Foo - Gas Prices. The magic number.

Well, we all hear people biatching and moaning about gas prices but that is about all they do. Nobody I know has taken any drastic steps to conserve and spend less. That tells me that $2.80 per gallon is not high enough for people to alter behavior around here. Probably two out of three people that I know drive SUV's, many of them are Yukons or Expeditions, the really HUGE ones.

These people continue to drive all over creation and shell out big bucks at the pump. I don't know of one person that has written a congress person, or started riding a bike, walking, staying home etc. Everything is just business as usual.

So what do you think the price per gallon has to hit for people to drastically alter behavior? By drastic I mean, making BIG changes like selling SUV for smaller car. Or by walking or cycling to work instead of driving.

Portis, Remember ALL Gas companies (good and bad are utility companies)
They push the threshold. When they find a threshold which last year was 3 dollars a gallon - people took action so it dropped down. It can now probably push 3.5 - 4.0 before people will take notice

I don't think that as many people will take notice as before as I think that the gas companies are slowly mnarching it up 5 cents a month/week in the hopes that people will just get used to being raped.

And there just are not enough good alternatives everywhere for everybody to use.

But to answer the question i think 3.50/4.00

Personally, I think the magic number is north of $5.00/gal... it starts to really hurt then I think, especially to the gas-guzzlers. I would like to see this extra tax going towards development of better road-maintenance, bike-paths and mass-transit systems.

I was in Montreal visiting my grandma a while back. It's roughly the same size as S.F., but rather than having to spend $100/day on parking and taxis, and spending hours walking to my destinations, I was able to get around anywhere in the city with the subway and bus within 15-minutes! The subway's a big ring around the city, take it as close as you can to your target, and your pass works on the buses, which come every 3-4 minutes. Simply amazing! :)

TexasGuy,
I don't disagree with you but I think that there is a point where people quit looking at the price per gallon and start being floored by what the pump says. Consider that a Yukon may hold 35 gallons. A Yukon can fill up today at $2.80 and the pump reads $84. Granted that sounds bad but consider that at $3.35 per gallon it will cost him $100.50.

I bet it is psychologically a lot harder to spend $100.50 than $84.

TexasGuy,
I don't disagree with you but I think that there is a point where people quit looking at the price per gallon and start being floored by what the pump says. Consider that a Yukon may hold 35 gallons. A Yukon can fill up today at $2.80 and the pump reads $84. Granted that sounds bad but consider that at $3.35 per gallon it will cost him $100.50.

I bet it is psychologically a lot harder to spend $100.50 than $84.
That really depends.
My dad has a Tahoe. When they have a lot of equipment or supplies they have to pick up they have to use the Tahoe because the Tahoe probalby has maybe 35-50% more room and can pull a big heavy flatbed while the Rav can't. My dad then offsets that extra 20 bucks by not eating as much that week, or not buying some other thing. So for alot of people they will just find themselves offsetting. Yes some people will change, but some habbits can't be changed, at least not until something more economically and financially feasible is available that fits the lifestyles. And no matter what any zealot will say, that is not available for many people.

it's already changed me. i wouldn't buy a car now unless i were making $150,000 plus a year.

That really depends.
My dad has a Tahoe. When they have a lot of equipment or supplies they have to pick up they have to use the Tahoe because the Tahoe probalby has maybe 35-50% more room and can pull a big heavy flatbed while the Rav can't. My dad then offsets that extra 20 bucks by not eating as much that week, or not buying some other thing. So for alot of people they will just find themselves offsetting. Yes some people will change, but some habbits can't be changed, at least not until something more economically and financially feasible is available that fits the lifestyles. And no matter what any zealot will say, that is not available for many people.

Yep. The more gas costs, the more the rest of the economy suffers from less consumption (not that consuming less is bad or anything).

Choices... Do I fill the gas tank and skip going out to lunch during work to offset that cost? It's a good thing I like Ramen Noodles. And it's a good thing I can work from home a few days a week. I'm lobbying my boss to make it three days a week from home. It makes a huge difference in spending on gas. And I get an hour or two of my day back to ride more!

