Sweet New Ride
After hearing all the talk about how much money oil companies make, and believing that a free and open economy is good, I am taking personal steps to reduce the demand for oil. I fully understand that my actions are going to have little effect on gas prices, but at least it should decrease the amount that I put in my tank.
I do believe that economics is a science and that it is constantly changing as trends change. Simple, basic principles tell us about supply and demand. In order for gas price to go down, there must be an increase in supply or a decrease in demand. However, I don’t think an increase in supply will do anything because demand is so darn high. Honestly, if gas was $6 a gallon, and you needed gas to get to work you’d pay it. You don’t have a choice.
You can choose to decrease your driving, go out less, run all your errands at once, etc. You can downsize your car, syphon gas from a neighbor, car pool.
I live 3.6 miles from work. That isn’t that much. So my work commute isn’t exactly breaking the bank in terms of gas. However, because I live 3.6 miles form work I usually come home for lunch, 7.2 miles, then back to work - 10.8 miles, then home again 14.4 miles. That car is also the one we use for all our running. We take it to dinner, to run to the store, it feeds my starbucks addiction. So, I bought a bike, not a motorcycle, a bicycle. Tonight I did a test run to see how bad it will be (on my end of town it is all hills). I rode 4 miles, up and downhills in 18 minutes. So, it looks like it’ll take me about 10 minutes longer to ride a bike instead of drive. I’ll also be getting some good exercise - 7 1/2 miles a day on a bike. Estimated time for the bike to pay for itself - 5 weeks. So, weather permitting, I’ll be rolling a Schwinn to work.