Fuel Prices and the Bus

I'm glad to have a compact car in these times of high gas prices. Recent reports have indicated that trading down to smaller vehicles with better gas mileage is difficult at a time when so many are faced with huge bills at the gas pump. I have a small gas tank; I have occasionally put 13 gallons in the tank, on a day I was playing gas tank roulette. My gas gauge was replaced at the same time my carburetor was, a few years ago, and it's calibrated differently; I knew I had a couple of gallons remaining with the old gauge, but with this one I have to get to the gas station right now or risk running out of gas.



There's a calculator that can help you decide whether to take action on your vehicle; one guy I know was way ahead of the curve; he bought a used Ford Escort to drive to work instead of his big truck. He still has the truck but only uses it to go hunting, fishing or to haul things.



Another trend is for people to buy a refurbished Geo Metro. There's a guy near where I live who has a stash and sells them on E-Bay, one at a time.



I'm working downtown so take the bus. They say prices are going to rise, but it's still going to be cheaper for me to take the bus than to drive; parking near my current project is $9, which isn't bad. I live about 17 miles away; based on mostly freeway driving it should take just a bit over a gallon, but because we don't necessarily drive while running our cars, it may take more than that. I don't have the skills to determine the net effect of the low speed of rush hour combined with the longer driving time on actual gas use. The bus is $5.50 round trip and going up to $6, and I only have to drive a mile each way to the park n ride.

Meanwhile I lost my plastic bus card and keep thinking I'll find it. It has to be somewhere, but so far no. The advantage is that when I give up on this card, I can pay a $5 fee...of course since I had $19.50 on the card it seemed more reasonable to try locating the card so as not to lose any money.