Do you drive less in response to higher gas prices?

[nat whilk II]

Articles I read here and there tend toward a consensus that people overall are not driving less in spite of the stubborn spike in gas prices.

 

If you are not driving less, I'm curious - where do you get the extra money for the gas?

 

1. just increase your credit card balances?

2. save money from other things in order to keep consuming gas at the same pace?

3. buy a more gas-efficient vehicle?

4. don't know- don't care?

 

nat whilk ii

[doug osborne]

I travel the same amount as a year ago, but use half the gas. Work is 21 miles away and girlfriend is 11 miles away - the rest is negotiable, but I tend to avoid unnecessary driving.

 

I bought a car - a Toyota Yaris - that uses half the gas as my last one.

[UstadKhanAli]

No. I don't drive any less, but that's because I don't drive unless I have to as it is. I'd be perfectly happy if I never had to drive, but unfortunately, that's rather hard to do in my situation.

[alphajerk]

i drive less if possible. sometimes its unavoidable, but wouldnt drive if i didnt have to.

[Ernest Buckley]

Don`t use my cars much to begin with so it has not affected us yet, however it does make me shake my head when I am spending more than 3x what I was spending on gas just 9 years ago.

 

I thought stealing oil was going to lower prices?

 

EB

[Lee Knight]

I drive less.

 

I still commute to work. But other than that I stay in my neighborhood. For a while I was taking the train into work which was great but the schedule doesn't work for me anymore. So I'm stuck commuting, but that's it.

[alphajerk]

I thought stealing oil was going to lower prices? EB

 

bush couldnt find oil in Iraq either...

[blue2blue]

No!

 

That would be letting the terrorists win!

 

 

 

Er... wait...

 

Yes... I do drive less. Definitely.

 

Not so much because of the money... more because it's getting harder and harder to justify hauling a ton and a half of metal around with me when I want to go sip coffee in a cafe... not that I don't do that... but I do a lot less of it.

 

I mean, my town has an okay bus system and I have not one but TWO bikes...

[EccentRick]

No! That would be letting the terrorists win!

 

LOL Yep. Like Exxon, Mobil, ad nauseum...

 

I am definitely driving less. And, if the current climate change trend holds, I'll be back on a bike and a bike (unnerstan'?) in the near future for much of my travel.

 

 

Rick

[Rabid]

Most definately. The first big price hike happened two days after I traded my 4-cyl car for a Jeep Liberty that gets 18 mpg highway. Two years ago I made 300 mile round trips to the city every other weekend. Now I go twice a year.

[Kendrix]

90% of my driving is 22 miles to/from work. That doesnt/can't change.

Of the remaining 10% I am a bit more careful. For instance, Im running all my errands on one trip- versus multiple outings. Unfortunately, the percentage reduction realized from this is negligible.

 

So Im somehow spending less on other things to keep my wheels turning.

Right now I can handle that.

However, the gas prices hit my college aged kids really hard.

[rasputin1963]

Absolutely. I just bought a new car, but have to plan out all my trips and excursions. This beautiful shiny car just sits out in the sun most of the time.

[gatorwing]

I try to drive less and use the motorcycle more often than the car.

 

I budget $200 a month for gas, so the increase hasn't affected me yet. I used to drive 300 miles every 4 days, but since I moved its more like 7 or so days to get to 300 miles.

 

If it does exceed the budget limit, the extra cost will just mean less money to go into the savings account.

[Magpel]

The short answer is that it would be hard for me to drive much less than I do...

 

I work at home, so I don't log a lot of miles in the name of work. My wife's commute amounts to about 10 miles a day, so we're pretty cool there as well. My village, where most of what's left of my "hanging out" occurs, is about a 20 minute walk away on a lovely 20-mile stretch of converted rail track--called the rail trail--which I pick up in my backyard. So i generally walk to town, unless I'm hauling gear of course...which I don't do that much of, belonging as I do to a rather more "boutique" than "working" rock group. And when I go for nights out in NYC, I usually take the train, though I will drive if it's a good time to be driving in to the city, like Saturdays.

 

Our one extravagance, I suppose, is that I do drive my son to school in the a.m. It buys him an extra 15 to 20 minutes of chill time, which is vital to him. Its a less than 10 miles round trip, but I do it five days a week. Come to think of it, that's costoing me about a buck fifty a day at he current rate!

 

Even so, the results at the pump astonish me. I'm thinking I'll get a hyrbrid one of these years, tho as a rule I refuse to buy new cars. We'll see.

[nat whilk II]

I'm trying to drive less with mixed results. I work out of the house, so that's a great gas saver, but I still have to trek into town and around for meetings and errands.

 

I try to stack my errands and meetings to hit as many spots as possible on the round-trip.

