With the holidays approaching, the stocking stuffer of choice this year may be gasoline. Instead of getting a coupon book for a burger and fries at Micky D's get a prepaid gas card and watch 'em smile. Anyone that drives can use it and what better way for a motorhead to show them you really care. A lot of businesses are getting into the act and giving away gasoline with … [Read more...]
Private transportation saves lives – part 2
Last month when I said more people in New Orleans needed private transportation to help save them from disaster, some readers took me to task and said public mass transit would be a better answer. Here's another interesting take on the idea I had not mentioned, noting public mass transit is not designed to do in an emergency evacuation what proponents envision. Designing a … [Read more...]
CAFE standards and markets
As we mentioned a few weeks ago, politicians are talking about raising the CAFE standards and now since Katrina, people are telling their political representatives to DO SOMETHING! May I say, please don't? Toyota's Prius has had a sales increase of 132% this year over last year. Does anyone really think the car companies aren't acutely aware of a building demand for high … [Read more...]
High gas prices – Smile!
The next time you drive by a gas station and see $3.00 gas, ... smile. It doesn't matter whether you're riding your motorcycle or driving that gas guzzling pickup many of us have for hauling or towing. Smile, because in the next several years we are going to see huge advances in technology caused by all of the scrambling companies are doing to come up with alternatives to those … [Read more...]
Basic transportation
Just thinking. It seemed many residents of New Orleans were stranded and unable to evacuate for lack of a car. Actually, they were stranded for lack of transportation. Ever see pictures of cities around the world with large poor populations and crowded streets? What are many of those people using to get around? Vehicle one is the bicycle, vehicle two is the small displacement … [Read more...]
Gas Panic – in Britain?
What's wrong with this picture? The U.S. has a huge hurricane, oil rigs are temporarily offline, prices rise, things settle down, prices recede and people panic in Great Britain. Huh? Evidently, prices are going up in Britain like everywhere else, someone says, "Hey we're running out of gas!" Everyone rushes to a gas station at the same time and obviously the station runs out … [Read more...]