Gasoline Prices, and your Z

[MikeW]

My opinion is that the only way mass transit should exist is if it pays for itself. If you can't make enough money to pay for the busses and buy the fuel with the bus fares, then it shouldn't exist.

While I agree in principal with things paying for themselves (Amtrak, the postal service, etc.) I wonder if the interstate highway system could have paid for itself using a tolls?

[Fun_in_my_z]

We should all drive Ariel Atoms!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fpfv8FsNQo

Ugly, well to some, powered by honda, well a little disapointing Faster than Sh*t for sure. Fun to drive...looks like it to me.

Good gas mileage? who cares!

That thing gose like stink!

[jmortensen]

Funding for highways needs to come from somewhere, and the original interstate highway buildup in the 50s wouldn't have happened if there hadn't been a governmental agenda to make it happen. It would eventually have happened, but how long it took and what we ended up with might have been a lot different. Whether that is for the better or worse now is impossible to say.

I don't think tolls is necessarily the place to get funds for roads, although I'm sure it would work. Gas taxes work in this case. The gas you buy is almost entirely used on the roads; dirt bikes and lawn mowers are about the only exception and while I have no figures to back me up I think we can all agree that they make up a TINY fraction of a percent of the gas sold. Tolls don't seem like a good way to gather money because they require you stop to pay the toll for one, and then the amount of money that would have to be charged would need to be calculated to be correct for that road in order for the toll to be "accurate". Otherwise we'd be bitching about toll gouging.

[Fun_in_my_z]

You have a point there jm. Im sorry to say this, but it wouldnt matter if we where paying 1.00 a gallon, peaple will always be bitching about it

[dk240z]

Gas at $3.00 a gallon, I don't care! Changed jobs.Last year I drove 80 miles round trip, now it's 25 miles round trip. Plus, I doubled my income, from 40K+, to 80K+. That's America. Love it, or LEAVE!

[Ron Carter]

Spoken like a true Texan.... :)

I think this will drive the market to find an alternative technology HHO technology looks good at this point....

We will see.

[dk240z]

Ron:

Are you coming out for the ZCCA in Dallas? If so, bring the BRE, so I can buy it off of you for $100,000, and use it for my daily driver!

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=15084&cat=500&ppuser=6119

DK

[280z1975]

Do you know who pays for your mass transit? You do. THREE times. I did some checking because I generally don't like mass transit in principle, and here in Seattle it's been reported that we have "some of the best in the country." Turns out your $1.50 bus fare isn't even close to keeping the busses running, so it's gasoline and car registration taxes that pay for all that crap. T ... snip

The only place in the US that I can think of that has a mass transit system that works is New York, but then again, I have never used it so I can say it's 100% true.

On the other hand, I have used the mass transit system in Belgium while living there and can say it DOES work ... why there and not in the US ... well, it's smaller and the culture and livestyle of people are built around it. When I lived there I could WALK to the grocery store, butcher and baker. Other ammenities, I rode a crappy 20 dollar beater bike. Wanted to go to another city? Road the crappy beater bike to the train station (or took a bus if it was bad weather) and took the train system that worked from 4:30am to 1am ish.

There it works, but in the US the society and infastructure is set up to where if we want simple things like a hair cut, groceries, and just about ANYTHING you need a car to get there and it's going to take you at least 15 minutes each way. At least that was how it worked where I lived in Houston. Where I am living now it's a 'little' better, I can walk to some things, but still need a car. I guess that is one of the main appeals me and my wife have about going back to Belgium to live. A life style that is more centraly based around your home and you then the US can provide. But don't worry, when I make the move the Z goes with me .

[CRrider1988]

I filled mine up with regular yesterday, it was almost empty, i think my tank is 14gal. or something and i put 13 in it. It cost 38.50. It was 2.94 per gallon, that is the cheapest i could find here in oregon. I drive well over 100 miles per day, usually about 20+ dollars a day just from home to school and back.

[rtaylor]

I guess I went to the extreme to combat high fuel prices. My daily driver was an Escalade which is now parked in the driveway. I drive 90 miles roud trip to work and it was costing me $20 daily. I purchased a Toyota Prius. Now I am paying $5 a day and getting 48.9 MPG. I am gambling that fuel prices will increase. Hopefully the hybrid will save me money in the long run. It already saves me time being able to jump into the carpool lanes by myself.

[dk240z]

Wait a minute!

You bought a Prius? O.K. So, lets say it cost $25K, Right. Alright, based on your mileage in the Escalade per year, At $4 dollars a gallon for gas, you could have driven the Caddy for five years for what you bought the Prius for.

And, the battery replacement for the Prius is roughly $4K to $5K in five years. So, IMO you should be driving the Caddy. Besides, you can't tow your Zcar with your Prius!

DK

[dk240z]

Wait a minute!

You bought a Prius? O.K. So, lets say it cost $25K, Right. Alright, based on your mileage in the Escalade per year, At $4 dollars a gallon for gas, you could have driven the Caddy for five years for what you bought the Prius for.

And, the battery replacement for the Prius is roughly $4K to $5K in five years. So, IMO you should be driving the Caddy. Besides, you can't tow your Zcar with your Prius!

DK