$50 Gas Tank
I drive an old Volvo 850 sportwagon. Last weekend, I had a lifetime first: the $50 gas tank.
I know that there’s nothing fundamentally different between a $45 tank and the fabled $50, but I have to believe that this will have a psychological effect on people. With oil hovering in the $90’s and no significant price relief in sight, the fun fifty is going to hit more and more drivers.
We really need to seriously reconsider the economics of mass transit. The cheap motoring days of the 1990’s are long gone, and they’re not coming back. With gas at $3 a gallon, we’re each spending 10-20 cents per driven mile (for fuel costs alone!). I’m no rocket scientist but I have to believe that passenger rail could do better.
Factor in road construction, the price of automobiles, repair costs, and the environmental costs and all of a sudden mass transit is price competitive with autos. Of course, the real issue is that mass transit requires upfront investment and wise leadership. We’re not very good at that right now.
Filed under economics, energy : Comments (2) : Nov 17th, 2007 by tadfad
November 17th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Thomas Friedman at the NY Times has a good argument for a gas tax.
November 19th, 2007 at 1:21 am
I remember back in my teenage driving days when I could fill my tank for less than $10. That’s when gas only cost 99.9ยข/gal. I’m gonna make sure my grandkids know all about that when they come along. That sounds like a story a grandpa would tell.