Excuse me, is that seat taken?
Crowded buses and trains, fewer cars on the road … it can only mean one thing: higher gas prices. But is that what’s really going on? And are these changes permanent or only a temporary disruption to normal driving and commuting patterns?
It’s been nearly impossible to avoid the media buzz about record-breaking oil futures, hypermiling, and political debates on energy policy. And it’s been even more impossible to avoid the steadily rising gas prices displayed prominently at every filling station.
I’ve noticed that the bus I ride to and from work has become incredibly crowded. And my friends are definitely not driving as much. But is my experience a common one?
Have you noticed any significant changes resulting from higher gas prices? And if you’ve changed your own behavior, would you change back if gas prices start coming down?
Well, since gas prices started rising, people have been actually charged for using their credit card to buy gas! Can you imagine? $0.10-0.20 for each gallon. Ridiculous!
Hasn’t affected me much, though.
The only changes I’ve noticed in the area I live in is that people are staying home more often or kids are carpooling more often.
In the uk its been rising in the last month or so an has now reached a new high of £1.35 (from £0.95) its rediculous, there is no reason for it, that I can see.
xx
I live in a smaller town with no public transport. People here are mostly lower to middle class, and I’ve noticed the same amount of cars on the road. It just goes to show, not everyone can take public transport, which is why gas prices need to come down if the government is sincerely interested in helping the poor.
I also ride the bus to work and school. It has indeed become much more crowded. I used to be the only one riding the bus, now it is packed.I like the stress free ride of the bus. I don’t think I would change back unless I were to live somewhere rural without a good bus line. No road rage on the bus. I figured out I am saving about $5000 a year by using public transit.
I know it sounds corny that I do not own a car. I had lessons but two injured knees took me off it fast.
The crisis in Energy, is the Crisis of human Personality disorder, not having been at liberty in access to data implementation in the true scientific sense of Communication Netork at Large.
It must be hard to come clean when you”re only a whizzardof OZZ, while the search was for Sourceress of ORB..
I use both, my car is pretty gas efficient but sometimes I do find the need to save money. I’m only 17 and it’s very hard to maintain a car and still have money for myself since insurance for teens is so high :/ . I live in Miami so it’s a place where it is a must to have a car because if you wanna get to one place without worrying about the time then you’ll never be in peace in a bus. It’s quite a nuisance to take the bus and have to stand and wait for so long but as long as it saves you a couple bucks then what the heck, it won’t hurt to do it once in a while!
I carpool to get to work now and I drive very very little–groceries only…or if I HAVE to hang out with my friends–but that’s less common now..we all try to save gas money. But of course if gas gets cheaper, we might hang out more often.
I live in a rural area where there is virtually no public transportation. The changes we notice are people trading in their 4X4s and giant SUVs for more practical vehicles, carpooling more, and traveling less.
Well, I’ve been going to lots and lots of Rockshows, Roadtripping, Travelling but now, since I’m a server and don’t even get paid minimum wage, I can’t really afford doing fun things.
I’m lucky I don’t have to drive to work, I walk there within 15 min. My mom on the other hand…
Her car was broke she works 30 min. driving distance, and was out of a ride for 2 months. She was the commute for 2 other people that now were out of a ride with no late bus (7pm) going from the Base they work at. The last one leaves at 4:30.
I’m sure more people would start taking the bus if there was one more going later than that.
Yes, public transport is really getting crowded.
As a pregnant woman, I am going to make a plea to all the readers.
Please, please give the pregnant women a seat. If you see a pregnant woman, offer her your seat. If she asks for a seat, understand that she’s probably feeling sick.
With the buses and subways so crowded, we get dizzy, overheated and often feel faint. When we are standing, it makes things even worse.
Public transport has become a nightmare for me.
