Pissed about the Price of Gas?
I travelled 300 miles this weekend. This pic is from Saturday morning. I saw gas in middle Michigan as high as $3.15 a gallon for regular unleaded. A friend of mine just got back from Maryland. Gas was $2.65 a gallon. How is it posible for such a huge swing in price?
Who is to blame?
Detroit big 3 for forcing us to chug gas at 21 mpg, the same in todays cars as it was for a car in the late 40’s (the Tucker got 20 mpg)?
Detroits lack of reliable, friendly public transportation?
George W?
The Taliban?
How can we be sure our children dont see $5 a gallon?
I love this blog. Everyday, I get an RSS feed, and I’m very happy with 99% of the content because it’s about DETROIT.
This post is in bad taste. Firstly, whatever one’s political views, it is provincial and unfair to lump together an American president and one of the most despicable fascist regimes in history. Secondly, the poster should study up on just why it is gas prices increase, and why they are this high currently. I’ll give the poster a hint: it has nothing to do with the office of the president, or with the Bush family.
I’m proud of Detroit, but I must say that the Detrot car lobby has done some of the worst damage to our legacy as the MotorCity. It is blatantly anti-environmental, and that is hugely greed-inspired. Perhaps if our city and its car leadership invested in alternative energy and mass transit, you wouldn’t mind so much paying $3.15 at the pump because you’d only be doing it once a month.
I would like to see this blog produce posts about the greatest city in the world, not about facile, unfounded political assertions.
That brings up a good post opportunity.
Public transportation.
I read an article awhile back where private investors were in the process of organizing a proposal to run a rail line north and south on Woodward ave as they had in the 40’s (I beleive). This would be a great relief for commuters both in and out of Detroit.
Mike, there has been a little discussion about that rail line, but no serious action. The real action is currently happening on a commuter rail line between Detroit and Ann Arbor (with a stop at Metro Airport). Here is the link to the official study
http://www.annarbordetroitrapidtransitstudy.com/
Also, here is a link to the current price of oil per barrel:
http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/
This is why gas is so expensive. You can thank China for the insane amounts of oil demand (and the higher prices). However, there is not a Chinese city Metroblog, so you’re just going to have to hold it inside for now :)
I like the fact that most people think our oil supply is all from the Middle East. Truth is most Americans are unaware that Canada is our #1 source of imported oil with Mexico following at #2. In fact, the Middle East countries all combined make up less than 20% of our oil imports.
Who owns and runs our gas stations?
I’m pretty sure that gas stations are franchised, meaning that they’re owned by some guy (or gal) who wants to own a gas station. They buy their gas from the respective company that they are a franchisee of, be it BP, Shell, Amoco, etc…
Here is the BP link on being a franchisee
http://www.bp.com/genericsection.do?categoryId=4792&contentId=7013480
The guys that own the stations aren’t making any more money when the prices go up. They just pass on the increased per-barrel costs. In fact, they are the real losers in all of this since demand for gas decreases as price increases, meaning they’ll do less business overall. Most of us can just cut back our consumption, but the franchisee’s depend on it.
Honestly, this is only going to get worse, especially as Big Oil has a firm hold on the leadership of the country. It would be nice to see some stricter requirements on gas mileage, but then again, most people still seem to be too attached to their trucks and SUVs for anything drastic to happen. Even without a hybrid, you can get about 30 mpg highway in a good car, even if it’s a few years old. I just recently heard how much gas was in Holland (the country), and it was something like $1.87 US a liter. In America, thats around $7 per gallon. We still haven’t seen high gas prices.
So, when are we going to be able to buy those hydrogen fuel cell cars?
hey i’d just like to comment on the public transit issue.
i hear a lot of people say “where’s the public transportation?”
guess what? YOU HAVE TO RIDE IT!!!
if the city and the suburbs see that people willing to ride public transportation then they in return will be more willing to invest the money in to it.
also, get out and say something. it’s great that people are communicating about this in any capacity but talkinga bout it with your friends at the bar isn’t doing anything. find out who you should be talking to about this. contact smart bus or ddot and tell them what you want.
a rail line would be great! make some noise about it!
my favorite solution: ride a bike!! i just started bike commuting and it’s really fun.
yeah it is saving me money on gas but the real reasons i love it so much are a little less tangible. i see it as my own tiny little statement about how I can get by without a car (don’t get me wrong, i do drive) and i hope that as i ride down the street or i ride with my groceries that other people will see me and think “hey, i can do that too”
i hear a lot of people say “oh i can’t do it for this reason or that reason…” sit down and think about how you can make it work. one solution is take the bus to work (so you can look presentable) and then bike home. the smart buses all have bike racks on front.
were not going to wake up one morning and find that everything has changed. we need to voice what we want.