My daily commute — about sixty miles — plus my entry about the Smart car yesterday led me to thinking about fuel prices and how they impact my bottom line. Gas going to four dollars a gallon doesn’t make a real difference in my commuting. certainly not to the point where I would move closer to work, change jobs, or change vehicles solely for the sake of saving money on gas. So I asked myself, “Self? How much of your daily earnings would you have to spend a day before money spent on commuting forced a lifestyle change?”
Here’s the math. All of my vehicles take premium gas, at $4 a gallon. I am spending less than $11 a day on gas if I drive my Mazda to work. This is my “worst-case” scenario, as the turbocharged four-cylinder battlewagon sucks gas down at 22MPG. If I ride my BMW to work I cut my daily fuel expenditure down to $4.80. A worst, I spend far less than 1% of my daily salary on fuel.
So at what point would I start giving a shit about my commuting fuel expenditures? I am guessing that gas would have to take up 5% of my daily salary to even make a realistic blip on my financial radar. I would complain about the cost of going to work, but the money I make would more than justifies the fuel expense. There just aren’t any equivalent jobs on this side of Richmond.
I think gas would have to equate at LEAST 25% of my daily earnings before I made a significant lifestyle change. I may move closer to work because I feel like I am wasting my time spending 90 to 120 minutes a day in transit. I may buy a more fuel efficient car because I feel like it’s the “right” thing to do. I may change jobs to something closer because I am fed up with my current one. But the cost of daily driving has nothing to do with that decision. And probably won’t unless we run out of gas and it skyrockets to $50 a gallon or more.
At what percentage would gas prices make you change your lifestyle?
Given my mere 4-mile commute at my new job, if gas rose high enough to make me think about moving closer, the world would probably be in flames anyway. However, if it quadrupled, it might make me more likely to plan more trips via rail than by just hopping into my car.
Gas needs to be more expensive anyways. In the old days, the peasants stayed on the farm or village, where they belong. Now they crowd my transportation systems! Price em out, I say.
Hm, I’m with you. I haven’t really blinked at the cost of gas yet… Although, the other day I did come to the realization that it cost me $19/day to go to work in my gas guzzling Jeep. Or about $5 if I ride BB.
I do ride more now just because it’s sunny and warm, but it really hasn’t stopped me from driving my beloved Jeep… with the top down to be the least aerodynamic as possible. :D
I think it’d have to be about a kajillion dollars before I change my habits.
$4.80 per gallon consider expensive for me. My country only sell it at $$2.80 per gallon. I just wish gorvenment not to increase the price