[vision-master]

Interesting. Looks like the good old USA policy has been burn baby burn......... What are we to do once gas hits $5 gal?

[lper100km]

VM: The chart is hopelessly out of date – 2005.

On the west coast in Canada we are now required to pay CAD$1.45/litre and rising, which equates to US$5.5/US gall or ax £4.2/UK gall (£0.90/litre) at current exchange rates and ax double the price shown on that chart.

A 2011/12 chart would be much more helpful.

[MarkJ]

We're lucky we don't have really high fuel taxes and VAT, nor a really high cost of living.

[vision-master]

We're lucky we don't have really high fuel taxes and VAT, nor a really high cost of living.

Why is this being lucky? I'm thinking just the opossite, of course your a 1%'er......... Life is good eh Mark.

Keep those gas prices low so ppl like you can run around in those new Suburban's....

[Pretorian]

MarkJ, even your figs are out of date.

Today, in NW England, average price of diesel is around £1.50, Petrol £1.40 / Litre.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17490088

Oil is creeping up rapidly, much more pain to come.

Gas

i don't see a problem.You have trains and buses there. Also, walkable streets.

[Shaved Monkey]

Most English and European towns are designed pre car which will be a great advantage, public transport is pretty good too.
Its the newer car friendly suburbs in Australia, the US and Canada that are going to struggle most.

[vision-master]

Lot's of Britts on the Vespa forum.

[MarkJ]

Why is this being lucky? I'm thinking just the opossite, of course your a 1%'er......... Life is good eh Mark.

Keep those gas prices low so ppl like you can run around in those new Suburban's....

I've never bought a NEW personal car, truck, SUV, boat, snowmobile, waverunner or motorcycle for myself.

I buy, drive/use, repair and resell a lot of vehicles and toys, but I buy them used for pennies on the dollar due to extreme depreciation. Most are at least 5 years old, unless they're wrecks, need engines/transmissions, or they're fleet vehicles, parts vehicles, salvage title vehicles etc.

Due to the extreme depreciation, new vehicles and toys are terrible investments. I've invested the money I've saved and made buying used vehicles and toys in real estate, stocks, commodities and other investments.

After driving/using many used vehicles, toys and equipment for years, I've sold many of them for almost as much as, as much as, or more than I paid for them, thus making my total cost of ownership dirt cheap. Gas price and/or efficiency doesn't matter as much since my total cost of ownership is so low and/or use is limited.

Speaking of SUVs, they're my least favorite vehicle class. When I'm not driving trucks and vans for commercial work, business, estimates or recreational towing, I prefer to drive mid sized passenger cars, or sports cars or motorcycles in good weather. I'm not a big fan of all-purpose anything, especially SUVs.

From a used vehicle sales perspective, my best sellers have always been smaller and mid sized cars due to affordability. Many vehicles in the sub $5,000 price range are purchased with tax/tax credit refunds this time of year.

The same applies to boats and motors. The hot sellers are 14 to 18 foot Deep V aluminum fishing boats, 70 HP and under outboard motors and small outboard kicker motors.

It's interesting, but despite rising gas prices, new boat sales are up substantially and demand for quality used boats is the highest we've seen in years.

[MarkJ]

We have excellent transit systems in many urban, suburban and semi-rural areas, but ridership is low. In many of our urban areas you can walk, bike or take the transit to dozens of stores, restaurants, jobs etc, but few people walk, bike or use the transit lines. Those without transportation generally use taxis, catch rides with friends/relatives and/or have things delivered.

We see the same issues with school bus transportation. Many students drive to school, or their parents or guardians drive them rather than taking the bus.

Some of our transit runs may be eliminated due to numerical justification issues. They just don't have enough riders.

Just the other day I followed a transit bus for 10 miles that didn't have a single rider. One of my tenants, a transit driver said he often makes 2/3/4 stops without a single pickup.

[hayleebeauty]

Some people think that the remedy for high gas costs at the pump is to produce more oil here in the U.S.. Though it seems fast, the reality is that domestic oil manufacturing is the highest it has been in years. Domestic oil production since early 2009 has increased by 15 percent. However, gas and oil prices have been fluctuating wildly, hitting record highs several times, going from $2.07 to more than $3.58. Current domestic oil production is around the same level as 2003, yet gas does not cost $2.10 per gallon. Domestic oil production has little effect on gas prices

[vision-master]

and domestic oil production has nothing to do with 'it's our oil' either.

[misterno]

I lived in Turkey for more than 20 years. Gas was and is always been more than $10/gal.
The only difference in their life compared to an American is they do not use cars for any travel but only occasionally. Also cars are much smaller and much much more efficient. The cars are also much lighter and that explains why the safety record is bad but mpg is much higher than the US.

Most Turks live in high rises in compact cities so public transportation is everywhere and easily accesible and cheap.

Don't forget that the average income is like 5 times lower compared to US so the difference of purchasing power of gasoline is like 20 times. Yet life still goes on there.