Price of GAS

we're at $5.20 locally. utility prices also skyrocketing

 

£8.07 per imp Gal at yesterdays fill up

 

8 pounds = $10.00

one imperial gallon = 1.2 us gallons.

$10.00 for 1.2 gallons = $8.35/gallon

i wish our prices were that high

 

Thank you for the conversion… do you really wish for that price ?

 

i do. we need something to reduce our driving habits, massive vehicles and pollution.

5 to 6 dollars isn't accomplishing anything. same with other types of transportation.

 

4.99.9 here yesterday, 4.79.9 today

 

up another dime today, $5.30

 

Maybe use the Defense Production Act to increase petrol availability?

 

i hope not, i think joe's doing the right thing ignoring it

 

Even COSTCO is at $5.45/GAL. here in Illinois, USA. I haven't bought gas since late last year and am still at 3/4 full.

 

According to AAA, miles traveled by auto has not changed.
I know I poked a bit at people not driving slower to try to save fuel. I must admit though, I am surprised we aren’t seeing people driving less, or slower, or something.

Perhaps car owners just love to complain but aren’t really affected?

 

$4 in 2008 hit harder than $5 in 2022

And there weren’t jobs and a financial crisis

 

I haven't checked any national data myself, so I believe what you commented. But does the data show any reduction in the miles driven over the last 2+ years? Or will you cite the source for your data so I can check it myself?

For my personal experience, the COVID had more of the effect in reducing our miles driven on our cars than the higher gas price. The higher gas price is in our mind such that we don't do unnecessary travels, but that became our new normal after the COVID restrictions. Even though we now have much less restrictions and seemingly less people concerned about spread of COVID, we continues to limit our outings that will make us to interact with larger crowd of people. Ever since I started working from home and limiting outing to the bear minimum, our annual driven miles have been reduced to less than half. And now we drive our SUV far less than we used to, relying more on the PP for any of trips that does not require large cargo space.

 

Gas (RUL) was $1.84 in 2020.
It's 4.44 today according to eia.

IF people are not driving less (that what?) according to AAA, then that $2.60 has to come from SOMEWHERE.
As for me and mine, we ARE driving about the same as we did when gas was under $2, so we're not spending "extra" money in other places, because there's less extra money to spend.
THAT is going to have down range economic and political effects,

I only live 3 miles from work, so I really cannot complain.
Other people are!!!
At least I'm seeing a LOT more LGB and 'I did that' stickers on gas pumps and according to polling data I'm seeing EVEN FROM our sensory-deprived main stream news, voters are in something of a surly mood.

Traditionally there are two periods in the US that economists have defined as stagflation, 1974-1975 and 1978-1982, although I've also seen pointy headed economist point also to 2007-2010.
Either way, it 'might' appear to some that fuel prices played a role in these periods of economic distress.
Inflation is a lagging indicator, and I don't know very many things that are not delivered using petroleum - ESPECIALLY #2 diesel....which is MORE important than RUL, and whose price delta is even higher ($3.20) than the regular stuff.

SO...no matter how many times you clack the ruby slippers together and wait for the black and white screen to return, high fuel prices ARE going to play a role in economics....AND politics.

We can either prostrate ourselves before the likes of Venezuela, Iran, the Sauds, etc....of we can embark on a policy to meet our own energy needs using an 'all of the above' straategery; INCLUDING Nucular, INCLUDING renewables, and INCLUDING expanding domestic petroleum - or is it "greener" to import?

Remember,
According to the AAA - people are not driving less, so the extra money for hydrocarbons has to come from SOMEWHERE....

 

Gas up another $.25 overnight to $4.84 here.

Diesel now is right under $6/gallon. Imagine an independent trucker starting off his day filling up his 300-gallon tanks at a cost of $1,800. I don't know the mpg for diesel but could you use 300 gallons in a day and have to do that each day? How could an independent trucker possibly provide a living for his family? In America we move commerce by truck that is a fact that likely will not change regardless of price of diesel

While I am retired and have a PHEV , I can feel for people trying to keep it together and make a living for their families. I can remember wondering how I was going to keep it together financially for our family during a tough time for us many years ago. It was not fun.

 

I’m driving much less than I did before 2016.

Delivery services and “contract deliverers” actually add more miles than when there weren’t any.

perhaps an inefficient system that should get tossed?

 

mrs b and i were talking about gas cost if we make it to florida next winter.
it is a 4,000 mile trip, and the last time we went, fuel was about $300. in our 40 mpg hycam.
even if it is $6.00 next winter, that's $600. out of a $15,000. 3 month vacation.
and the $15,000. is likely to be substantially higher as well.

 

Sources and charts here:

Office of Highway Policy Information - Policy | Federal Highway Administration
Traffic Volume Trends March 2022 - Policy | Federal Highway Administration
Figure 3 - Seasonally Adjusted Vehicle Miles Traveled by Month - March 2022 - Policy | Federal Highway Administration
Figure 1 - Moving 12-Month Total on All Roads - March 2022 - Policy | Federal Highway Administration

US-DOT-FHA shows a sharp reduction at the start of the Pandemic, then a gradual return to normal. The data show no dip from the current war, but the latest data are from March, just the first month of the war, by which time we'd seen only half the of current gas price surge. Stay tuned as newer data becomes available.

Here are seasonally adjusted 1-month figures, so you can see just how sharp the initial dip was. Actual unadjusted monthly figures are available too, but the wide normal seasonal variations make the Pandemic change harder to interpret.




Here is the 12-month trailing average, which has (and needs) no "seasonal adjustment", but shrinks the apparent size of disturbances shorter than a year:

 

Thanks for the links. I will take a look when I have more time. But from the graph you posted, it does look like the automobile traveling has come back to the pre-pandemic level. Yeah, I am basically staying with the pandemic dip of the early 2020 and haven't changed much. Just about a half distance traveled.

I am guessing the miles traveled are for all the automobiles? I wonder if there has been an increase in the portion of miles driven by more efficient cars (including all classes of EVs and efficient smaller ICE cars) compared to several years ago?