Feeling gassy; or, the nine mile conundrum
I hardly ever drive anywhere any more. Not for any sort of THINK OF THE OIL! OMG THE PRICE OF GAS! ALSO THE SKY IS FALLING! OMGWTFBBQ! … but more because if we go somewhere together, Tim drives. I work six days a week… chances are that if I’m driving anywhere alone, I’m driving to or from work. I drive a Saturn, and to fill it up once a month (the average time it takes me to go through a tank of gas) it costs about $40. Not so bad when I hear what others are paying. (My personal philosophy of gas prices, I have to be honest, is “are you still paying it? Then quit complaining and shut the fuck up.”). But of course, like everyone else, I’m also looking to cut corners any way I can because hello, LIFE IS EXPENSIVE.
So I ask myself… is gas a way I can cut corners?
I work 4.5 miles due west from my house. That makes for nine miles, round trip. So what could be my options instead of driving?
I could walk. HAHAHAHAH nine miles? A day? Not so thrilled with that idea. The road I drive down (16th Ave, for you Gainsvillians) is about the only hilly road in Florida. It’s not mountainous, it’s just… wavy. So while walking nine miles a day would certainly get my ass in shape, I will admit to being FAR TOO LAZY to choose this option.
I could buy a bike, and ride. I could ride a bike four-and-a-half miles one way, up and down those sloping hills, in the middle of the day in 100-degree heat, with no guarantee of what the weather is going to be like. Meaning that I could get to work soaking wet from rain, or from sweat. That doesn’t appeal to me and I’d bet it wouldn’t appeal to my customers either.
I could take the bus. Except that even though I am a straight shot from home to work, according to the RTS website I’d have to do one of two things to take the bus to work. (1) take one bus from the end of my street almost 20 blocks north, then get on a second bus that would take me 20 blocks south and 4.5 miles west… for a trip of close to an hour. Or (2) Walk a mile-and-a-half to a bus stop that would drop me off 3 miles west of that. I would do that if I had to, but… I don’t have to.
Or I could just keep doing what I am doing, and try not to feel like I’m personally responsible for depleting the worlds supply of gasoline. And when my Saturn dies, get a Prius. Yeah… that sounds like the solution to me.
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Whoa, you must live near us. That's a little eerie. And when our Saturn was getting close to death, we bought a Matrix...it gets "only" 30 mpg, but it was far less expensive than the Prius.
Posted by arne on June 21, 2008 at 09:21 PM | #
I work 4 miles from my house. The bus is blocks away and impossibly crowded. The neighborhood I need to go through is covered by blue-light police cameras and is a frequent location for filming of "The Wire" and other gritty ghetto dramas. Gas can be $20 a gallon and you won't pry me out of my car. At least it's a Prius. Until the recent price increase gas was still cheaper per gallon than milk or fancy bottled water, and they are renewable resources. I'm hoping the influx of better-off, taxpaying new bus riders will lead to sweeping improvements in publc transport. Until then I'm happy to pay the price. (The pity of it is that as a state employee I can ride for free, but the bus doesn't go where I need it.)
Posted by damejain on June 21, 2008 at 09:24 PM | #
I'm with you, Lorena...I take my aging Hyundai Accent to work (12.5 mi each way) - fill up about twice a month (I still get 33+mpg), but it would take gas getting VERY expensive for that to start really eating a hole in my monthly finances. Joe rides ~15 in the opposite direction, so carpooling not a good idea.
No public transportation, unless you're going to the city. Which isn't where I work.
I thought about riding my bike, but even my doctor said, "No way - you're taking your life into your own hands on Rt 17K."
Joe drives a Matrix, and we both love it. I'm looking into the Prius after the Hyundai dies, but I've read a few things about winter-weather driving. damejain - what's your experience in the snow with that car?
No public transportation, unless you're going to the city. Which isn't where I work.
I thought about riding my bike, but even my doctor said, "No way - you're taking your life into your own hands on Rt 17K."
Joe drives a Matrix, and we both love it. I'm looking into the Prius after the Hyundai dies, but I've read a few things about winter-weather driving. damejain - what's your experience in the snow with that car?
Posted by Betharoopie on June 22, 2008 at 09:24 AM | #
I got my Prius in January and we had so little snow that there was no real test. It did great on city slush and black ice, the worst type of slidy driving. I've read that changing to dedicated snow tires is a good idea, and I'd go for the traction package as an option. It does great on hills. And it never ever stalls or needs to warm up.