To answer the original question, I think $5.00 a gallon will be a big psychological barrier for American drivers. The 31 mpg I get in my Vibe is okay, but it still hurts at the pump!

Hehe. I'm the same way, sort of. While I won't go car free. I cycle to work 4 out of 5 days.

Yep. The more gas costs, the more the rest of the economy suffers from less consumption (not that consuming less is bad or anything).

Choices... Do I fill the gas tank and skip going out to lunch during work to offset that cost? It's a good thing I like Ramen Noodles. And it's a good thing I can work from home a few days a week. I'm lobbying my boss to make it three days a week from home. It makes a huge difference in spending on gas. And I get an hour or two of my day back to ride more!

To answer the original question, I think $5.00 a gallon will be a big psychological barrier for American drivers. The 31 mpg I get in my Vibe is okay, but it still hurts at the pump!
It is really funny because no matter how much we think its a barrier, I don't think it will be. I think that it will bounce the same way it did last year. I just dont think people are capable of giving it up.

I voted $5 and above, but that's probably just wishful thinking on my part. I'm more worried about my wife than me. Her vehicle only gets ~18.6mpg, while my car gets ~28.5 and my motorcycle gets between 45-50mpg. Plus, I don't travel that much anyway, so I only fill up every month or so. I think I spent about $40 on gas within the last month. She(we) spent $42 within the past week alone.*sigh*

Those of you who snicker at gas guzzlers should remember that some people need huge vehicles for work. Yes, I perhaps deserve criticism for my Crown Victoria. On the other hand, my boss has a ford F-350 Diesel which we use to haul garbage in the bed, and a 6 ton trailer on the back. A few million of us contractors use such vehicles. We have no choice. When gas costs more, we are forced to increase prices. We charge more, and the economy suffers more.

The bottom line is, 3.50 a gallon may mean more new bikers, but it also means fat cats stockpiling useless wealth. That means a further seperation of the middle class from the ultra rich. That also means severe hardship on those below the poverty line. Those of you that don't care about gas prices need to study into economics some more.

"drastically" alter their behavior, $25-$50 per gallon, even then many people will still drive

and those seemingly big prices I posted are only good in the next few years, after that you can raise them some more here in the US anyway, inflation is gonna get damn serious

sounds out of hand? think again, we have many many people that spend a days pay or more per fillup and they still drive, someone making $250k or better per year wont even flinch at $25-$50/gallon

10 dollars a gallon is possible, perticularly after an alternative fuel is mass produced, but very few people could pay 25 dollars a gallon. Before that happens, nobody will drive cars anymore, and oil companys will cease making profits.

By the way, I have beem really going off the deep end with posts on oil today, but heres one more point. Petrolium is a very limited resource, and its far to valuble to be burning. 50 years from now, plastic will be much more expensive and hard to come by. Bike, car, and gun oil will in all likelyhood be vegitable based. We are ****ting away a very important resource, and future generations will pay for it.

Hey Michigander, people pay the equivalent of $25/gallon now, and even more, and do it all the time, thats about $1 per mile give or take, ridden in a taxicab lately? There's huge amounts of slack and room in the current way we do things for big big increases in prices. Sure, it will immediately wipe out people living right on the margin, but the rest will just learn to live how the poor people do now.

The price of oil means much more to the economy than consumer gas prices. By the time the pump hits $10 a gallon we'll have bigger problems than filling up your SUV's. We'll be eating dandelion greens and longing for the good old days.

OMG! 2 bucks per gallon!!!!!!!!!!! I WISH!!!!!!!!!

The price of oil means much more to the economy than consumer gas prices. By the time the pump hits $10 a gallon we'll have bigger problems than filling up your SUV's. We'll be eating dandelion greens and longing for the good old days.

Depends on how quickly the prices go up, some places gas is already $6+ per gallon, I dont think there's a tipping point till its alot higher as long as it doesnt happen real fast. Fuel/energy is like selling drugs, people will pay an awful lot for it. The original poster is/was asking about "drastic" changes, to me that means moving and getting rid of the car altogether. The bigger problem will be heating/electricity will rise right along with gasoline prices, that will definitely change a few things. We dodged a big bullet with an easy winter in the US in 2005/06, one good cold winter and people will be facing $1000 natural gas bills and shortages in the northeast. The double whammy of rising gas prices and living expenses will make people have to make a hard choice, keep the car, or stay warm/cool.

