£1.05 per litre is enough to put people of driving, so it needs to be MORE expensive.....?

Question

How high does it need to go to end the daily gridlock we inexplicably accept as inevitable and "normal?"

Clare, it really is ridiculous. Ridiculous that the price is not prohibitive enough. The traffic volumes keep on growing. I'm thinking maybe £5/litre should do the trick.

No Rich, not stupid, but a realist. It is obvious if traffic continues to grow (and it will) then the roads will be at a standstill. And that would cost every business money. We are either going to have to pay far higher fuel duties or accept road pricing to deter private cars.

Brian the only "extremist groups" I see being financed by petrol are the middle eastern Mullahs who supply it.

Answer 1

I hope it goes up. I have designed a device to help people reduce their fuel consumption, the higher fuel prices get, the bigger my market will be.

And for the "international financial whiz" I have one question: What is the effect of keeping oil prices artificially LOW through political action?

If you did a simple calculation using the average inflation rate you would find fuel prices are much lower than they would be if they only followed inflation, not even demand. A year ago fuel prices were equivalent in dollar value to those in 1921. It is time they went up.

Answer 2

Increasing the price of fuel is not the answer, as this means that rich people will be able to drive and poorer people won't. What is needed is some kind of propaganda campaign and legal restrictions on driving, combined with incentives to use public transport, cycle or walk. Driving should be restricted to people who actually need to drive for their job, by which i don't mean people driving to work but the likes of paramedics or firefighters, and the disabled. No-one else should be permitted to do so. At the same time, public transport should be subsidised heavily; at around the same level as the current cost of car insurance, maintenance and MOTs. The infrastructure should be completely redesigned to accommodate trams, trains, canals, pedestrians and bicycles, and freight should be transported by rail or canal wherever possible. Conversion programmes should be researched and applied to the transport industry and there should be extensive retraining for the employees. In order to reduce transport difficulties in the countryside, people should be encouraged to move to the cities and empty property should be repossessed by the state and made available to the general public at an affordable rent.

This will never happen. People are far too attached to their cars to allow it.

Answer 3

You are right that something needs to be done to curb car use but not in order to relieve congestion. The thing to be concerned about is the waste of fossil fuel and the global warming caused by cars.

Oil, gas and coal are valuable resources which are running out. The stage in the evolution of the planet during which those resources were created has long passed so every gallon used today will not be available tomorrow. These fossil resources are vital to modern life as raw materials for products ranging from clothes to computers. The worst possible use for fossil resources is in cars transporting people one at a time often on journeys that could be made by public transport or by walking or pedalling.

Those who point out the economic consequences of higher prices are right but, by wasting these resources on cars, we shall soon suffer the higher prices and economic collapse anyway. Global warming will also bring social and economic upheaval unless stopped.

So what is the answer? Well those who are worried about earning a living might like to consider how much money they would save by selling the car and taking the alternative forms of transport I have mentioned.

One of your answerers referred to a four mile trip to work. That distance is easily done by pedal power and would save on the cost of visiting the gym too.

I sold my car nearly 40 years ago and that was the end of my money worries. I can now hire a car when I need to, but the need is very rare (about once every other year). At first I used public transport and walking but after a while I took to cycling and can promise you it is much more fun than driving. I fetch the family shopping in my panniers each week and I do about 3000 miles a year. My health and fitness are very good so that I can enjoy music and dancing energetically. People ask why it is that I can dance twice as hard for twice as long as people half my age and the answer is by selling the car.

There you are, solve weight and fitness problems, solve money problems and have fun by selling the car. At the same time you will be helping create a cleaner and better resourced world for your children.

Best wishes

Answer 4

How would I get to yours with tools and materials to build an extension for you. Make the fuel £10 a litre and your extension cost has gone up 10k.

Unless there's a real alternative to the car, what can you do.

Why not put all roads down to single lane with double white lines. All other lanes will be for lots of buses and trams. So either sit in a queue for 3 hours or go by bus in 10 mins.

Make roads wider and junctions easier is not the answer, as well as putting up the price of fuel.

Answer 5

I drive to work as I have to, I would have to get 2 buses to my work that is after I drop my children off at school, I also work unsociable hours where I would have to walk for about 3 hours along country lanes in the dark. People use their cars because they have to, some people are disabled and would not get around if they never had a car, if you put petrol up the only people who it would not bother are the rich (most have a few cars not only one) and prices for food, etc would go sky high, maybe if petrol was cheap, as in America, people would take advantage of cheap bus and train fares, as it is at the moment it is cheaper to travel by car than public transport.

Answer 6

Why do you believe raising the price through government controls / taxes will produce any solution? This is marxist / socialist thinking. History has shown this does not work. Since a viable alternative does not yet exist (not enough public transportation, electric cars not yet viable) People will continue to pay whatever they must to get to work and so on. Raising the price without any real alternative will only serve to hurt the economic well being of the consumer. When the economic pressure placed upon the consumer from rising prices in a free and open market reaches a certain level, a demand will be created for cheaper alternatives; that is your solution. Energy usage must be determined by the free will of the consumer in a fair and open market.

Answer 7

Thats RIDICULOUS.

You can't try to price people who genuinely need to drive out of the market just because a few jumped up idiots with big cars and small brains insist on driving to the corner shop 100 yards away.

Maybe in big cities, public transport COULD be the answer, but lets face it, in the UK, it just isn't.

And what about people who have to travel for their jobs?

Community nurses would claim expenses off the NHS, which is in a pretty poor state to begin with.

Lots of other jobs require travel, and if everyone was claiming expenses of £5 per litre of petrol, a lot of companies/businesses could go bust.

And like someone mentioned, increasing fuel costs will increase product costs.

Anyone seeing a downward spiral?

I'm all for saving the earth. But I live in the real world. If you're that bothered, switch off your PC and pen a letter to someone important about the state of public transports in our cities!

Answer 8

Yer lets put it up to £5 & put even more money in the goverments pockets,yayyyyy good idea,then there will be loads of cues every where people fighting to get on buses,trains etc oh I'll get a push bike ride the 25miles to work every day,,petral needs to go down in price like half the other things in England

Answer 9

Yeah, great idea, put the price upto £10 ltr, if that suits you better. Just one wee question tho, I leave for work at 715am, I work just 4 miles across town and there is no direct bus that would get me there for starting at 745am. Yes I could leave earlier but hubby gets home from night shift at 710am, he works a good bit away from home, and we have two young children at home as well (my surname is NOT McCann). How do you suggest my husband and I get to our respective places of employment, with very little time to get there and bosses impatiently waiting at the door? We dont earn a lot either (Im healthcare worker, hes security) so we couldnt afford to research and invent an economical replacement for fuel. Im waiting for your answer, oh wise one.....

Answer 10

I commute 18 miles each way to work. At 5:30am, there is no public transport alternative, otherwise I would use it.

At £5 / litre, I would seriously consider early retirement.