Gas Prices

[chris123]

79.9 for regular, WTF. It was this price in T.O. at the height of the Gulf War. Apparently we get very little oil from Iraq, anyway. I know this is Canada, but why aren't we storming gas companies H.Q's. Can't wait for a buck a litre come the invasion. Yes, I know we get it easy compared to Europe, but it's all relative.
Just had to vent.

 

[Dancerfan]

It never got as high as 79.9 during the gulf war,the highest i seem to recall then was about 65 cents,it never got to 79.9 in Toronto during that time,not that im defending the price now,its way too much!!

 

[hamermill]

It's called gouging

 

[Remo]

Get used to it. Friends I have that work in the oil industry have been telling me this is going to happen for over a year now. North Americas cheap gas prices are coming to an end. With or without a war in Iraq.

 

[prof]

Gee...maybe that's why the U.S. is going to war in Iraq, so that all of North America can have access to cheap gas (simplistic as that may sound) OR perhaps it is about time that we end this "car culture" in North America. Our whole way of urban planning is geared around "cars", that public transportation is more a mere afterthought and ineffective. Perhaps more draconian measures are needed to get people out of their cars, to support the building of public transportation. In Tokyo, where I live, it's really expensive to own a car plus it's not needed. The public transportation is extensive. Imagine going anywhere around the G.T.A. by subway. I'm probably going to get lots of flack here, but like the situation with guns, somewhere in the near future something reassembling a nationwide policy will have to be implemented. Not everyone's going to like it, but it's for the good of the whole, not the needs of the one.

Death to "SUVs"!

 

[Questor]

The only reason the price of gas is so low is because its use has been publicly subsidized for years. To determine the true cost of private automobile use, one must consider health costs, environmental costs, not to mention infra-structure costs. City Council just approved this week the construction of an extension to the Gardiner Expressway (aka the Front Street Extension) at a cost of $240 million. And we all know that these estimates have a way of running well over before the actual construction. Council thinks it will relieve gridlock by expanding capacity by some 30%. They don't seem to understand that if you relieve gridlock, then we'll soon have 30% more yahoos driving in solo from Mississauga every morning.

So think about all the health costs associated with private auto use. 2000 premature deaths a year in Toronto alone. The global warming that is happening. And actual road construction. When all these costs are actually paid for at the gas pump, maybe people will start taking the TTC and there will be funds available to build a transit system that would be a viable alternative to the car.

Q.

 

[BigGuy26]

Complaints on Gas Prices

To all those who complain about the price of gas, is an increase of approximately $4 bucks going to be the end of you?

Gas Price 70.0c per litre x 45 litres (average car let's say) = $31.50

Gas Price 80.0c per litre x 45 litres = $36.00

4.5 dollars x 52 = $234 bucks more per year (sample figures of course), which is not a significant number, cmon!

You all should have thought twice about buying those guzzling SUV's !! Are all you people that broke that the $234 is going to make you go broke? You think prices are going to go down?

North America is too car focused, end of story.

 

[shack]

Re: Complaints on Gas Prices

4.5 dollars x 52 = $234 bucks more per year (sample figures of course), which is not a significant number, cmon!

Hey. That's almost a full hour with my favorite SP. Now "that" is significant in my books. LOL

 

[MuffinMuncher]

It's my fault

I'll save the US-bashers the time and effort..... LOL!

"Its all the fault of the US and their misguided foreign policy of trying to conquer the Middle East and control all the oil."

Death to America, long live Saddam! [Sarcasm intended]

(Fred, that should save you a few hundred dollars of bandwidth.)

 

[luckyjackson]

Think maybe the general strike in Venezuela, (world's 5th largest oil producer), might have something to do with it? That and speculation over the effect of the coming war.

 

[chris123]

Re: Complaints on Gas Prices

To all those who complain about the price of gas, is an increase of approximately $4 bucks going to be the end of you?

Gas Price 70.0c per litre x 45 litres (average car let's say) = $31.50

Gas Price 80.0c per litre x 45 litres = $36.00

4.5 dollars x 52 = $234 bucks more per year (sample figures of course), which is not a significant number, cmon!

