High gas prices are causing British motorists to drive less and switch to mass transit. Which is something many US motorists probably wish they could do, but if you live in the suburbs where there is no mass transit and drive long distances to work, then you’re stuck.
When we lived in Connecticut in the exburbs, while there was some shopping nearby, visiting friends or other shopping required a 10-15 mile drive or so. Now that we’re in the San Francisco Bay Area in a much more urban area with a BART station a three minute walk away, well, everything changes. We use the cars much less, and when we do, drive shorter distances. In fact, we will probably sell Sue’s 2001 VW New Beetle Diesel (Interested? Let me know, it gets 40 mpg) because we only need one car.
With high gas prices unquestionably here to stay, areas where automobiles are a necessity will increasingly be at an economic disadvantage to areas where they are not.
BTW, The CostCo across a parking lot from us often has a quite long line of cars waiting to buy gas at $4.29 a gallon (vs. $4.41-4.69 elsewhere.) Question. If you sit in line for twenty minutes waiting to gas up while the engine is idling in order to save 12 cents a gallon, how much are you actually saving?