Oil prices went higher primarily because there is ever increasing demand for oil, and the supply is falling. Russia, Mexico, Venezeula, Norway, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have all acknowledged that their output is falling. Gas prices will fall from time to time, but over the long run they are going higher, much higher. That is why I created this article (linked to my name) about ten practical things everyone can do NOW to reduce their oil consumption. Some of these steps will be much more difficult or expensive when oil hits $300 per barrel in a few years.
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/environment/March-April-08/Energy-Saving-Techniques-Crucial-With-Peak-Oil-a-Reality.html
my parents don’t own a car so i’m used to riding the train and bus…and they’ve been more crowded lately.
I will care in a couple months when i start haveing to go back to school but for now by bike gets me where i need to go
In the town where I live the school buses are going to go less miles by making junior and senior high kids within two miles of school walk.
I work for a county transit agency. Our ridership has increased with the higher gas prices. Many of the local businesses supplement their employees by purchasing monthly transit passes, so they basically ride for free. More and more of them are taking advantage of this perk. I’ve also noticed more people riding bicycles or walking to work (if they live close enough).
Oil production in the aforementioned countries isn’t dropping because we have reached “peak oil production,” it has dropped because the resources in those countries are managed more and more by the governments, which are inefficient and unable to respond to changes in the market. In countries where private companies are able to control the resources, production has increased. Increasing the supply of oil is a surefire way to reduce prices.
Fitter. Happier. More productive.
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.
It’s hard. A lot of people have been laid off, especially in the transportation industry. The price of fuel will cause smaller trucking companies to go belly-up if it goes on for much longer. And the cost of consumer goods will rise because it’s more expensive to get merchandise to stores. Even online sellers will be affected. It’s bad news for many people who are struggling to get by, and depend on cars to get to work (I’d like to see anyone here bike from Central New Jersey to work in Manhattan! And the mass transit here is completely inadequate.) I can understand how someone who is being supported by somebody else might feel “happier, fitter or more productive,” but there are a lot of people who are feeling real economic and emotional pain, and frankly, I feel bad for them. And this is gonna go on for a long time, I think.
Why the uproar? People seem to forget that the cost of everything goes up. Why should gasoline be any different? Look around the world and you will see that we STILL have it good compared to citizens of other countries who pay $10 a gallon.
There is always an up side to things like this too. How far would the “Green” movement have gotten if the price of gas was still less than two dollars a gallon?
Another effect of the high prices is that demand has slipped and the cost per barrel has adjusted accordingly.
Everybody should stop whining and make the necessary adjustments to cope with the increase. Too many folks are living over their heads and should be alarmed.
“All good things must come to an end.”
Ive noticed a lot of changes in my city. Since I live in a state known for its snow and ‘fantastic’ weather. Everyone here usually drives a truck, SUV, or 4×4, but people are starting to trade them in for smaller cars. You can make due with that if you live in the city, but commuters won’t survive the highway in winter with small cars. I’ve seen more people biking to work. To see a person walking was a rare site. But not as uncommon now. When winter rolls in They will go back to their cars, or maybe take public transportation. We have a very small period of time when we are even able to bike or walk. Because of so much snowfall and long winter(snow until April sometimes), they never plow the sidewalks. Which really sux, because I usually take the bus home. There are certain parts of the world that can’t survive if gas keeps rising like this.
Everyone says “bike or walk”, but nobody even mentions the human-powered scooters… mine has done well for 5 years and counting, with nothing but the occasional sanding for rust on the outside! And yes, for more than half-a-mile trips, I take the bus and it’s more crowded than it used to be. On some of the routes, much more crowded.
When something’s price triples in a year it’s not inflation.
We should have been working more on alternatives instead of laughing at calls for conservation, non-fossil fuel development, etc. Now we’ll pay.
