On Saltspring Island, near Victoria, BC, gas is now $1.335 per litre! That
may well be the highest in North America.



Steve R.

it's around 1.08 here (one hour north of toronto)

1.35 is just stupid.


"Steve R." <ud233 (AT) victoria (DOT) tc.ca> wrote

On 8 May, 07:10, "Teknical" <tekni... (AT) ohohnono (DOT) com> wrote:
2 canadian dollars a litre in the UK - and still the green lobby want
it to go higher..........

<ryouwho (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

Yes, last time I was in the UK (last september) fuel was exceptionally
expensive. Although, drivers in the UK do get the advantage of having many
choices for fuel efficient cars, and generally a shorter commute distance
then in North America. Oh, and a train system that is actually useable

I'm pretty lucky, my commute to work is about 1.2km each way (easily
walkable of course), so fuel prices really don't affect me that much; I fill
up my car about once a month right now.

"Teknical" <teknical (AT) ohohnono (DOT) com> wrote

<...>

Actually, in NA, there are many usable public transportation systems,
including the SF Bay, Washington, Philadelphia, NYC, and Boston areas. I
think Chicago has a workable system, too. Like in NYC, you might not be able
to go everywhere in the area, but the system is definitely workable.

You can avoid that 1200 m drive to work each day, and just walk. Make your
own CO2 instead of making the car do it for you.

Jeff

Gas costs went down by 50% for me last month. :-)

Sold the 15 mpg minivan and got my 30 mpg Escape Hybrid. (conservative
estimate mpg, may get up to 34)

Less gas burned, less exhaust in the air I breathe, fewer dollars off to
the Bush-Saudis, and a new car to boot.

I feel good all over.


Steve R. wrote:

"Jeff" <news (AT) googlemail (DOT) com> wrote

Where I used to live, in Ottawa (Canada's capital) the transportation
system -was- world class. It used a Tree-Root system, local busses feeding
to a central high speed transitway going across the city. In the early 90s
when I was using the system, I could get from the west end of the city to
the northeast end (27km) in 40 minutes. Driving my car would take about 35
minutes, so it was just as convenient to take the bus. Unfortunately, the
transit system didn't keep up with city growth, and some silly political
choices were made (a light rail track no one uses), service hours have been
cut and it has just gone down hill compared to the mid-90s. In the city I
live in now, we have a total of 9 bus routes (serving ~150,000) with silly
ring routes and obscure schedules.

I walk every second day on average, more in the summer, less in the winter
(I live in the snow belt). I need a vehicle some days to do running around
for my business, and I deal with a fairly large quantity of cash, so I tend
to drive when I know I need to go to the bank. Between myself and my wife,
we average about 12,000km a year. Most of that is highway, I do a ~900km
trip about every 6 weeks to visit friends and family.

The Tribune Newspapers have an article on the cost of filling the tank in a
Corolla

England $87.73
France 86.01
Denmark 85.91
US 37.33
Saudi Arabia 5.94
Iran 4.33
Venezuela 2.25

I guess the extra $50 in cost to fill your tanks once a week in England,
France and Denmark is one of their contributions to "free" healthcare

mike




"Steve R." <ud233 (AT) victoria (DOT) tc.ca> wrote

O
It is, although it is a fairly regressive way of taxing people IMHO.

If you take two individuals, one earning $20,000 a year and another
earning $100,000, the higher earner will, on average , drive more. He
might even drive twice as much. He will no way do five times the
annual mileage of the low wage earner.

And some of the lowest paid jobs in the country are car-dependent-
shift workers for example.

However I recognise the role higher fuel prices have played in
encouraging the switch to more economical cars. I just don't want them
any higher..........

"Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2 (AT) mailcity (DOT) com> wrote

week in a hospital. It's an old American argument that really doesn't wash.
If it costs $50 more to fill a Toyota once a week, over a year, that's
$2,600. Over 40 years, that's $104,000. How much does heart surgery cost
Americans, or cancer treatment, or... anything in a hospital that someday
you *know* you'll use? In Europe/Canada, it's zero dollars. You only think
you're getting a deal. You're not. At best it's a wash.

Brad