who thinks spending $40 to put 10 gallons of gas in my car.....
and then being able to drive 250 miles on that gas.......

is a fucking bargain?????

$40 worth of gas a week ...gets me back and forth to work for 5 days.....and gets me wherever the fuck else i need to go that week.....

$40 is a fucking bargain....

You forgot to calculate the inherent cost of your car and for average repairs that week will cause on your car. For instance, going cheap here, if your car cost $10,000 for its payments and its repairs while in your hands, and you use it for 5 years before purchasing a new one, you're looking at about another $40 a week - or $80 total to get where you want to go. Add in insurance and all the other knick-knacks (do you have a CD player? do you get junk food?) and you're looking at $100 a week total. That's around five grand a year. This is a conservative figure, too.

I do not consider that to be a bargain.

It is a bargain compared to prices where I live, especially with the low dollar rate.

groetjes,
Mirella

But we shouldn't despair, it has been going down bit by bit lately. I'm now at about 50 € for 800km. Calculate that however you want, I won't do it.

It's not the cost that shocks so much as the rapid increase. $5 gas will have no impact on my driving habits, but it's still unnerving to see it go up so quickly.

Certainly no bargain when you consider those same 10 gallons would have cost you $10 only 10 years ago.

I get that it's not a big deal for you, but I wouldn't ever call it a "bargain."

It must be great to have a lot of money.

...The best I ever had.

THE BEST I EVER HAD!

Not considering that a few years ago, that probably would have cost you $10. lol

OR, the fact that my car goes about a week and a half, 2 weeks on a $30 fillup. I haven't calculated my miles, but it gets me to and from school, and work, and 1 or 2 bod squad events, and at least 1 day of errands.

$40 is a bargain. Factor in a value for your time and driving makes economic sense over public transit for most users even once you factor in all costs of owning a car. Add to that the fact that having a car allows me to road trip and not turn into a city hick.

One might argue that taking the money spent on a car and investing it would yield a greater benefit if public transport is good in your area. I wouldn't. But some might.

It may depending on the level of public transit available and your transportation needs.

Myself, I would hate to be dependent on public transit. Slowly turning into a city hick over time from being bound to places serviced by public transit. Having my areas of interest dwindle over time to only include those easily accessible by public transit. I couldn't imagine trying to play hockey, go snowboarding, enjoy hiking and camping by bus.

Driving to the local mall: 10 minutes, and probably less than a dollar in gas.
Taking the bus to the same mall: 60 minutes(not counting walking to the bus stop and waiting time), $2 plus $0.60 for a "out of county" transfer (even though I'm blocks from the border. And that may be higher now, btw).

Obviously, I'm taking my car. lol

Philly public trans is the WORST, especially up here in the 'burbs.

I'm not going to try to counter your math, but I'm curious how you value your time. Is there a dollar value? Is it the same, more, or less than your rate for work?

Answer however you feel comfortable.

I figure fair valuation of my free time would be what I get paid for overtime. Using a conservative figure of $80/hr I can pretty quickly justify all the costs that go into owning a car. Add to that the prospect of slowly becoming a city hick over time if I relied on public transit and the whole thing is completely unappealling.

I'd like cities to make public transit free and role the cost into property taxes. If public transit can't be faster than driving the least they can do is make it cheaper. But I don't hold out much hope of this happening. Governments seem to like to see it's citizens stumble along.

Your buses aren't free?
http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.asp?NID=393

That's very cool of Chappel Hill. I'm thinking it's due to it being such a university town. Our universities and colleges in conjunction with the transit authority provide free monthly passes to students.