Most privately own oil wells, according to an oil company stock analyst I saw recently, reach peak production within 18 months and production drops quickly after that.
well it hasnt efected me to much because ever since the gas has gone up my car has been in the shop,i use to be so anctuse to get it out but not to much right now dont have the money to drive it
Even as a ‘kid’ I’ve been too affected by gas prices.I live in Vegas,and IDK what’s been the highest gas price here 2 weeks ago it was at $4.05 now it dropped (cheapest price NOW) to $3.79.I’ve noticed we don’t go out as much.About 2 months ago our Ford Explorer broke down,my dad couldn’t afford to keep fixing it.My dad’s friend ended up fixing it-for free.During that time we used our Nissan which got better gas mileage,but was more crowded.Tomorrow my family and I are going on a trip,to Mexico,on a bus.My dad said it’s to ’save money’ if my brother now 8 months old hadn’t been born last year,we could have afforded plane tickets-though I DON’T regret my mother having him.But the point of it all,gas prices have affected everyone.Even my sister who just turned 6 knows my dad has to work hard to provide food for us,and provide gas for his car.I’m just a young girl,who cares,who is struggling to get on with her life,like many of you who are reading this.Why does the economy have to do this to us?
A Young Girl,Who Cares
-Melany
i can’t wait till the last drop of the oil. i’m fedup with mankind behavior , at last our greedy will kill us ..
no need to explain how it happen . see around u we’ve already have everything we need. but why still built another one. u destroy 1 car , the factory will built a 1000. an aeroplane crash ,another new one will replace it. this will continuous till the end of the oil.
Here in the Philippines, high gas prices really started the ball rolling. People are now “GREEN” conscious, some are now into car pooling, buses and trains are much more crowded. Farmers who use tractors are now returning to carabao driven plows. I myself put my gas guzzling car in the garage and rely mostly in my old mountain bike for short distance travels and use my motorcycle when I need to go beyound 50 Km. I have reduced my shopping trips too. The rice that we usually buy for 20 Pesos per kilo now sells at 35 to 40 Pesos per kilo. The government subsidized rice that could be bought at 18 Pesos/kg. last month now sells at 25.50 Pesos/kg. Surely high gas prices have changed my lifestyle. And I urge each and everyone of us to do our share on conservation. We must all be realistic for this is a global problem…..
My bus is a little more crowded, but it is ok. I’m 15 and am dreading having to drive, because of the prices!
Everyone keeps on complaining about how all prices are rising but really, there isn’t much we can do. It’s humans fault anyway that we are running out. Not even the government can fix this one.
We need to find another fuel scource, otherwise, we are out of options.
These “peak oil” people are idiots.
The amount of oil being pumped out of the ground, and the price paid at the gas station have very little to do with each other except that they are part of the same supply chain. What few people understand is that oil is a paper traded commodity. The price of a barrel of crude is based on the futures contract market, and almost all oil is sold by people who never had it, to other people who’ll never see it. More importantly, the “Enron Loophole” signed into law by George W Bush in 2001 removed the oversights and regulations that exist on all other markets — it made the price of oil and other energy commodities completely opaque. In other words, nobody has to say what the real supply and the real demand of oil is. Throw in a war in the Middle East to cause more fear, uncertainty and doubt (also done by one George W Bush) and you have a perfect recipe to screw over the world and make GWB’s oil cronies enjoy the perks formerly only enjoyed by the Rockefeller’s before the Standard Oil monopoly was finally broken up (by the very regulations that GWB removed!!!)
“Peak Oil” people, get your head out your ass, stop jumping on the bandwagon for trendy causes, and learn some history and start paying attention to the real world.
In New Zealand its something crazy like $2.10 a litre.
It has gone down recently by about 4 cents.
nice one!!!
Besides the obvious greed for money, has anyone thought that maybe many are being herded into the the large cities? What is a good way to bring people from the suburbs into the large cities?
Now, why would anyone want to move alot of the population closer together, when in general people want their privacy and one of those ways is to live in the suburbs.
I say we are being herded globally. This “herding” is a military tactic.
So, final question … Are we being prepared for a major event?
