ExPatTyke

Petrol price here is £1.15 per litre, that's about
£5.12 / $7.12 for a UK gallon. A very large slice of that is tax, and I also pay VED (Vehicle Excise Duty) of over £200 per annum on my car.

What does this produce in terms of transport infrastructure?
Not a lot - I've posted more than once here about the state of local roads. Bus services locally have been reduced recently = more cars on the road, so more wear on the road surfaces. Incidentally in addition to Income Tax and NI we also pay Council Tax of more than £1000 per annum per household, some of which is given over to local transport.
So, very little improvement in roads, public transport, and cycle lanes; the state of our roads has in fact gone downhill in a big since I started driving, and fuel then was about £2 per gallon.

exmechanic89

You might 'expect' it to have a sizeable effect but I doubt it would. The infrastructure in the US is totally crumbling in many areas, it's true. But I seriously doubt a 50 cent per gallon tax would really turn anything around. The amount qouted above - $72 billion - simpy wouldnt be enough, the way money is burned through by our govts, imo.

friday1970

Speak for yourself. As someone who drive nearly 40K miles a year with my job, this will impact my bottom line. I bike a ton and consider myself part of my local biking community. I have to drive because it pays the bills.

tiger1964 

As someone who finally got a bike rack for his car so he can take the bike to jumping-off points further afield, yeah, this will possibly impact my cycling.

miamijim

Drive Mode = Sport +
Octane = 93 +
MPG = <20

Eh...

roccobike

IMHO, big oil is playing Russian Roulette. The electric car is off to a better start than most experts predicted. Rising gas prices will only add to the demand. I'm not a big fan of the e-car, but even I can see a change is coming, and I've read the reports, the oil companies will not be smiling.

Danbianchi881

Also hydrogen cars will be the next moment too, with salt water power car

Lascauxcaveman 

How, then, shall we fund the rebuilding of our transportation infrastructure? Or do we just give up and let it crumble?

I'm all for taxing the rich (like we used to do in the 1940s, 1950s 1960s, 1970s) If you need money, it makes sense to go to where the money is. But it's also true that's not the only way it could be done.

To some degree, I can go along with that. But the oil companies know their business better than I do. I'm guessing they feel they have plenty of time to modify their business models until US consumers finally wean ourselves from their current core products. They are also making small but ever-increasing investments in renewable energy.

Classtime 

Doesn't that electricity come (mostly) from burning fossil fuels? Energy companies will be fine. I'd be surprised if the big players in oil were not the big players in natural gas and coal.

exmechanic89

Yep, with the death or dying state of nuclear energy in the US electric cars will essentially be powered by fossil fuel.

exmechanic89

I dont have the answer. Was just pointing out that the govt would find some way to waste the .50 a gallon being proposed.

I've always thought it would be cool if the Civilian Conservation Corp could come back, like it was in the 1930's/early 40's. Of course I realize in today's litigious United States it's not possible, and it's too bad.

Danbianchi881

I think that republicans and Democrats really need to all work together to fix the matters that needs the most attention.
Instead of wasting time arguing about it. We are the United States after at all right? Should we unite and work together as human beings. If we put religion, skin color aside we can see things differently. One thing that will tear apart this country is greed.

roccobike

The coal mines in WV are shutting down, and not due to lack of coal. Emissions control has all but killed the coal industry. Yes, you're correct about natural gas.
I did some reading about the e-cars. It's clear from the reported data that the oil industry is counting on us liking our ICE vehicles. As an example, big oil predicts e-cars will not out sell ICE vehicles until 2050. They're the ONLY ones who push it out that far. The investment folks have that timeline moved up about 15 years, expecting e-cars to overtake ICE vehicles in the mid 2030's. Of course Mr. Musk has a more ambitious timeline as expected. It was interesting to see big oil putting their heads in the ground so to speak. Again, I'm not a fan of e-cars.
What will save big oil is China. They're consuming oil faster than it's being developed. Much of the price increase is due to their demand.

roccobike

If only they would listen to you.
I fear the far left and the far right are in control right now and I don't see a leading moderate in sight. Do you?

USAZorro

The coke-snorters consortium hasn't made enough of a killing by manipulating prices recently, and apparently they think enforcement is lax atm.

tiger1964 

I try not to touch that button on the Boxster, hence I'm seeing somewhat better mpg's than that.

Literally, YMMV.

I have memories of Gas Crisis II in the early 80's, sitting in gas lines with my gutted-interior Datsun 510, with the handbrake off I could push the car along in the gas lines -- and with no back seat, a bike fit where the rear seat used to go, for the Tuesday Night bike criteriums.

Lascauxcaveman 

Yeah, "the government" is pretty hopeless. When did they ever build us a road, a bridge, a public school? We should just give up on the government, I guess. All they know how to do is waste money. [/sarcasm]

Or maybe we can vote for legislators who will actually fund infrastructure projects. Easier said than done, I know. But if you pay attention to what they do, rather than what they say, it's possible to pick the good ones. Or at least un-pick the bad ones, after the fact. Once every two years or four years or six years.

I maintain that good government is possible. But you certainly won't get it if you vote for the anti-government shouters. They clearly will not do the job. They have no interest whatsoever in actually, y'know, governing. In fact, they maintain the job doesn't need to be done at all. Smaller government is always better, somehow, right? Oh, as long as we keep increasing our military spending, of course. Tax cuts for all! But mostly for the rich, you see. We little people only need a little more money, but the billionaires need a whole lot more. It'll all "trickle down" on you eventually -- honest!

Heh. Have I just got this thread kicked into the netherworld basement? Not my intention. Because it all really does relate to gas prices.

JaccoW

I'd say China is the biggest risk here. Exactly because their needs are bigger than they are expected to rise they are more inclined to look for alternatives.

And since their power generating sector is dominated by the government they will have less trouble converting people to other means of power.
Mind you, it's still going to be a huge undertaking but they lack the anti-scientific groups that are limiting the US from switching away from fossil fuels. China thinks climate change is a real issue and will devastate lots of fertile land if they don't do something about it.

They will need oil to run most of their industries but an easy way to limit the coming shortage is by weaning off everyone and everything that doesn't strictly need oil to work. Transport is just a "low-hanging fruit" in that regard.

Rollfast

It's a gas price thread in the middle of C&V, it only lacks ahsposo and windhchaser to be a Foo thread.Oh well. Yes, the cost of gas can be a factor in riding more, might even be more of the dreaded Living Carfre/car-lite thread. But it stinks and especially if you have to haul your bike to use it to it's full advantage. Irony indeed.