Complaining about gas prices, but not cutting back

  We complain about the skyrocketing price of filling up. But according to experts, we are not significantly cutting our consumption of gasoline when the prices are rising. The UT reports that a change from the oil crisis era in the 1970s. Of course, some officials say, what choice do we have:

A recent study that Christopher Knittel, an economics professor at the University of California Davis, helped write showed that every time gasoline prices went up 20 percent from November 1975 to November 1980, consumers changed their driving behavior by cutting gas consumption by 6 percent per capita nationwide. But from March 2001 to March 2006, drivers reduced consumption just 1 percent when prices rose 20 percent. ... “Our preferences have changed over the years, and we are much more willing to continue our driving habits in the face of price increases,” said Knittel.

Why do we continue to pay as prices rise? Is mass transit a solution. Hit the COMMENT button and join the discussion!

Comments

[bg mendell]

Price is nothing; I was in those lines in '73-'74;
I worked with people who were wearing the "Whip Inflation Now" buttons (those people, today, are the Global Warming-Chicken Little Cult).
When supply was tight, you could catch me riding the Big Blue Bus;
only once or twice since.
Supply rules the day, everyday!

[Graham]

No one cares about the price increases because we're all living on credit. Who cares if prices go to $10 a gallon when all we have to do is make the minimum payment?

[Richard]

There was more at work in the 1970's than just gasoline price increases that reduced people's gas consumption.

American automobiles were outrageous gasguzzlers at the beginning of the decade. Improving fuel efficiency was a rather simple and straightforward matter. Buy a Japanese car. Not only were you getting better fuel mileage, you bought a better automobile than the sort Detroit was making those years.

Also, the oil industry was under tight price controls for the entire decade. The concern was gasoline shortages, not high gas prices. The gas lines of 1974 and 1979 where what drove people to get fuel efficient cars in the 1970’s. Made for fewer trips to the gas station and stretching out the fuel you had.

Scarcity will do more to limit consumption than price increases.

[Mark E. Capron]

The real solution is 21st Century mass transit using the correct sized car to maximize passenger miles per gallon. Individual vehicles that cluster to become a virtual bus on demand. The Challenge is at GuardianAngelCars.org.

Super-polite, zero-crash, zero-congestion vehicles is the solution calcified minds love to hate. Road building brains hate the idea of not needing to build more roads. Bus, train, and "smart growth" brains hate the idea of not needing more buses and trains.

Use brains not roads or buses and trains!