Gas Prices - has it changed how you live your day to day?

A frined in Illinois just e-mailed me a couple of days ago and asked about this, as his wife is working on some sort of world fuel-price project. 

From my nearest station, at the Tesco supermarket (conversion at £1 = $1.75):

Unleaded: 90.9 p/liter =  $6.02 per U.S. gallon
Diesel:       94.9 p/liter =  $6.29 per U.S. gallon
LRP:           98.9 p/liter =  $6.55 per U.S. gallon.

Public transport just isn't an option out here.   That Tesco has only been open less than 2 years, and is about 4 to 5 miles away.  Prior to that it was at least 10 miles each way to a decent supermarket.

For the day-to-day automobile drivers out there -- I highly recommend gas/electric hybrid cars.  My brother in the US has one as a commuter car, it works brilliantly, saves gas/energy, and better for the environment.

There's always the option of LP gas conversions, with LPG at about half the price of gas/diesel.    You'd have to cover a lot of mileage per year to make the capital expenditure on the conversion worthwhile though, and stations offering LPG are still a little thin on the ground (my nearest is 15 miles away).

diesel used to be that cheap too, until everyone changed to it and they put the tax up to petrol levels

That's also something to consider with LP gas.    If a significant proportion of people started using it, would the government hike up the tax on it?   

One thing which really bugged me during the fuel protests a while back was the government spokesman on TV expounding on how the greedy oil companies were entirely to blame for the high price.   

Nothing to do with the 300% tax on gasoline/petrol and diesel then?          It's a disgrace.   

Now that Simon is coming to the States I don't have to wait till my lease is up in January and can turn my Jeep in now for a car.  I will miss it horribly, it's the most wonderful vehicle I've ever owned, but I need better mileage.  I wouldn't mind a hybrid, I don't drive much, and would love the savings.  I just don't like small cars so this will be interesting.  I just feel like I'm going to be crushed by a Hummer or something.

~Liza

I live about 1 1/4 miles from work.  If gas gets too expensive, I can use my daughter's bike.  I'd have to go 1-2 miles to get any public transport, and it only goes into downtown Houston--useless to me on a daily basis.

We were considering moving a bit further north to a smaller town next year, but I'm having second thoughts due to the commute costs I might be facing.  It would be at least $50 extra, at current prices, for me to commute to and from that area.  I don't like driving anyway, and this would make me want to do it even less.  If I could give up my car, I would.  Right now, I'm just glad that I don't drive an SUV and $25 fills it up. 

I live out in the middle of nowhere, so have to drive. Besides, my BF is in Cornwall -- about 6 hours away. I haven't let petrol prices change my life. Fortunately, I can afford it, but I know there are some people who can't. The worst thing you can possibly do, however, is to keep comparing UK prices to those in the US. It's only going to make you angry and it won't lower the prices for you.

The worst thing you can possibly do, however, is to keep comparing UK prices to those in the US. It's only going to make you angry and it won't lower the prices for you.

Too right.  It just is what it is.  I don't get paid in USD, so I learned not to compare anymore.

The worst thing you can possibly do, however, is to keep comparing UK prices to those in the US. It's only going to make you angry and it won't lower the prices for you.

I agree as well - even if you do look at the conversion difference, a dollar doesn't buy the same as the pound anyway.  Living standard goes far beyond just a currency conversion.  Especially when you consider gas, there are so many variables--road quality, engine/transmission differences, traffic concentrations, commute distances, driving habbits, gas quality... on and on.

~Liza

I dont take too much notice of gas prices. We need it so we have to buy it. We fill up once a week.

a dollar doesn't buy the same as the pound anyway. 

I know, a dollar buys more than what you can get for a pound.   

Just so long as you don't follow the reasoning of somebody after a big rise in prices a couple of years ago:

"It won't have any effect on me -- I always just put £10 in every week."   
 

I don't drive at all. My husband is a support worker and drives to see clients, and is paid an allowance for gas. We do a bit of personal driving on the weekends sometimes, but not much.

York has many pedestrian-only paths and cycle paths, as well as reasonable bus service.  So unless you are traveling far out of the city, and can't get to where you are going by train, driving isn't really necessary.

Hmm, the idiot below us just bought a Hummer (bright yellow at that!).  I wonder how he's coping with filling that monster up

This is the real shame.  Someone who can afford a Hummer (unless they're REALLY running up some credit card debt) will most likely not be affected by price rises no matter how high it goes.  If they can shell out $60-100,000 for a vehicle I'm sure they won't be too bothered by $4/gallon gas.  Meanwhile, those struggling to get by who have to drive to work really have to scrimp and save.

One thing I would say about petrol price rises is that they have hardly moved compared to the US.  I understand the average price in the US was somewhere around $1.80 a year ago, now it's about $2.70 on average, 90 cents is a big jump in one year.

The average price around here has gone from, perhaps, 85 pence to 90 pence/litre, maybe about 30 cents/gallon.  Granted, prices have always been higher in the UK and always will be but people are just used to that.

We have 2 cars although the 2nd car only gets about 2,000 miles/year put on it.  I'm a bit worried about the coming year now that I'll be working in Fleet and driving about 1 hour each way to work but overall, a majority of people, especially those in or near cities just drive less than Americans.  There's just a lot more space in America so people have to drive further in general.  If someone in Britain is driving a lot for work, they often have company cars or are going to multiple client sites or the like and the company may pay for part or all of their travel anyway.

The last big difference is octane in petrol.  The average in the States is 87 but here it is 95.  When you look at regular vs premium in the States it's generally 87-93 with perhaps a 20 cent/gallon difference.  So people in the UK are probably having to pay at least 25 cents/gallon more purely because of that.  With cars only generally needing services every 10,000 miles it probably prolongs the life of the car or at least causes fewer problems due to the higher purity of the petrol (I'm guessing, I'm not an expert on this!)

Matt