Hey Michigander, people pay the equivalent of $25/gallon now, and even more, and do it all the time, thats about $1 per mile give or take, ridden in a taxicab lately? .

I drive a taxi cab type car, but I have yet to pay for a cab ride. But taxi cabs are different than my situation. I live in a suburb. In a city, strange costs like cab fair and pay toilets are often offset by the lack of a need for a car. In my case, I drive as much as 400 miles a week doing construction. I certainly couldn't possibly pay 25 dollars a gallon to do that, and neither could most anyone else.

OMG! 2 bucks per gallon!!!!!!!!!!! I WISH!!!!!!!!!

You guys are paying about US$3.75 per gallon (US gallon not imperial gallon).

In the UK (as I mentioned in another thread) it costs about US$6.50 per gallon. That's why people drive smaller cars here.

Living in London, I usually catch the tube rather than drive anyway as it's usually quicker and I don't have to worry about a car park.

I drive a Sequoia.

Even with the gas price increase, it's still cheaper to drive ALONE in my Sequoia than it is to take the Metrolink train here in the LA/OC/IE area.

(Just for the record, I carpool with two other co-workers.) :D

I drive a Sequoia.

Even with the gas price increase, it's still cheaper to drive ALONE in my Sequoia than it is to take the Metrolink train here in the LA/OC/IE area.

(Just for the record, I carpool with two other co-workers.) :D

You drive a tree?

Depends on how quickly the prices go up, some places gas is already $6+ per gallon, I dont think there's a tipping point till its alot higher as long as it doesnt happen real fast. Fuel/energy is like selling drugs, people will pay an awful lot for it. The original poster is/was asking about "drastic" changes, to me that means moving and getting rid of the car altogether. The bigger problem will be heating/electricity will rise right along with gasoline prices, that will definitely change a few things. We dodged a big bullet with an easy winter in the US in 2005/06, one good cold winter and people will be facing $1000 natural gas bills and shortages in the northeast. The double whammy of rising gas prices and living expenses will make people have to make a hard choice, keep the car, or stay warm/cool.
Ultimately if they dont get 500 bucks a month from a person in gas they're just going to charge them 1500 in natural gas and electricity.
People don't understand that they own us and they will get their money one way or another because we've let them run along for so long.

I think it cost me 15 bucks to take a cab
to go 4 -6 miles.
that's 3 -4 dollars per mile
which comes out to 2 gallons to the mile?
the only public transportation that is cheap is when you're hanging with the ghettos who wear pantyhoses on their head, and carry concealed weapons, and chew and do drugs and **** on the bus. You see these lifeless hopeless bags of sack driving by, their drivers pushing their buses as close to the side of the road so as to run the cyclist off the road, because they don't care, because they lost hope along time.

The price of oil means much more to the economy than consumer gas prices. By the time the pump hits $10 a gallon we'll have bigger problems than filling up your SUV's. We'll be eating dandelion greens and longing for the good old days.

Thats why I'll own a 100 or so acres and live off that. Hunting and farming what ever I can grow, and probably shooting at people who come to steal my booty

Thats why I'll own a 100 or so acres and live off that. Hunting and farming what ever I can grow, and probably shooting at people who come to steal my booty
Heh reminds me of some of those dismal futuristic movies set 25-50 years in the future where everybody is dead and the few people that are alive shoot at anybody taht comes onto their compoound.

I remember seeing a real poll on this very thing a while ago and I think it was worded how high would gas have to be for you to consider other forms of transportation. I think over 60% said like $4.00+. It was in usa today or something.

And to our euro friends, yeah, you guys have higher prices but you have to keep in mind towns and such are a lot farther apart in the US than over there so it's going to take more fuel to get from place to place.

Plus they use smaller cars in Eurp and have better public transport links. I've filled my car up twice since last November, and it still has half a tank left.