Posted by damejain on June 22, 2008 at 10:13 AM | #
Sadly, we're in the group that's really feeling the increase of gas cost. Love's work is 15 miles one-way away. So 30 miles a day in busy, commuter driving means we go through gas a lot. It just can't be helped. The hard part is that it used to be you could stick $20 in the tank and there you go. Now, $20 is 5 gallons. That's 1/3 a tank. Used to be that if we had $50 left for the week, no biggie, we could make it work because $20 for gas and $30 for food. Now, it's like $40 for gas, hope it's enough for the week and well...we just don't eat. (No, seriously. That basically happened the last couple weeks.)
Add in how much food prices are going up and....ugh.
Add in how much food prices are going up and....ugh.
Posted by * ~ Miss M! ~ * on June 22, 2008 at 12:27 PM | #
I fully understand what you mean. My job is about 7 miles away. Gas is killing me because I'm in stop and go traffic the entire time. What would be 350 miles hwy turns to about 200 with traffic. Driving takes between 20-30 minutes. Public transit would take over an hour. Bus to metro, metro to metro stop, then a 5 block walk to work. Just not worth it.
Posted by Quinn on June 22, 2008 at 02:10 PM | #
Just think of my friend Dave who drives 120 miles a day round trip from New Smyrna Beach to Orlando. He bought a Yaris which gets 41 miles per gallon. There is no route he could take on a bicycle, even if he could ride 60 miles in a hour.
And it makes me gladder than ever that I'm retired and not having to worry about paying to drive what was my 60 mile a day commute, even at 27 mpg in the Rav4. Getting lower milage with only around town driving but since I don't really go very far I'm driving less in a month that I used to in a week so it's all ok. I feel really sorry for the ones who still have to do that driving to work. We have no mass transit here so there's no real choice.
And it makes me gladder than ever that I'm retired and not having to worry about paying to drive what was my 60 mile a day commute, even at 27 mpg in the Rav4. Getting lower milage with only around town driving but since I don't really go very far I'm driving less in a month that I used to in a week so it's all ok. I feel really sorry for the ones who still have to do that driving to work. We have no mass transit here so there's no real choice.
Posted by alicesenior on June 22, 2008 at 06:01 PM | #
I just traded in my Civic (120k+ miles) for...another Civic. This one gets 34 mpg. Just the standard Civic...no hybrid. The guy told me that even at the current price...I'd have to buy one hell of a lot of gas to make up for the current premium price on the hybrid. Which, in salesman terms, meant that he didn't have a hybrid on the lot and wanted to sell me a car NOW.
I wanted an Accord. I could have afforded an Accord. I LOVE the Accord. But it would have dropped my gas mileage back to 23 or 24 or so. And I drive 58 miles a day for work (assuming I don't go anywhere at lunch), so that would have been too much a hit.
Maybe I should move back into town.
Nah...the new neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate all the gunfire.
I wanted an Accord. I could have afforded an Accord. I LOVE the Accord. But it would have dropped my gas mileage back to 23 or 24 or so. And I drive 58 miles a day for work (assuming I don't go anywhere at lunch), so that would have been too much a hit.
Maybe I should move back into town.
Nah...the new neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate all the gunfire.
Posted by Nurgen on June 22, 2008 at 09:09 PM | #
After spending so much time driving clear across town to go to work (~140 blocks), and filling up about every 4 days; I am sooooo happy to be working from home. I only drove 16 miles all last week - I used to do more than that each day! Plus the BF travels a lot for work, so he's not driving much either (well, driving that he doesn't get reimbursed for anyways).
And to make me even happier, I head up to Destin on Tuesday for the next 2 weeks - I'm going to go well over a month before I have to fill up again.
And to make me even happier, I head up to Destin on Tuesday for the next 2 weeks - I'm going to go well over a month before I have to fill up again.
Posted by Shortie on June 22, 2008 at 10:04 PM | #
What about a Vespa or something like that? I know scooter sales are picking up in Columbus!
Yeah, what wouldn't I give for a $40 fill up. I filled up my minivan the other day (I really want a hybrid minivan) and it was $75. I've really cut back on my driving, and I use the passenger space in the van often so I don't want to get rid of it, but it's still a pain.
Yeah, what wouldn't I give for a $40 fill up. I filled up my minivan the other day (I really want a hybrid minivan) and it was $75. I've really cut back on my driving, and I use the passenger space in the van often so I don't want to get rid of it, but it's still a pain.
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