Gas prices are rising so whe have to find an alternative,or the prices are just gonna keep rising
well , since i live in Saudi Arabia the gas price has been decreased from 0.90 SR to 0.60 SR and thats really good , because 3.75 SR = 1 $ , to get my tank from empty to full would cost me maximum 10$
I took the bus to work even when gas prices were high. Just because I hated driving in the traffic, and I like saving the money and it was better for the environment. But RTA in my area is soon to change each ride up by 75 cents, so it will cost $5 a day to ride the bus, it is crowded, old guys stare at me, some people smell REALLY bad, they don’t care that they are basically leaning all over you, the bus drivers sometime don’t show up at all, and sometimes they are supe late! Whereas, I can drive to my work, which will take less than a gallon, both ways, and it only takes me 20 minutes and costs me $6. So I might have to drive, though, in the future.
But you are not alone. The buses are crowded, and the RTA will also, in addition to upping each ride by 75 cents, cut bus routes to save themselves money! So not only will it be $5 a day to ride the bus, but it will be twice as crowded. Not fun, not fun.
Whether the gas prices are going to go up or down, we should all learn to conserve fuel and other resources. Whether we are rich or not, we should be driving fuel efficient cars and take public transportation as much as possible. It should also be the same with carpooling.
We simply have to change our culture when it comes to the automobile. An automobile is a mode of transportation and not a status symbol.
Plus, we are approaching peak oil if not already there. Peak oil is a dirty phrase in the oil industry and nobody is talking about it. See web site . If corrections are not made for peak oil, then it will be followed by global depression, famine, and war.
I don’t drive very far Very often, but when I do drive I keep the speed down to 55. That saves gas and lives.
I had my car converted to LPG so the price of fuel at the moment doesn’t effect me much, but I am sure it will when gas hits a dollar a litre
Cheers
For Margaret, pregnant woman:
It’s been almost 45 years since I was pregnant and using public transportation in NYC, but I faced some of the same troubles you are facing now. DON’T hope that men will pay attention; they’re more apt to steal the seat you’re aiming for! But women will stand to let you sit–even women who look as if they are too old to stand. At least, they used to; I hope they still do.
Jessie
I complain and gripe alot more, but no change for me. I can’t change. A single mom trying to carpool doesn’t work. When you rely on your vehicle for everything, going to work picking the kids up what do you do, if you carpool and your kids get sick at daycare and you have to go get them, but you can’t cause you don’t have a car there?
So its out of the question for me, whether gas is $1 or $50 I will be buying it.
Energy is a result of man’s rational thinking processes. Man’s rational thinking processes are his only means of survival. Unlike animals in the wild he does not have brute strength, thick fur and great speed. Therefore, using his rational thinking process man finds a way to prolong his life by tapping energy from the planet he finds himself on. We need to think outside the box and stop assuming that supply is limited therefore limit demand. Philosophically we need energy supplies to increase in an environmentally responsible way so that we can create things which prolong and enhance our existence. Going back to a savage jungle existence is the one answer to the energy problem that must be sifted out of the debate. I like the geothermal solutions but I would like to see new inventions that prolong oil for another thousand years. I would like to reintroduce nuclear power to America. I want more refineries but only if they are more sophisticated refineries that have research labs present for continually improving processes. I want to continue burning coal at coal fired plants but only with continually improving the sophistication of pollution suppression equipment at the plants so that they can eventually function pollution free. This will also require research. I like heavy industry that energy requires but I want it to function with little or no pollution to air and water. I am willing to pay more for my products to cover the cost of pollution suppression at heavy industry.
I ride my bike to work everyday,so for me directly at least,gas prices is a moot issue because I generally ride a bike and/or use the Bus system to get around where I need to be.For the foreseeable future,that’s what I’m doing until I can get a better job than what I have now;I’m living under someone else’s roof as it stands. poor me!
Yes allot more people are on the trains… I stopped driving and started using public transit… it’s so crowded
Last year I bought a new altima and it just sits in my drive way… it’s $80 to fill it up a week.. If I new that the cost of gas would go up I would of never got the car…
What’s the point of having a nice car if u can’t drive it….
