Gas Prices
Basics
Making Transit Better Isn’t Enough. Driving Needs to Be Worse.
So transit ridership is up. Everybody knows that. It’s at its highest point since 1956. Right?
March 21, 2014
#GOPHipster Ads Try to Reach Young People With Gas-Price Populism. Oops.
How embarrassing. The Republican National Committee’s outreach to young potential voters misses the mark so badly they're just proving the point they were hoping to disprove: The party is absolutely clueless about young people.
March 20, 2014
Millennials Will Drive More As They Age, But Still Less Than Their Parents
At some point over the past few years, a lot of my friends started moving to Silver Spring and Takoma Park and Falls Church. These inner-ring, transit-connected suburbs of DC are still far less compact and walkable than the neighborhoods my friends moved from. So they bought cars.
May 14, 2013
Which States Are Breaking Free From Oil Dependence? NRDC Ranks All 50
When it comes to helping their residents get around without breaking the bank, California, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, and New York are the top five states in the nation, while Nebraska, Alaska, Mississippi, Idaho, and North Dakota bring up the rear.
November 19, 2012
John Boehner Makes Stuff Up About Gas Prices
Out of thin air, House Speaker John Boehner sent an email yesterday with the subject line, "Labor Day Pain: Gas Prices Have Doubled on President Obama's Watch." As evidence of the "doubling" charge, Boehner links to his own website, where he claims, "The average price for a gallon of gasoline was $1.85 when President Obama took office."
September 5, 2012
Rising or Falling, Volatile Gas Prices Underscore Importance of Transit
When gas prices go up, it can be a big motivator for people to start taking transit more frequently. But according to a study released by the American Public Transportation Association and Building America's Future [PDF], even when gas prices start to go down, the newly converted keep riding transit.
May 16, 2012
Political Jockeying Over Gas Prices Is Divorced From Reality
Though many transportation reformers, economists and environmentalists would say that gas prices aren’t nearly high enough to disincentivize single-occupancy-vehicle use and to pay for the external harms, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill take it for granted that gas prices are too damn high. In fact, it's one of the very, very few things that they do agree on these days. And it's a message that resonates with their constituents, who are suffering under a sluggish economy.
May 4, 2012
The Utter Futility of a Gas Tax “Holiday”
Disclaimer: The House and Senate, in the grand scheme of things, have plenty of time to hack together a short-term extension of transportation funding, or even to pass the Senate bill outright if they felt like it.
March 28, 2012
Obama Counters Gas Price Demagoguery With Commitment to Fracking
It’s been almost a year since the Obama administration released its Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future, but more importantly, it’s been two weeks since Energy Secretary Steven Chu got chewed out for not caring enough about lowering gas prices. And Newt Gingrich, whose presidential campaign is slipping into irrelevancy, can still do some political damage with his claim that he could bring gas prices down to $2.50.
March 13, 2012
Trapped By Car Dependence: Stories From Commute-Battered Americans
Meet Darren Flenoy, a Bay Area security guard who lives 40 miles from work. Gas costs him about $500 a month. His car payment is another $500. On top of that, he spends $80 per month on insurance and $180 on tolls.
October 31, 2011