monte Carlo, Monaco
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $8.46
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.55

6th Most Expensive: London
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $8.12
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.35

7th Most Expensive: Paris
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $8.06
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.56

8th Most Expensive: Hong Kong
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $7.85
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.30

9th Most Expensive: Berlin
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $7.76
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $8.34

10th Most Expensive: Tokyo
Cost per gallon of regular gas: $6.59
Cost per gallon of premium gas: $7.15

[Blueberry]

It's funny - for most of my professional life, I've had a long commute with no good transportation alternatives. I've been very in tune with gas prices for that reason.

Recently, I work from home mostly. I try to run errands by bike (but that has fallen by the wayside with the house selling stress of the last month, sadly). I drive a much more fuel efficient car. Even though I'm not biking, I'm still going ~3 weeks or so on a tank. I had hardly noticed prices were increasing until the news made a big deal of it, and my family called it to my attention.

I do hope people will look for alternatives. And that alternatives will be available. But, I worry that we're so far behind in infrastructure for alternative transportation (mass transit, bike, walk) that people will be forced to sacrifice healthy food for fuel.

[zoom-zoom]

I saw this yesterday and laughed:


10+ years ago people actually teased us for choosing to drive small, efficient, FWD, manual transmission cars when 4WD/AWD SUVs were all the rage and we had a small child. NO ONE pokes fun, anymore. In fact, I've gotten a lot of queries and compliments towards my Mazda 3 hatchback, though it's not nearly as efficient as I would like (newer ones are rated for better mileage). I notice the cars in line to pick up kids at my son's school are getting smaller, too. People have finally figured out that they don't need a vehicle that seats 7 when they only have 1-2 kids.

[Owlie]

Zoom-zoom, that's funny, and sadly true...

Even though my commute is short, I live in a town with limited transportation options--no public transport to speak of, and it's not safe to bike or walk in my estimation, especially since I'm coming home around 8pm! (Since the way home is county land, no one's bothered to put in sidewalks, even though the town I live in does actually have them. I do not understand Ohio.) I drive a relatively fuel-efficient vehicle, though it is 12 years old. A tank of gas lasts me 3-4 weeks unless I'm driving to Cincinnati. I suppose I should take the bike rack off and get those fuel lines sorted out. That would help a ton too.

[Koronin]

The type of work I do I have to drive and a for me a tank of gas lasts anywhere from 1 week to 3 weeks depending on how much out of town work I have to do. The sad part is only one of the companies I work for gives any kind of gas money. So I have cut down of the work I do out of town. We did recently purchase a more fuel efficient car for me for work, but the bigger reason was it's also a more useful work car. My new work car is a used Nissan Versa. My other car (yes kept it) is a Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS. My husband drives a Ford Ranger that he gets just over a week out of a tank of gas. We live way too far for him to even attempt to bike to work and there's really no public transportation at all. Although he is considering if they allow it to park near a bike trail on base and bike the rest of the way to work and then after work bike back to the truck as that would cut down on some of the driving distance although it won't cut down on sitting in traffic trying to get off base. Once he's off base it's not a bad drive home.

[Jolt]

So glad I can walk to work and a lot of my everyday errands...

[lph]

It's not quite fair to compare without adjusting for cost of living, but still - I think prices here should be even higher. A very unpopular view outside of the cities, but still.

[shootingstar]

It's not quite fair to compare without adjusting for cost of living, but still - I think prices here should be even higher. A very unpopular view outside of the cities, but still.

Interesting lph.
But I suspect in Eritera, things /economy are so out of whack because whatever else is going on there, along with corruptness that causes an unstable economy.

I sincerely don't know the gas prices in my province off the top of my head. I'm not sure if our province is much different than other Canadian provinces. I just don't look at gas station signage. We don't have a car.

[zoom-zoom]

It's not quite fair to compare without adjusting for cost of living, but still - I think prices here should be even higher. A very unpopular view outside of the cities, but still.

Nope, I'm with you. DH and I don't say it out-loud very often, but we're sorta happy when gas prices go up...and that's even with DH's 30 minute commute each way. The only negative to the prices going up is the # of people who are struggling financially and HAVE to drive and may not have the means to change their driving habits and remain employed. Because we don't have viable public transportation options in a lot of areas it really can make things difficult for many. That part I don't like.

But when the well-heeled whine that putting gas in their Hummer or power boat is becoming a strain I want to smack them.

[lph]

Thanks, zoom-zoom. Just for the record, I was just speaking for Norway ("here"), because I know Norwegian society better. I know, I'm lucky to live in a city that has good public transport, and where I can bike to work. Many people outside of the bigger towns don't have this, and high gas prices will affect them unfairly much. But no way are people going to kick up a fuss and demand better bus routes if the easiest and cheapest way to travel always and forever is by car.

[zoom-zoom]

Thanks, zoom-zoom. Just for the record, I was just speaking for Norway ("here"), because I know Norwegian society better. I know, I'm lucky to live in a city that has good public transport, and where I can bike to work. Many people outside of the bigger towns don't have this, and high gas prices will affect them unfairly much. But no way are people going to kick up a fuss and demand better bus routes if the easiest and cheapest way to travel always and forever is by car.

Yep, that's my feeling, too. Though when our prices go up it doesn't mean that the added money is going into infrastructure, unfortunately...it usually means that some execs pockets are getting lined.

[shootingstar]

Unless part of the gas price, is a tax that goes specifically for transit infrastructure development, etc.

Now, if a municipality had a supported plan in writing etc., would alot of drivers truly protest that one vs. lining the pockets of oil execs.?

[Blueberry]

Unless part of the gas price, is a tax that goes specifically for transit infrastructure development, etc.

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.

[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.