US Gas Prices Take Big Dive

Wash DC Metro just got longer range! The new SILVER line just opened up last week, now out to Tysons Corners and Reston, supposed to go to Dulles IAD airport and beyond.

Our sales taxes just went up to help cover the multi $Billion project.

Also nearing completion are new I95 HOV-3 HOT lanes down to Fredricksburg from the Beltway. That's a private project (no taxes). The new HOT lanes eliminate a big chunk of Va's free hybrid HOV access, but I66 is still free HOV for now, grandfatherd to those who bought hybrids some years back. On I95 HOV we have the famously successful car pool system called "slugging".

 

Some slow progress I think is the answer.

 

That's the problem. Not daring to tell you how to do stuff but what is wrong with public transport? It's usually dirty, smelly, worn out and undesirable and mainly for the great unwashed, not an executive heading into the city.

So how do you sort that?

Give a viable alternative. I live in a commuter town about 10 miles from a financial/banking/insurance city. One of the bus companies in my town offers a 20/30 minute service to that city using buses with comfortable leather seats. As you can see from the link, some of the seats are individual in a similar way to an airliner and the bus even offers free wifi. You want nice comfortable seats in your car so why not offer that on a bus? No worries parking, you get straight into the city center and the service is regular.

There, job sorted, problem solved. Some won't use the service obviously but it's a business model that works and has won awards. Give the customer what they want. I thought that was an American invention.

Latest News - Route 36 - Ideas in Action - Transdev UK

"In 2004 £2.25million was spent on 12 eye-catching twin-deck buses for the prestigious Route 36 linking Ripon, Harrogate and Leeds. Considered revolutionary within the industry at the time, the spacious leather-seated buses in their distinctive black and chrome livery and a frequency increase from every 30 to every 20 minutes ensured that customer numbers rose by over 20%"

"..we have replaced some of the double seats upstairs with individual seats, emulating the ‘2+1’ layout of many first class railway coaches. This gives extra room and means passengers don’t need to feel quite so nervous about having to sit next to people they didn’t know."

"Concealed lighting beneath the seats has also been fitted to illuminate the aisle in a practical and stylish way. The seats have extra leg-room and all are covered with leather for a more comfortable journey with a luxurious touch. "

Business idea for someone your side of the pond? Public transport doesn't have to appeal to the lowest denominator.

 

I cannot believe some of ye are talking happily about riding a bike to work. All I picture in my mind is a lot of heat & sweating.

Gasoline isn't an engineered item like a computer, so it will not get a faster CPU or faster modem. Gasoline like water is what it is.

 

Mostly true. My comment was a rant against the idea the *everything* goes up in price *always*, which is how I interpreted the post I was responding to.

However, extracting crude and making gasoline is an engineered process. The cost of processing shale oil could be reduced, for example. There's also the slight possibility of a breakthrough in biofuels making liquid fuel cheap and carbon neutral (but don't hold your breath).

 

That is your problem, not ours.

Greatly reduced fuel consumption, bypassing the aggravating commuter congestion, and fulfilling the daily exercise requirement during the commute. For some of us, that is a win-win-win.

 

Refining costs are relatively low compared to the price of crude, it is much smaller than taxes. We can expect taxes to go up per gallon as fewer gallons per vehicle are consumed. Which goes to the number 1 cost, the cost of crude oil. This is set mainly by the monopoly OPEC. From Nixon through Carter, the US set the price of US produced oil bellow the OPEC price. We know this caused gas lines and shortages as well as under investment in technology. I doubt we will make that mistake again. Technology has indeed reduced the cost of hard to get to north american oil resources, as we see in the bakkan and eagleford shale.

Unless demand goes down, either from reduced vmt, or substitution (biofuels, natural gas, methanol, plug-ins) then opec will continue having the US price by the short hairs. I expect because opec countries want more cash, and increased north american and russian production requires highr demand, oil prices may go down a little in the short term. As long as you have the power in opec and the goverment tax policy, fuel prices will go up in the long term. Note adjusted for inflation fuel costs are really only about where they were in 1980 during the spike from Iran sanctions, and current iran sanctions are part of today's price.

 

Gasoline prices might drop a bit over the next year, but because of the impending implementation of going to ultra-low sulfur gasoline starting in 2017, all the refineries will have to re-equip to crack out the sulfur to half what it is now. Of course if my Republican brothers in Congress get their way they'll be exporting crude and we'll lose a lot of refinery jobs as well as refining capability. Either way, gasoline (and diesel) will go up..........a lot.

 

Gas prices fluctuate SO much that I will never understand why people get worked up about gas tax increase but are okay paying more at the pump for reasons they don't know. Generally I've heard of "proposed" gas tax increases of 1 to 10 cents per gallon, and everyone makes it sound so terrible. I fill up solely at the same Costco where it's noticeably cheaper than the average for my area. The prices I've filled up at the past couple months have ranged from $3.539 per gallon mid August, $4.159 per gallon in July, down to $3.979 per gallon in May, up to $4.099 per gallon in April, down to $3.699 per gallon in March, and so on. I highly doubt I would notice an increase of anywhere from 1-10 cents per gallon given the fluctuations already seen.

 

Client: "Troy you & your employees smell like horses."

Saying "Yeah well all the staff bike to work. That's your problem, not ours," would not go over well. Negative impression, loss of future business, and potential closure of the factory is a lose-lose-lose.

 

^^ That is what showers are for.

Bike to work. Find a bike rake with open space, park and lock bike. Go to locker room. Take shower. Dress in fresh clothes. Converse with other bike commuters, runners, and before-work soccer players also using the showers. Then walk upstairs to office to start actual workday.

 

^^ Hassle..... and time wasted. Also no showers in this office.

 

^^ No showering time wasted, just displaced compared to showering at home. And plenty of congested commute time saved to put to the needed exercise schedule.

Hassle? That is in the mind of the lazy beholder. Getting to watching the wild fauna and seasonally changing flora along the rail trail instead of commuter tailpipes was definitely a trade up.

No showers at office? My condolences for getting stuck with an archaic employer.

 

If no showers are available, try this: All Natural Body Wipes for when you can't shower.

On a similar note, I've heard we waste a lot of energy over-cooling buildings because of our insistence on suits as proper business attire. If it were acceptable for executives to wear shorts and a light shirt in the summer, building could be kept in the mid-to-uppper 70s.

Is my granola showing?

 

..... There is a caveat that ought to come here - with our new found 'surpluses' brought about with improved fracking technology. Our culture is such that in order to secure investment for drilling more and more natural gas well pads - the industry assures us that there is a 100 year reserve supply now due to drilling/tech improvements. These new wells are in fact a boon - however it looks like the industry's exaggeration of reserves is more than 200 % - and that we will be facing peak natural gas again, in around 15 years;

U.S. Natural-Gas Use Must Peak by 2030 | Center for American Progress

The Peak Oil Crisis: Revisiting Natural Gas

Now - factor in how the hydrogen lobby has a huge hard-on to bring expensive FC cars to market (even tho Toyota's President says FC's won't compete for at least 15yrs) ... cars that need NG in order to be less impractical than they already are. You need to distill hydrogen from NG to run a FC industry. What would happen to that 15yr SUPPLY reserve of frack-able carbon fuel, if you actually could put 100K, or even worse, 1million FC cars on the road. You could kiss that 15yr reserve goodbye. Just a thought. Maybe that's what Shell Oil et-al wants. It'd sure drive NG prices up through the roof.
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