Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Three Buck Gas

I’m inclined to agree with Maureen Dowd: What’s wrong with three buck gas? Of course I understand that three bucks imposes a real hardship on some folks. If you have been forced to buy or rent a home out in the boonies because local rents and costs have skyrocketed in town, then three buck gas to drive to your entry level job in the city is very bad news indeed.

On the other hand for the rest of us this can be an honest-to-God wake up call. Geez! maybe the Hummer was a mistake after all.

My guess is that more than a few of the big cars I see around Tucson are never driven out of town. It seems to me that we should develop a small car with a 750 cc engine just for urban transportation.

In the mean time, consider what other folks pay for a gallon of gas:

Amsterdam 6.48
Oslo $6.27
Milan $5.96
Copenhagen $5.93
Brussels $5.91
Stockholm $5.80
London $5.79
Frankfurt $5.57
Paris $5.54
Lisbon $5.35
Budapest $4.94
Zagreb $4.81
Dublin $4.78
Geneva $4.74
Madrid $4.55
Tokyo $4.24
Prague $4.19

My “truck” is a motorcycle/sidecar outfit…36 mpg around town. My wife’s motorcycle gets 65 mpg in town. My own scoot gets 47 mpg.Yes, we do have a car, and we do use it…Toyota Corolla..31 mpg, although we use it a lot less and carefully plan our trips.

Maybe we in Tucson should vote for the transportation bonds.

2 comments:

Art Jacobson said...

I saw lots of Smart Cars in Lisbon. They looked to be the perfect solution, but in order to get them certified in the US they have to pass so many safety rules and regs that the prices baloon up to 15 or 16 grand.

Note to Kral: Hope you enjoyed "your day" yesterday. (grins)

Art

Art Jacobson said...

Roger...

May 1st should be a special day for the Kral Majales, the King of May. Sorry to blow your cover. (grin)

Art