There is an abundance of talk about gasoline prices hitting 4.00 per gallon this summer. Scooter businesses don’t seem to mind a bit. The higher the price of a gallon of gas, the more people seem to walk through scooter shop doors. The LA Times reports general motorcycle businesses are starting to catch on to that idea as well. The article discusses how the stated fuel efficiency is not as accurate for two-wheelers as it is for automobiles. The fact that fuel use on a scooter varies greatly due to rider weight and how aggressive they are with the throttle is widely accepted and should be made clear by retailers. Another thought-provoking report by Business Week expresses how it seems that supply and demand may not have a whole lot to do with the rising prices at the pump. This week congress is making an attempt to get to the bottom of it all. Good luck with that, Mr./Mdm. Senator. Most scooter owners don’t drive a scooter as their sole mode of transportation so gas prices going up will affect them significantly for their automobiles, not to mention higher costs for everything else that is ever shipped or involves gasoline in it’s production (read: food). But, overall, do you readers feel immune to or insulated from the rising cost of fuel due to your scooter use or even enriched by your scooter related business during this time of three to four dollar per gallon gasoline? Sound off!
4 thoughts on “Gas + Bikes = A Lot of Hot Air?”
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Immune? No. Insulated? Yeah, kinda. A few years ago I pared a vehicle fleet down to one scooter and one 2005 Ford Escape. I use the scooter a lot more than the Escape (hey, 70 mpg vs. 20 mpg). Even in the 2nd- or 3rd-highest gas price place in the U.S., according to local media, I spend very little money getting to work (still even less than a bus pass) or to the other places I need to go. Aside from occasionally wimping out when it’s cold or really rainy, the Escape gets used only when the scooter is not enough vehicle for the trip…
I heard an interesting point the other day.
It doesn’t matter what the mpg of our vehicles is. As long as they run on Petroleum based products we are still stuck with the folks in charge of the oil. Obviously a scooter is better.
Another point of interest: China has somewhere around 1.5 billion people, India somewhere around 1.3 billion, we have 300 million. Demand will be exceeding supply by a big margin soon….
Bob
this is difficult to determine. i havent owned a four wheeled vehicle in about 9 years, so I have no idea what i would be spending on gas these days. i’ll just get angry if it takes more than 10 dollars to fill my suzuki motorcycle’s tank.
Immune, no. I still need to put gas in the scooter now and then and the Subaru uses way more gas than I would like. There’s still no way to haul the whole family around or carpool the kids to school on a scooter without resorting to the insane acrobatics we’ve all seen pictured in the AP.
Insulated, yes somewhat. We sold off the 2nd car a couple years ago, and I replaced most bus trips to work with the scooter. I also have started working from home 50% now, which reduces commute costs further, and I park my scooter downtown for nothing when a monthly parking pass would cost me $120.
Overall the gas price increase hits me way less than many of my coworkers and friends who drive SUV or minivans to work. I know lots of people who regularly commute 30 miles one way, by themselves in their big cars/trucks/vans/whatever. They easily use two or three gallons a day on their commute and I use about one gallon a week.