LAist: Gas Prices $1 Less than Last Year, $2 Less than in June

RedMercury

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:04:13 -0800

Whoa. Good thing I came back to look. I'll agree that I didn't factor in vehicle maintenance and the host of other things. In my defense, I also didn't factor in bicycle maintenance, bicycle parking at BikeStation (which my employer won't pay for), the extra hour or so that I spend getting to work, and the increased risk of riding at night.

Will Campbell

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:28:38 -0800

Agh, I hate premature postification... According to the website, with the variety of direct driving expenses involved, the cost per mile works out to roughly 88 cents. so if RedMercury is commuting 64 miles roundtrip each day, that works out to: $56.32. That's based on gas at a $2.87 a gallon, so it would be slightly less what with RM's gas costing $2.39.

Will Campbell

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:18:43 -0800

Echoing what wilberfan said, there's a great online calulator app to enable better understanding of the true cost of driving called, oddly enough: The True Cost of Driving: http://www.commutesolutions.org/calc.htm

msmerymac

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:04:02 -0800

RedMercury, what kind of car do you have? My crappy GM vehicle (gee, who knew?) is doing about 24-25 mpg. Unfortunately, there are no good transportation alternatives to get me directly from WeHo to Sherman Oaks (I drive Laurel Canyon).

wilberfan

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:08:40 -0800

Don't forget, RedMercury, that you really need to figure in the cost of maintenance, oil, wear-and-tear, etc to arrive at the true cost of driving your car...

RedMercury

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:11:58 -0800

Actually, at the moment, it's cheaper for me to drive than it is to use mass transit. I filled up this morning with 91 octane--$2.39 per gallon. I drove 32 miles to work. My gas mileage is 28 MPG. So if I do the math, it costs $5.46 to get to work and back. If I turn off my turbo chip and drive "stock" (which I started doing when gas went over $3.00), I get about 30MPG which would be about $5.10 to get to work and back. If I bike up to Long Beach, catch the blue line to the green line, get off at Aviation and catch a bus to work, it costs $5.75 or $6.00, depending on which bus I catch. "Louise, dump the milk! The Cat's getting Unleaded from now on!"

BingosDingo

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:41:05 -0800

There's an article in The Houston Chronicle this morning about how these declining prices might actually cause a downturn in the economy in Texas.