One of the major reasons why many Americans have been hurt by the recent 40% run up in the price of gasoline is because they simply have no other choice than to drive their cars to work. And, according to a recent survey on Daily Fuel Economy Tip, due to the distances we commute it appears that many Americans are going to become more and more affected by higher gas prices.
When asked, “How many miles do you commute to work?” 38% of respondents stated that their commute into work is between 11 and 25 miles; 35% stated their commute is 10 miles or less; 21% stated their commute is greater than 25 miles and 6% stated that they are telecommuters.
While these numbers may not appear that overwhelming, over time the amount of gas and money you spend to simply get to and from work is pretty astounding. For example, let’s say you commute 50 miles round trip each day and you drive a car that gets, on average, 20 miles per gallon. Each day you’re using about 2.5 gallons to get to and from work and at today’s national average gas price of $3.22 that would mean you’re spending about $8 a day for gas.
Over the course of a year, you’re looking at spending over $2,000 on gas over the course of a year just to get to work!
Just imagine if gas prices hit $4 per gallon, as many experts expect.
Unfortunately, because of the way that America’s infrastructure is set up, this doesn’t look like it’s going to be an easy, cheap or quick fix. While most of Europe is built around cities with very good public transportation systems, much of America is built around the idea of living in the suburbs and then commuting into a city or large town to go to work.
Because of the higher gas prices, many people are having to choose between selling their home and moving closer to their job or staying where they live and trying to find a job closer to home. Unfortunately, the slowing housing market is only adding to many people’s problems – but that’s a discussion for another day.
Either way, as gas prices continue to rise, it appears that more and more people are going to have to begin to change their driving habits and lifestyle. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I think it’s going to come as a shock to many of us.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Me and my wife work in the same building, which is only about 1 mile from our apartment. We’ve begun carpooling whenever possible, because it just makes sense. Unfortunately, the only way we can get to our office is by car since our office building is basically right off of a highway, buses don’t run near it and riding a bike would be dangerous.
Consider that if you’re making $300-$400 monthly payments on your car, when you break that down and it’s about $10-$13 per day to own that car (not including maintenence, taxes, insurance, etc.). When prices are this high, an additional $2-$5 per day in fuel expense is actually not that bad when you take into consideration the actual cost of ownership.
When the price of gas gets this high, simply skip your morning trip to Starbucks and bring your own lunch. That alone will pay for the additional gas expense.
If my wife and i car pooled into work each day it would cost us only about $5 more a day. between the two of us we already spend close to 700.00 a month to use mass transit. Take a bike if you can.
I ride a Yamaha YZF600R to work pretty much every day. That’s about 30 miles roundtrip. If I’m gentle on the bike (short-shifting, light on the throttle) I typically see between 60 – 65 mpg.
There are numerous “weekend warriors” out there who drive their car/SUV to work, while leaving a highly efficient vehicle languishing in their garage. There’s more on this at http://www.ridetowork.org. Worth a look, folks.
Or you could just live closer to work.
Even when homes closer to work are more expensive, that cost can usually be offset by the savings by not needing to commute as far. Check out the commuting calculator on this Seattle Realtor‘s website:
I commute an hour to work each day to a job I have only been in for 11 months and one that took me a long time to find. As disheartening as it is, the gas prices are just outrageous. It is so sad to pass by a gas station in the morning only to ride by it on my home less than 12 hours later to see the prices have gone up! I have now been offered the same job in my home town (one that is only 15 minutes from my house)and now I face a hard decision of whether to leave my new and current job which I love and appreciate. I often ask myself “why fix something that is not broke”…seems like the gas prices are forcing me to fix this before I am the one broke! SAD but TRUE