=(
You don’t know crowded transit till you’ve been through Calgary Transit’s train system. Imagine delayed trains due to crowding, then toss in a thousand people with you on the platform, add another 500 on the sidewalk waiting to get on the platform, and every train coming by already full and then you can say crowded.
I think the oil & auto companies are finally starting to take a hit, as I have noticed the gas prices actually going down…and in the middle of Summer, no less. And the sales of SUV/trucks/etcetera are down 24% from last year.
Filled the tank on the 15th @ $4.59 USD per gallon. Drove by the gas station yesterday, and it was down to $4.22 USD.
As an 18 year old fresh out of high school and trying to make it on my own, gas prices are HUGE. I work about 10 miles from where I live, which means I drive at least 20 miles, 5 days a week. And inevitably, there are other trips to make; grocery store, family/friends, random excursions to the city etc. So spending $60 refilling my gas tank hurts quite a bit.
Luckily for me, I got my motorcycle endorsement last summer, which means I can drive a 50 mile per gallon vehicle as opposed to a 20 mile per gallon vehicle. Not to mention it’s a whole lot more fun
I actually rode last winter, just to save some money when things were tight. It sucks, and it takes a lot of caution, preparation, and control, but it sure helped.
In NYC, the subway system has been overcrowded for as long as I can remember. Now, the ridership is up - not a pleasant thought when you consider that sometimes, the AC doesn’t work, or people have been waiting in sweltering heat to get on the train.
BUT, I live in NJ, where gas prices are lower than the national average, and in my area, I have been paying $4.15/gallon for Premium at the most.
I used to take the bus to NYC, but about 4 years ago, when my 13-mile commute would take on average 1.5 hrs, I started driving in. Now, I’m at the office in 30-40 minutes.
Unless gas prices go up another 50%, I won’t be changing my ways. My time is more valuable than that.
I will take if public transport was convenient. Not only is it not only faster sometimes, I do not have worry about parking, someone breaking in and things like that. But here in US, a bus stop is sometimes a mile away. I am 33, I can still walk this distance but can you imagine a someone in 60’s doing that? Not possible.
Sometimes we need to be strong enough to face the truths of the future, energy is one of these truths. The problem is not running out of oil, rather not being able to pump it out fast enough, due to geologic and technological limits.
One of the best introductions to the problem:
http://globalpublicmedia.com/peak_oil_for_policy_makers
Great intro to petroleum, drilling techniques, petroleum geology:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum
A factor in rising oil prices:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil
A comprehensive review of world energy demand and resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_resources
In my area there are more people car pooling to work instead of driving alone since the gas prices here in Pa are $4 or $4.23
High gas prices are here to stay. Thank goodness I found the site freegaslady dot com. I couldn’t believe the difference.
We have noticed a significant change in our driving. We have to b/c we live in a very small town (less than 3000 ppl) and we are literally at least 20 miles away from the nearest town. My husband has to travel an hour to work and an hour home, and he is spending $12 a day just for gas alone. I don’t visit my family as much as I used to, and it is really frustrating. However, unless more ppl start using electric cars or we actually get away from foreign oil, I don’t see things getting better any time soon. For any of you who don’t know about this site, go to http://gasbuddy.com/ to find what the cheapest gas is in your area.
We farm so we live out in the boonies. Everywhere you go is a road trip. No busses here. It costs the big bucks to plow, plant, and harvest. We rarely drive anywhere we don’t have to. I hope it is temerary, but I doubt it is. Because now when gas dropped down to $3.65, everybody is happy because it got cheaper. I’m thinking that’s no bargin. I hear they are thinking of changing the speed limit again. That would stink!
I have seen less and less people driving - which also means that there are a lot less car accidents. The gas prices just keep rising and rising…personally, I still drive the same amount but for many other people it has made them drive much less than before. hopefully something will happen and the gas prices will lower.It NEEDS to stop. its getting unaffordable.