abbynemmy

Due to the refineries shutting down in Texas from hurricane IKE the wholesale price of fuel jumped from $3.00 to $4.85 a gallon today. I expect to see alot more commuters on the road next week.

Patriot

Not sure how it will affect us here in the PacNW, but from what I understand, we get most of our oil from Alaska, and we have our own refinery here. However, nationwide fuel price fluctuations do affect us. I can't help but wonder... How Much?

Just in case, I told the wife to top off my truck, as I only fill it once a month. Hopefully it'll last long enough 'til the prices stabilize in a month or so.

Either way, I just got a new set of panniers for my rig, so I'll be spinning it to work quite a bit for the foreseeable future.

Allen

We're having a mini run on gas here in Mudville, four states away.
Some of the gas stations have already boosted their prices to $4.50+ and I saw one that is already out of the cheep stuff.

poopisnotfood

Yeah it has gone crazy here too. Gouging, and of course Congress will say they are investigating and they won't do a thing, they never do.

DataJunkie

meh

They should really hand out a tube of butt lube when you purchase a vehicle nowadays.

starla

Wow...it's gone up maybe 10¢ here today. I expected prices in Texas to be affected first. Someone told me prices were supposed to be $5 before the weekend is over. I won't pay that. It will be two wheels for me at that point.

uke

Looks like my bike will break even sooner than I thought.

J.C. Koto

Editorial emphasis mine. Sorry DataJunkie... IOW, FTFY

AdrianFly

Who cares

DataJunkie

No worries. That makes sense due to my omission.

mack_turtle

whether Ike affects fuel supplies or not, oil companies are going to use it as an excuse to jack up prices. they have done it before and they will do it again. no one stops them.

rugerben

I do. High fuel prices don't just mean high prices at the pump. everything else becomes more expensive too. You wanna pay more for your deliveries from Nashbar and PBK because it costs FedEx more to deliver? How about food. Wanna pay more for that?

Just because we ride our bikes instead of driving doesn't mean we are not effected by high fuel prices. I just hope this is only a temporary spike and it won't last long enough to impact everything else.

DataJunkie

Obviously AdrianFly doesn't have a family to feed.

harrnjos

It doesn't matter here. 2-3 weeks from now, I'll be one of the few cyclists still on the road. After the first snow, most of the bikes disappear for months, regardless of gas prices. In northern Wisconsin, winter can last from October to April/May. Only "lunatics" know bikes can be used year round here.

Zero_Enigma

Toronto, Canada in my neck of the woods was stable about $1.23/L all week but last night news on the radio reported to expect a 13 cents jump a midnight. Next day it was somewhere in the ~$1.36/L in most of the city with some reports of $1.40/L.

On the radio there are reports of another hike after midnight tonight. I didn't listen to the radio long enough while driving to see how much more the hike is but it won't surprise me if it was going up anothe 5 cents. I've already topped off and gotten a couple 20L jerrys filled when it was around ~$1.10/L'ish which I plan on topping off the other car so my folks can go about thier business. I'm seriously considering buying a locking petrol cap for the cars now. I have heard of some reports where people have filled the night before then in the morning found that thier tank was sucked almost dry only to find out on thier way to work/errands/chores to run out of fuel on the road thinking thier petrol tank leaked but to only realize they've been sucked dry overnight by petrol syphoners.

Zero_Enigma

Quick change your handle to IKE.

Cyclaholic

I do have a family to feed and I would happily pay a big premium on everything if it meant that gas was unaffordable in all but the most essential of circumstances. I think it would be a net benefit.

keiththesnake

Wife was worried, having heard the news that prices would increase to five -- and even seven -- dollars a gallon. I asked her to top off the tank if she found a price similar to what we've been paying.

At school tonight, one of the guards said the state troopers were dropping by the gas stations locally to give them a friendly reminder not to gouge.

Got home tonight, and my wife had topped of the tank at the price we paid just yesterday or thereabouts.

I can't stand these little emergencies. I'm tired of the cycle of how everybody panics when they wake up to inflated prices. Then, they're angry. Then they're more careful about conserving. Then, they forget about conserving. Then, the price settles to something higher than what it was but not as high as what caused the panic. Then, people think the price went "down." Then, it's business as usual.

Seneca

I wonder about gas prices. I worry about those barely making it as it is, higher fuel costs could be a disaster. But for the more financially stable it's easy to think of increased fuel cost as a relocation of funds. i.e. higher fuel costs means fewer luxury goods consumed. In this sense and considering the current environmental issues, I also think it is not a terrible thing...

Except to the group mentioned at the beginning of the post.

Seneca

P.S. Maybe if gas prices go up enough we'll get better bike lanes, better public transport and more cyclists would mean more respect from drivers I'll be holding my breath.

recumelectric

Possibly another petroleum product?

recumelectric

Guess it's a good thing that I filled up the day before this happened. Hopefully, that will last me 3-4 weeks, and I get paid mileage when I'm forced to drive at work.

Az B

This happened when Katrina hit. I drove up to the corner to get some gas... just in case. There was a line about a half mile long. I decided that I still had a quarter tank. That's enough to last me about 6 weeks.

So I didn't get any gas. A couple weeks later, everything was mostly back to normal... maybe a little more expensive, but not a big deal. Most of the problem is caused by people overreacting and trying to get all thier vehicles filled up before there's none left. This, of course, causes the shortages and justifies the price hikes.

So here I am again, I have about a quarter tank of gas in the car. But who cares? It'll be all over before I use that fuel.

And the good news is that there'll be less people on the road this weekend. It was awesome after Katrina, I had the roads all to myself.

Az

BBnet3000

i dont drive very much and have a fairly efficient car. the only reason that i care about fuel prices is because of the effect that they have had on every consumer product recently, especially food

I-Like-To-Bike

No effect here. Price is down one cent from last week. https://www.iowastategasprices.com/in...t%20Burlington

Doesn't look like much effect in Corpus Christi either:
https://www.corpuschristigasprices.com/

Look up your own area here and pay less attention to breathless, sensationalist TV announcers:
https://gasbuddy.com/

I believe whatever gouging is taking place, if any, is localized to the storm area and the OP in MI is dreaming about any effect on bicycling.

Buglady

It jumped about 13 cents a litre here too - so 50 cents a gallon. The Boy was practically foaming at the mouth. I reminded him we have 3/4 of a tank, I only use the car once a week to go to the farmers' market (I sell stuff andit's too bulky to transport by bike yet), and if he just sits tight it will come back down a bit. I've pretty well given up hope of getting him on a bike or even to reduce drving, though.