North America is too car focused, end of story.

It don't end there, unfortunately. Grocery prices and pretty much everything else are being effected. More importantly: massage oil.

 

[wollensak]

Heyif this makes it uncool to drive around in dumb-ass Navigators, Expeditions and Hummers I'm all for it.

The only thing that bugs me is when one station is four cents a litre cheaper and there's cars lined up out onto the road.
Come on, you're lining up to save $2. I won't line up for Horton's
and I won't line up for this. If the lineup is out the door I'm outta there.

 

[garzen]

If you look in the past 2 years , i remember that gas prices were 0.48 about 2 years ago!

 

[xarir]

I was out & about last night. Close to downtown the gas prices were 81.9 per litre. Up on Lawrence Ave, we went by this corner that had 2 gas stations right across the streeet from each other (an Esso & a PetroCan). Around 7:15 the prices were 73.5 per litre. We joked about it; let's buy gas here 'cause it's cheap! At 9:15 when we were going back, the prices were 81.9 per litre.

This means that within 2 hours, prices increased by 11.4%.

Now granted, $0.084 * 45 litres * 52 weeks is just under $200. I spend more per hour with an SP after all so I can't really complain. But anything going up in price like that should give people a moment of pause. What catastrophic world event affected Toronto gas prices instantaneously across the board that gas had to go up in price 11%?

 

[KBear]

A good percentage of the gas price is taxes. 2/3 if I remember correctly what is written on the pumps. Does anyone know if the tax portion is a percentage of the gas price, or is it a fixed amount? If the tax is based on a percentage of the gas cost, then that would better explain why the price at the pump fluctuates so much.

 

[drlove]

Just be thankful you don't live on the east coast.

87.9 cents per litre.

 

[xarir]

Just be thankful you don't live on the east coast.

It's a lot more expensive in Europe too - last time I was over there we were shelling out 1.1 Euros per litre. That's roughly $1.80 per litre.

In my previous post I wasn't really complaining about the price of gas. We still have cheap gas over here in North America. I do however complain about the fluctuations and instantaneous price fixing. There's really no reason for gas prices to move like they do. Over time of course prices for anything will change, but nothing like the price of gas does.

 

[notenufmuff]

2 day old gas

Here's some food for thought:

The tankers haven't even been to the gas station to refill yet. How did the price of that 2 day old gas magically achieve a new price?

 

[james t kirk]

Well, in western NY, it's a $1.59 a us gallon.

I think that works out to be about 60 cents a litre canadian. We are paying 80 cents a litre canadian.

And don't blame the tax man, Market Place did a piece about 2 years ago adjusting everything into a common datum.

We are paying far more than our US cousins, and it's mainly due to the fact that there are only 4 oil companies in Canada - Shell, Petro Canada, Exxon, and Sunoco.

In the US there are scads.

There is a serious lack of competition in the industry here in Canada, so we get burned.

Expect to see a buck a litre for the first time in your life very shortly.

Solution:

Buy more fuel efficient cars - Jettas instead of navigators.
Take the subway more often.
Car pool
Drive less.

If we reduced consumption by 10 percent it would hit them right in the nose.

I for one HATE SUV's and if any good comes out of this it is the hit they will take.

 

[Big Bear]

Time to by PetroCan stock!

If you look on all those little pie charts they have at the pumps to justify their prices you will see the biggest cost is the cost of crude but that is based on the world price of crude not the actual cost. Therefore as the price goes up for crude the cost of gas goes up because they base their pricing on the world price. However in reality all they have done is improve their profit margin as most have access to a lot of cheap crude from domestic sources. Remember Canada is basically self sufficient in oil and all the companies do is sell the surplus in the west to the US and import oil for the east (that is east of Montreal as that is where the pipeline ends) Therefore expect to see record profits for the oil companies because of this.

By the way because of the way their accounting works you will never see prices drop as much as the price of crude drops because they want to improve their margins again. Great if you can get away with it.