Fuel prices affecting your travel plans?

[floriflee]

I know there have been a few semi-recent threads on fuel prices in general, but...

I was walking to the store earlier today and was just wondering if and how the increasing fuel prices of late have affected people's methods of travel and travel plans.

I definitely find myself walking more places (library, pharmacy, store, etc). If it's within about a 1-2 mile radius and I don't have to haul a bunch of stuff I'm definitely up for making the walk over the drive.

We've also started to plan and consolidate our trips to run errands or go places.

Being that we don't yet have any definite travel plans I can't yet say how those will be affected, but if the costs for where we want to go are too high then we may have to find cheaper alternatives.

 

[nbs2]

I was going to post that the wife and I really are cutting back our travel and errands, but that seems kind of silly to do now.

But, I have noticed that for a lot of people the cost incrase in gas prices last September had a temporary boost in public transportation ridership, but it then dropped back down. The recent rise actually seems to not be changing peoples' habits. Ridership feels the same as always (there was a drop during Easter/Passover), both on the commuter train and Metro.

I'm just glad that the commuter prices haven't gone up....

 

[Oryan]

Since I live in a town of less than 20,000, I haven't had to start consolidating errands yet, but the price of gas did affect my decision not to drive 3 hours to my friend's house in St. Louis for Easter.

 

[yg17]

Since I live in a town of less than 20,000, I haven't had to start consolidating errands yet, but the price of gas did affect my decision not to drive 3 hours to my friend's house in St. Louis for Easter.

Rolla to St. Louis is only about an hour and a half, and unless your car sucks or you have a really small tank, you can make the round trip on one tank of gas (I can sometimes go round trip and then one more way).


I haven't had any travel plans to begin with, but the higher prices don't effect my in-town driving that much. I don't do enough driving to actually see a difference in what I end up paying for gas

 

[nbs2]

I haven't had any travel plans to begin with, but the higher prices don't effect my in-town driving that much. I don't do enough driving to actually see a difference in what I end up paying for gas

How does that work? I've noticed that by cutting down the trips that we don't need to make but make anyway, we have gone from filling the tank every 10 days to every 14-16 days. That isn't a whole lot, but that is 1/3 less driving - at our current $30/tank, I figure we save about $500/year. That is enough to justify new toys or a trip to visit family/friends...

 

[pseudobrit]

54 mpg highway (actual). ~800 mile range/tank.

I crush Interstates.

 

[Kingsly]

Fuel prices affecting your travel plans?

It would if I had purchased a motor vehicle instead of a MacBook Pro.

 

[gauchogolfer]

Luckily for me, gas prices in my neck of the woods are holding pretty steady at 6 bucks a gallon, so nothing has really changed.

I walk when I can, drive if I have to.

 

[rdowns]

No effect on me. I pay what it is and go about my life.