Tuesday, March 04, 2008

The $40 mark

Last week, I spent just over $40 to fill up about 11 gallons of gasoline in my car. $40 is very close to $36 or $38, but it caused a psychological reaction for me.

"Wow, $40? I remember when SUVs paid that, and I paid more like $15 or $20."

This will definitely make me take the bus more. But what's sad is:
  • I can take the bus more. Not everyone has good (or even passable) public transit, and has to commute by car.
  • Of those that have to commute by car, not everyone can really afford gas at these levels.
How do we support people who fall into the above description, while continuing to incent people like me to drive less and bus more?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here in Argentina you paid $120 - 140 pesos to fill the tank of a SUV, and the medium salary is $1500. Is quite cheap U$S 40 for me, everything is cheap in US, how much is the the minimum wage U$S 1200 - 1400?

Bye.

George said...

The minimum wage varies by state. The federal minimum is $5.85/hour but many states have higher minimums.

Assuming the federal minimum and a 40 hour workweek, that's roughly a monthly gross income (before taxes) of $1000.

Indeed the ratio you described is 8% of monthly salary, and the one I described is 4%.

Admittedly we in the U.S drive more and drive bigger cars that spend more gas. We can do better on that front, though in many regions public transportation simply won't get you to your job and you have to drive (fortunately Seattle is not one of those regions, at least for me).