Do you have gas?
Remember the good old days, when gasoline prices were around 45 Cents? Neither do I… How about when it was $1? … or even $2?
Well according to Rajeev Dhawan, Director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University, the high prices will stick around for 6-to-8-months. Not only that, but he also says that the U.S. may never see regular gas for $2 gallon again. “…those days are gone.” [Source: 11Alive Interview]
A few things come to mind. When it comes to these types of economic predictions, how accurate have they been in the past? Rajeev brings with him a good reputation for accurate predictions, but this is one that I don’t think most people like.
Is there anything we can do at a local level to impact these gas prices? What kind of long term impact can we prepare for if this trend continues? …anyone want to buy my SUV? :-)
A couple of things to talk to your elected officials about:
1: Support mass transit. Give more commuters more options. If that means stop building roads, so be it. With every new road and road improvement, there are new incentives to keep driving and disincentives to use transit. That means, there are more incentives to raise demand for gasoline, which takes us right back into the cycle we’re in.
2: Support transportation-land use coordination. It doesn’t make sense to build mass transit stations in low-density areas where folks probably don’t want it so much, anyway. It makes more sense to bring higher-density developments to mass transit stations so that more choices exist — not to mention, we could better utilize what we already have.
What you can do today:
1: Use mass transit, even if it means a longer commute. Just try it out, and try to stick to it. The difference between traffic delays and transit delays is that with transit delays, you know who to blame. That makes it easier to go negative.
2: When you go shopping, shop in Fulton and DeKalb, where sales taxes help fund MARTA.
3: Challenge yourself to see where you can walk from where you live. You may be surprised to learn what is close enough to walk to, and you’ve saved yourself a car trip.
4: Check out the Clean Air Campaign site for more ideas.
When Midtown put in a buttload of new bike racks on the sidewalk, commuting on two wheels got a whoooole lot easier. I wish more neighborhoods would follow this example. Last week I tried the whole bike-and-MARTA thing, carrying my bike onto the train to head downtown. That commute wasn’t bad (although I probably could have biked back to midtown faster than MARTA got me there at 9pm), but it’s amazing how FEW places there were to lock a bike downtown.
So I know what I’m going to beg my city council for.
Joe, above, has an interesting point and it’s kind of like a Clark Howard response, If you don’t like it, don’t buy it and send a message. Now we all know the issues of petrol prices is complex and what you do at the local level may not ease the price – but, it might and it could create a statement. However, the larger issue, to me, is the support of anything “mass transit” and those places that understand the concept of support for mass transit.
Today was the most I’ve ever paid to fill-up in Atlanta: 2.60 per gallon. WOW.
Yesterday, we saw an Exxon that had regular gas at$2.79 9/10!!!! (Glenwood Exit from I-20)
“Yesterday, we saw an Exxon that had regular gas at $2.79 9/10!!!! (Glenwood Exit from I-20)”
Yeah, that’s “The Man” keeping us East Atlantan’s down. :O
Yup Yup … East Side!! [props]
If you want even more info about why gas prices are never coming down, check info on the Intraweb about Peak the Oil theory. A good place to start is http://www.peakoil.net/ Be prepared to not sleep well once the size of the problem hits you!