I hear that gasoline prices in the U.S./Canada have been rising a lot again recently. Of course, gasoline is very expensive in Japan and Europe, even more than in the U.S./Canada. The big difference between European countries/Japan and the U.S./Canada is that in European countries/Japan the population density is much higher. The countries are small so people need to drive much, much less and shorter distances than in the U.S./Canada. Consequently, they need to buy much less gasoline. Also, because they are so small with high population density lots more public transport makes financial sense than it does, unfortunately, in the U.S./Canada.

I love the trains in Europe and Japan, but whereas a 1-4 hour train ride, which will take you almost anywhere in the country or even to one or two or three countries away in Europe, would probably not even get you out of the state of Florida if you were riding from Miami to Seattle. Even with a Shinkansen a trip like that would take over 24 hours, probably a lot over 24 hours because it would make many stops along the way. How much would the ticket cost? Maybe 3-5 times more than a plane ticket? Also, for these long trips -- imagine 24-36 hours in a train -- you would probably want a sleeper car or get off once or twice to spend the night in a hotel. That would increase the cost much more. Canada has the same problem. Going from Seattle to Portland, if the ridership was enough, might make sense, but the fast, long distance trains like in Europe and Japan, sadly, just don't make as much sense in really big countries. I do love riding trains though.

Gasoline price in Sweden is about $2.23 per liter now, I think that equals about $8.46 per gallon.
We have very high taxes on gasoline here, close to 60%.

What's the current price in the states?

/Z!

I payed £1.40 (about $2.22) per litre at the weekend for unleaded. It seems to be creeping up a penny or two a week here in the UK. An Italian colleague says it has just got to 2 euros a litre in Italy (that's $2.64) so it could be worse!

In the EU countries it's heavily taxed and seen as an easy target for increases, plus VAT rises added to that.
Problem is it has a serious impact on the economy with transport costs higher it puts pressure on shop prices too. Not to mention it's a serious salary killer for those who regularly commute longer distances to work. Bottom line prices this high hurt the economies of Europe quite a bit. But they're to dumb to work that out..another fuel rise in the UK later this year.

I'm all for the green options now where are they?

Here in the suburbs of Chicago, it's going for $4.39 gal. I'm lucky in that I'm retired and don't have to drive much but it's still a pain at the pump !

Prices seem to vary a bit here from time to time; the last time I filled up about a week ago it was $1.60 AUD per litre for 92% octane, I think that was about 8c more than the last time, I think we are largely self sufficient with gasoline at the moment but they maintain a price correlation with Hong Kong…I think. My brother just bought another Lexus that has the dual electric petrol system and it uses hardly any petrol, you can’t even hear it when you start it up. I think that design is probably the answer to high fuel prices…if you can afford the car to begin with that is.
Greg

Bring back steam power that's what I say!

Took the day off yesterday to go flower hunting with my kids. In our drive (140 miles total) we saw gas as "cheap" as $3.79 and as high as $3.99.

My state of Missouri is 1/2 the size of Germany, (180,533 sq km vs 357,021 sq km) yet has less than 1/10th of it's population (6 million vs 82 million).

Gas is indispensable for me. I can take a bus to the Metro station and get dropped off right across the street from work, but at a cost of 1+ hours travel versus 20 minutes. Since it cost $2.75 for public transport and it's a bout a gallon of gas each way, there's no way I'm making the trade-off for public transport.

Where the high price really hurt is long trips. I used to travel to Peoria to see my Dad for under $25. Now that same trip is $100. That's 2000AD vs 2012 AD, so 400% in a dozen years. Even in the last few years, the skyrocketing prices have made a big divot in my pocket. Since I have 4 kids, train tickets would have to be at give-away prices to make that trip, which also is NOT possible. I have to get off 35 miles away. At a cost of $44 each for those tickets, a car is still a lot cheaper!

"Green" transportation doesn't cut it either. An electric car can't do the trip because they can't make the distance, and Hybrids cost too much to even consider. In fact, gas will have to be around $12 per gallon to break even over the average life of a car with the added cost of the hybrids.

Gas prices have me down, but I just may buy a moto-scooter for the daily commute!

Dusty

Look on the bright side Dusty..a bunch of dudes in the middle east are making an absolute killing!
I met a millionaire once and asked them if they ever felt the need to say "I'm happy this is enough for me" they replied "it's never enough because somebody else has more houses, a bigger swimming pool, and more helicopters" I think that kinda sums it up

We are mere pawns in a big game in which a lot of money is being made by a relative few.

This topic got me to thinking back to my High School days, when I drove around in a Subaru 360. It was advertized as getting 66 MPG, but I never got more than 58 with it!

I loved it because, with gas at 50 cents a gallon, I could drive all week for a buck, and I wasn't working then, just picking up odd jobs.

Imagine a 3/5 scale VW Bug with suicide doors and you have the Subaru 360. It was fun to drive and, because of the suicide doors, actually easier to get into for a big guy than a VW (so said my 300 lb 6' 3" friend).

Here's a link to some ads for it. Wish I still had it!

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/05/subaru-360-vintage-ads-cheap-ugly-ads-with-sexy-girl-extolling-cheap-ugly-cars/

Dusty