 

I rarely drive in rush hour(s). It's a shock all over again every time I do. Lord, what a waste of time and petrol...my sympathies to all who can't avoid it.

 

I wonder if it will come to taxing mileage some day. Come to think of it, tollroads are a form of taxing mileage. Or maybe we'll have to "buy" mileage allotments.

 

nat whilk ii

[elsongs]

I do. I've worked out a means of travel based on distance, it works great for me:

 

0-5 miles: walk or bicycle

5-10 miles: ride train or bus

10 or more miles: drive

 

Of course, I do drive regardless of distance when I have to haul gear obviously.

 

Granted, not everyone can do this, especially if they live out in the countryside or in the suburbs. Yes I live in Los Angeles, but I live in the middle of the city where many services and amenities are within reach, many of them even within walking distance. I also have a Metro Rail (subway) station located just three blocks from my house.

 

Many people don't realize that taking many short trips via automobile adds more wear and tear to your car, is bad for your fuel economy and even emits more pollutants than taking a single long trip. Of course the oil companies will not tell you this.

[*Satan*]

I don't know what price fuel has reached in the states, but over here in the Uk it's been around

[Anderton]

I don't drive much, except to the airport when I have a tight schedule, which is a 130 mile round trip. I have a diesel VW that gets 44 MPG city and 50 highway, so I'm affected much less than others who have to commute...and where I live, nearly everything I need to get to (supermarket, post office, daughter guitar lessons, etc.) is less than 5 or so miles away.

 

I buy my gas on the reservation when I got to the airport, and that's usually enough to last me until the next trip. Because reservations aren't techically part of the US, they have a different tax thing and I pay around 20-30 cents less per gallon.

[Monkey Mouse]

The last 2 and 1/2 years I had been taking the bus into NYC for work - so I drive maybe 3K a year. However, I am starting a new job next week that I will have to drive to - about 175 miles a week (plus another 25 or so leisure). At least my car gets 25mpg+ so I only have to fill up about every 2 weeks or so.

[nat whilk II]

I don't know what price fuel has reached in the states, but over here in the Uk it's been around

[chipmcdonald]

It's insane, and there's no reason for it other than gouging.

 

My car (2000 Toyota Celica) is rated at 28 mpg city - but I can get 33 mpg out of it with certain "tricks".

 

What sucks though, is that my yearly splurge - driving to Indianapolis for the United States Grand Prix (that's F1 racing, not NASCAR...), is going to kill me this year. I've gotten about 34+mpg doing it the past 2 years, but... I'm afraid this year.

 

The oil companies have record profits. It's destroying the economy. My own business is getting wrecked because I'm losing customers that used to routinely drive from 15+ miles away - who now can't afford to.

 

It would seem to be a "national crisis" sort of thing - and it would seem the oil industry has the government tied into pushing non-electric "solutions", while raising prices arbitrarily.

 

It's going to wreck our GDP (we won't see it, though - they'll continue to cook the books as per David Stockman).

 

I just want my car to hold out long enough that I can save up to get an electric car one day, and I hope prices in the mean time don't completely destroy my business (and the rest of the economy).

 

Oh well. "All Hail the Homeland!"....

[scud133]

Ok some quick math:

 

Average gas price May 2006: $2.86/gal

Average gas price May 2007: $3.20/gal

source

 

15 gallons @ $2.86/gal = $42.90

15 gallons @ $3.20/gal = $48.00

 

Difference: $5.10

Even if you fill up your tank every week, that's only $20 more a month.

 

Do you guys really think that this change is having a drastic enough effect to really alter people's lives ??

 

If people change their habits it's purely psychological because a $5 change should not be enough of an incentive to modify your lifestyle

[slight-return]

I generally bicycle - as ex-power-touring cylist, my idea of "doable range" tends to be different-- Iv found it not to be a strength thing (as a 4 season power-tour guy, I would often be in what a ypical event cyclist would consider a state of over-training) but a technique thing

 

It's been really great to see my wife go through the stages of learning, not only the hows of cycling, but of travelling on cycle

 

I suppose where I do drive is the put-in for the kayaks, hopefully in the near future I will be able to get a folding kayak (they can actually work very well) to aleviate that -- while I have towed my kayak, it can be difficult to maneuver as its abt 17'-6"

[Beck]

 

Ok some quick math: Average gas price May 2006: $2.86/gal Average gas price May 2007: $3.20/gal source 15 gallons @ $2.86/gal = $42.90 15 gallons @ $3.20/gal = $48.00 Difference: $5.10 Even if you fill up your tank every week, that's only $20 more a month. Do you guys really think that this change is having a drastic enough effect to really alter people's lives ?? If people change their habits it's purely psychological because a $5 change should not be enough of an incentive to modify your lifestyle

 

 

The math doesn

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

But you know that the gas price raised, because you all drive too much... cough cough

 

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