I feel Violated

[TraderJake]

Today I paid $24.15 for gas. I filled up on 10.87 gallons. $2.25 is rediculous for gas. If you are going to continue to rely on fossil fuels then can you at least make them affordable for the proletariat? Or better yet, create an affordable car that runs on a renewable resource. Ethanol Perhaps? Prolly not a good idea currently to invest in hydrogen cars, as H₂ is currently collected from petroleum., and splitting water is hella expensive. Why can't the US have a good transportation system like Europe? I'd kill for a system like that, and I am studying to become a traffic engineer. Pretty screwed up, huh? And some analyst just announced that crude might have a super spike over 100 dollars, causing gas to approach $3.25.  That's not good for us, and it certainly won't be good for the economy. I would not be surprised if the US economy collapsed in the next few years. It'll be the 70s all over again, only this time there will be no return.  It's a frightening thought. We rely way too much on oil, and soon the country will pay the price.  

At least I don't live in California, I suppose.

[Lord Nepenthean]

That's what I paid yesterday when I went to my interview at Jungle Jim's.  It dawned on me that now might not be the best time to get a job at someplace all the way out in Fairfield.  Come September, I'll probably have to quit if they don't transfer me to the new loacation, because driving from White Oak to UC, back, to Fairfield, and back again all week long will just cost way more than it's worth for part-time hours....  that and DAAP will control my life anyway.  (Hopefully I can transfer to their new location though.)

[Arrrhalomynn]

Bla bla bla. Here you pay 6 bucks for a gallon of gas. It would be great if the gas prices in the USA would reach the same prices. Maybe that would make more people live a little bit closer to their jobs and buy less gas guzzling suv's/trucks.

[TraderJake]

It'll be my intention to live as close as possible to wherever I work once I graduate. Until then I shall be living near school or mooching off the parental figures. I also have a small car, and maybe someday I'll get a hybrid. I just wish that we had the rail system that Europe has. I also wish Cincinnati didn't forsake and bury its rather extensive streetcar and interurban system. It would be really cool if some of the inclines around town still existed. If only Cincinnati wasn't Daytonatti. There is no dividing line between the cities anymore, and it shall become more apparent in the coming years. Do the right thing Cincinnati, bring in light rail. The benefits will be exponential if you capitalize on it now. Just don't pull a subway if you decide to.

Cincinnati Subway History

[Lord Nepenthean]

Here's the difference between Europe and the USA though - In Europe, there is an alternative to driving your own car.  There is realistically no way I could get to school or a job without driving myself there, short of paying for a taxi, which is even more expensive.  Heck, I can't even walk to any store.  The closest commercial or public building to my house is a gas station, and even that isn't a good idea to walk to since there are no sidewalks in this area.

If we had public transit, I would use it.  Believe me, I think it would do this country some good to put a luxury tax on gasoline.  For that to be feasible though, we would need mass transit, which save a few of the largest cities in the country, really is not in place anywhere.

If nothing else, fuel efficiency standards need to be raised, and by a lot.  My car gets double or even triple what some SUV's get per gallon of gas.  So, on the one hand I do want gas prices to rise, because we need to do something about dependency on petroleum, but in the meantime I have no alternative but to buy gas.

The actual dollar amount on gas may be lower here, but with other options in Europe (i.e. walking or mass transit), travel itself is probably cheaper where you live.

[Sureshot]

Depends where you live really.  France and Germany are big countries and you still have to pay almost $2 a litre.  I simply sold my car off at home because I'd prefer not to foot the huge costs of owning a car (Tax, MOT, Petrol, Insurance, Servicing etc.) and fortunately the public transport system is pretty good over here (in contrast to England which is really quite poor).  However, this is paid for through higher road tax and toll systems, so again if you have a car you're losing out.

[Arrrhalomynn]

Why isn't walking an option in the USA?

[Izret101]

Because many people travel farther than walking distance to get to a job.
My grandfather drives between 100 and 200 miles a day seeing costumers and going back and forth to work and other places.

[Arrrhalomynn]

It's not like walking is much of an option for any other modern country if you think of it that way.

[Izret101]

I am up for biking though

[danvx6]

people in the us need to drive their own cars because most workplaces (of people i know anyway) far away.  My mom works in Springfield, MA and we live in Chicopee, MA.  If she walked to work it would take her about an hour and a half, probably more.  That is lost working time and lost money.  Also most employers wouldnt want to deal with those lost hours either.  Teachers here (in Chicopee) often live in a state bordering MA (mostly in CT) in and have to drive for one to two hours to gett to school every day.  Walking that far every day would make no sense, so the teacher would not have a job.  All of what i just said assumes that there is no public transportation in the area.  We have buses and i have seen taxis occasionally, but the buses are not flexible and the taxis are expensive.  Since i do not ahave a driver's license yet, i will have to take two buses on my way to college in Springfield, which takes a good chunk of time out of my day and prevents me from going anywhere between classes because I have to follow their schedule.  (Chicopee kind of lives in between the neigboring cities and has no real attractions or importance for most people)
The current way of life for most people here would have to change if we want a lower dependence on transportation.

[Izret101]

Your house to were your mom works is way more than a 1-1.5 hour walk.
It is 20-30 minutes just to drive there Dan.

[Hydrobond]

Why isn't walking an option in the USA?

Because outside of the colonial cities, are cities are much more spead out than European cities.  

Take Cincinnati for example.  

Both of these are to scale.
Here is Cincinnati-Dayton. 3.3 million people.

Here is Paris. 10.5 million people.


In addition to this, Paris also has a world class subway, compared to our subway tunnels sans trains.

There are a few other reasons, but these are the main few. (This is all outside of Chicago and New York, btw, a lot of people do walk to work in those two cities.)

[Arrrhalomynn]

I seriously doubt those are the same scale.

[Hydrobond]

They are on the same scale.  It really isn't that surprising when you look at they typical housing for both cities. In paris, an apartment or row house would be the norm, where as in Cincinnati everyone has they own house and I would estimate about 1/4-3/4 acres of land.
http://forum.skyscraperpa...df4742&threadid=44966

I guess to be fair I should have posted cities of equal population. So here is Chicago vs Paris:

Chicago: 10.8 million


Paris: 10.5 million



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Also:

Here is the image I used:
http://www.hydrobond.net/...ocean_ice_lights_8192.tif
Its a 10MB tiff, so it will take about 4 minutes to dl, if you are the only one on my server.  BTW, save it to your hard drive first, it won't work well in the browser.