[eastbay]

At $4.00 or $5.00/gallon there will be little discernable change in driving habits across most of America. For most commuters the extra 2, 3, or even 5 bucks a day more for gas mean very little.

We'll have to see it hit $6 to $8.00/gallon before traffic begins to ease up and people quit buying those stupid looking and skanky SUV's and large p/u trucks.

[lotrfan55345]

No more shopping trips to malls 70 miles away!

[I_Like_Plants]

Eastbay I wish you were right .... sad to say my friend but I've known people who are on a razor-thin budget, eat ramen noodles for lunch or skip lunch so they can drive to work to drive to work to drive .....

Listen to all those ads on the radio, how "XYZ Company can help you re-structure your mortgage and save you $300 a month!" well, people are scraping just to keep their expenses down by $100 a month .... gas goes to $4 there should be a lot of people discovering bikes and the bus....

[bentstrider]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', 'I') know a guy whose car "died" recently, he's taking a combination of bus and light rail to work, he doesn't have to travel that far, I'm trying to convince him to get a bike. He says even if he gets a car again he can't afford the gas for it, and I believe him, he's not making a lot. $10 an hour maybe.

Life for a lot of the working class in the US is miserable because of car costs Car Costs CAR COSTS!! Listen to them talk or talk with them and it's always the subject. Many can live with a lot more breathing room if they can get away with biking it, but first the image of a bike only person being a loser has to change.

[k_semler]

For me $4 gas will mean draining all the lines at the station of excess fuel, (each line holds about a pint after the pump shuts off), before each fill up, and going 45 on the highway, (unless the speed limit was less). At that point, I wouldn't care if the speed limit is 60. I would go 45 to save gas, and use EVERY gas saving tip I could think of. I would also be filling up every day so the sticker shock would be less.

[evilmonkeyspanker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bentstrider', '
')Man, $10/hr is a fortune compared to the $7.50/hr I make.

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Macsporan', 'H')ere in God's Own Country (He likes deserts you know) the cost of satisfaction at my own local Petroleum Emporium has jumped from 110 to 120 cents/litre in less than a week.

I would not be surprised if more was on the way.

Fear not, dear Trans-Pacific friends, you do not suffer alone.

Perhaps in future we'll be able to cross the briny on fast clipper-ships and eat each others grandmothers.

It's something to hope for.

[eastbay]

Yeah, I-Like-Plants, you may be right, but it's all a matter of scale and perspective, I suppose. The rise in gas prices from $1.00 to $3.00/gallon over the last few years only encouraged sales of crappy mileage vehicles and traffic is only getting heavier.

I rode to work at 1600 hrs on my MC and lane split through the same traffic jams as usual last week. And on the rides home it was the same late-night commuters, zig-zagging drunks and speeders as usual at 0200. That's with $3.20 gas. When will the price get high enough to put a dent in traffic?? Who knows, but it certainly isn't $3.20/gallon gas.

One thing for sure is we'll all find out soon enough the price that breaks things up a bit.

EastBay

[bentstrider]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', 'Y')eah, I-Like-Plants, you may be right, but it's all a matter of scale and perspective, I suppose. The rise in gas prices from $1.00 to $3.00/gallon over the last few years only encouraged sales of crappy mileage vehicles and traffic is only getting heavier.

I rode to work at 1600 hrs on my MC and lane split through the same traffic jams as usual last week. And on the rides home it was the same late-night commuters, zig-zagging drunks and speeders as usual at 0200. That's with $3.20 gas. When will the price get high enough to put a dent in traffic?? Who knows, but it certainly isn't $3.20/gallon gas.

One thing for sure is we'll all find out soon enough the price that breaks things up a bit.

EastBay

[I_Like_Plants]

All this is making me VERY glad I have kept my "motorcycle rating' on my license.

[earthgirl]

I can totally associate with so many of you, living at the lower end of the spectrum...We too have already cut many of the extras, as all costs have gone up but I've had no cost-of-living increase in about 3 years. $4/gal means I'll take the bus even more (regardless of the fact that this is a small town area and the busses are only hourly, making me a slave to the poor schedule...but at least we have a bus to ride), walk and bicycle even more, go fewer places.

Interesting that the MC classes are filling up. I'm considering my first motorcycle (small but highway legal). At least I would still have a little commuting freedom, as long as I'm not taken out by one of our many VERY large p/ups and Suburbans!