Home Forums FineTunedMac Community Lounge Gasoline Prices

Prices north of the 49th have been bouncing around over the past while.

Currently, the local rate is C$0.98/liter = C$3.71/gallon (US) = US$2.75/gallon;
nationally, C$1.12/liter = C$4.24/gallon (US) = US$3.14/gallon.
[US$1.00 = C$1.35]

What's it like south of the 49th?

Here in Iowa we are still waiting to receive in our first liters. Gallons however continue to be in good supply.

.....and one of them costs?

Jeez....maybe it's time to move again. Here the local rate has just come down to $1.169/litre.

Here in Texas prices have been relatively steady but slowly climbing. Slow enough that unless someone brings it up the increases often go unremarked. Today's prices in U.S. Dollars per U.S. Gallons are:

• Regular $2.11 - $2.39
• Mid Range $2.39 — $2.52
• Premium $2.63 — $2.87
• Diesel $2.15 — $2.49

In my end of Brooklyn, NY the going rate is $2.49/$2.69/$2.89.

The interesting thing I've seen is that since Hess became Speedway, they've changed the longstanding $0.20 increments to $0.25, so while their regular is $2.45, it goes to $2.70 and $2.95. So far, they're alone in having made the change.

Canada's taxation structure on gasoline and such has always been heftier than the USA's.

More annoying is that when prices go up or down, they generally do so in increments of 4-10¢ per liter, which is what they did when we used gallons — which means ca 400% increase in the bump.

Those are pretty hefty price changes!

A bump/drop of $0.05/gallon isn't unusual around my way, but I can't readily recall having seen any larger ones.

Under any circumstances,, though, my sneakers don't use gas, so I'm never victimized by big oil.

So, given 3.785 litres in a U.S. gallon, my $1.169 per litre is $4.42 per U.S. gallon.


I'll say.

However, I suppose a big chunk goes toward paying for such things as a Universal Healthcare Plan, so I guess it all comes out in the wash.

Actually the gasoline tax in this country goes to road construction and maintenance and is levied on a per gallon basis, not a percentage of cost. The more fuel efficient our vehicles become the less fuel they use and the lower the road tax revenue becomes. Add to that state and federal legislators too short sighted and gutless to make appropriate adjustments in the tax structure to increase the road tax revenue as that might be seen as increasing taxes.

The result is a crumbling highway infrastructure with a majority of the bridges classified as in need of repair or even unsafe and the Interstate highway system built half a century ago carrying a traffic load far exceeding its design capacity.

As far as I am aware, it goes into "general revenue" and loses its identity and ultimate distribution. One could call it the "fungibility doctrine". (And much like what happens when two black holes collide, a certain amount of the mass is lost in transition.)

In this neck of the prairies the provincial tax is 15¢ per liter ... which may or may not find its way into maintaining infrastructure.

That's interesting and, as you say, not too thoughtful. I am only aware of one infrastructure tax in our province. The government has levied a 3 cents per litre tax to pay for public transportation expansion in a particular area of the province - the lower mainland.

However, the entire province does not pay the levy. It only applies to fuel purchased from service stations in the area that will benefit from the new public transportation - the lower mainland.

I wonder how closely vehicle weight relates to wear-and-tear on the roads? I'd expect a fairly close correlation. And one thing that's helping improve fuel economy is lightening the vehicles with things like carbon fiber and composites.

So maybe it's a more linear change? (less revenue, to fix less damage, caused by less weight?)

There is more than a correlation between vehicle weight and road wear-and-tear; it is a causation relationship. That is why here in California the annual vehicle registration fee is higher for trucks, etc. than for cars of the same age. I believe the weight issue is addressed by the number of axels on the vehicle. Not a perfect system (e.g., old heavier cars vs. new lighter cars), but easy to administer.

For the record, out here a gallon of regular gasoline is $2.99-$3.49, with a spread of 8-14 cents for each grade up. Then again, California requires a special mix (low emissions of some sort) for the gasoline sold in the State, which drives the price up.

If I recall, parts of the Midwest had a special lower octane mix that was ridiculously (by comparison) cheap. Maybe no modern car could use it, but it was cheap.