My pain at the pump is lessenedby my owning a Prius.  Regular gas up here in NE Ohio is a similar price, probably averaging around 3.50 for regular.  I have to buy the next grade up which is usually 10 cents more a gallon.  I drive 60 miles a day to and from work, but my Prius keeps my money in my pocket.  Best car I ever owned.

Sheesh, I’d have to lookThe CTA works just fine for me.

20 miles?Try 50 miles, one-way.
The commute from my family farm to “the city” is about 50 miles. Gas is $3.54/gallon at the best of times.

Why a higher grade?What makes the difference between the different qualities of gas and the performance/life of a prius that you can’t just use the regular/cheaper gasoline?

I wish I had your pricesI paid $3.96 in SoCal this past weekend.

Prices by zipHere’s a great MSN app. Enter city or zip and get an interactive map with gas stations shown and prices listed.
http://autos.msn.com/everyday/…

Yeah…The gas station right by my home has the cheapest well over $4. I filled up while on errands out of the city (SF) and it was $3.83, and that was the cheapest in a ten mile radius. I’m glad I really only drive on the weekends, and that’s running errands, a full tank of gas lasts me at least a month and a half.

Makes me love my scooterIt’s around the national average here in Central Texas, which means that I’m still getting a tank of gas in my scooter for close to $3, more like $45 in my car.  Feeling inspired to use my bicycle and the scooter more lately and the car less.  Fortunately, my wife and I both work within 4 miles of home.

Central IllinoisGas is $3.45 right now, but it looks like it will go up again.  The best explanation of the role speculation in the price of oil and other commodities is Chapter 4 of Matt Taibbi’s book Griftopia. Needless to say,  some folks are  getting very rich.  

Westchester County, New YorkLocal prices in Westchester County are $3.75 or more for regular. I have been doing my weekly major food marketing across the Hudson River at the Fairway Market in Paramus, New Jersey, where my last fill-up at a nearby New Jersey gas station was at $3.29. I have a 20 gallon tank in my Nissan Altima Hybrid, and put in 18 gallons – the difference of 45 cents per gallon x 18 = $8.10 (or more).  The round trip (56 miles) is less than 2 gallons of gas (which I don’t count, since the Fairway Market in Pelham, south of me in Westchester County) may be half the distance, but actually takes as much gas because of traffic congestion), and the Tappan Zee Bridge toll (usually $5) is $4.75 with EZ Pass. (An additional perk to the Sunday Paramus trip – we also do a post-church, pre-shopping breakfast at the Tom Sawyer Diner on East Ridgewood Avenue, which has great coffee – and why on Sunday? The Paramus area’s blue laws mean that most commercial businesses are closed, meaning much less traffic!)
The last time we had a gas price scare with gas over $4/gallon in May 2008, I traded in my gas-guzzling but beautiful big black Chrysler 300C for my sleek silver Nissan hybrid, which gets double the gas mileage, effectively cutting my fuel cost in half, so $4/gallon only feels like $2/gallon. (I did this even though a total cost-of-use analysis over 3 years was a little higher with the Nissan, b/c the Chrysler was already paid for) – I’d rather give Nissan the money than any of the oil companies . . . ).

I love my motorized bikcycle…Until I crashed and broke my leg. I am looking at a trike now

Just going by what the manual says to do.

I saw it last night.Over by Union Station is was $3.99/gal for the basic stuff, over $4 for the next levels.  I’m not sure what it’s going for in the suburbs yet but it was $3.49 in Minot, ND and there were signs for it being $3.39 in Minnesota.  It was ridiculous in Canada before the Libya excuse was being used so it didn’t go up much higher, on Friday it was $4.75 US$/gal in Saskatchewan, up from about $4.30 a couple weeks ago.

I don’t get itI guess I just don’t get it. We had prices this high before. Higher as a matter of fact. Did people really think it wasn’t going to go back up? And why does gas peck at the livers of Americans so much. Food prices are up as well. Why aren’t people freaking out about them?
And you don’t need a hybrid to get great mileage. Most of the small to midsize sedans and hatches will average around 30mpg. They’ll also be cheaper for initial purchase than a Behemoth.  

Blitzer’s concerns are unfounded…Even is the crazy colonel burns his oil fields, it won’t have an impact on the price or oil supply.
An analyst on the BBC this morning pointed out that the crisis in Libya is alread factored into the price of oil. As far as the market is concerned, Libya’s oil has already been taken out of circulation. Burning his oil fileds would be more of an ecological disaster than an economic one.
The market is far more concerned about this spreading beyond Libya.

Yep!

It’s not about what kind of car you drive……it’s that you drive, at all.
And the reason you drive is because we’ve spent the last 100 or so years building an entire country around the idea that everyone who matters would have unceasing access to automobiles.
We have built our entire society around the idea that everyone who matters would forever have access to the incredible amount of energy provided by inexpensive petroleum, and we have built that society as if there would never be any consequences to doing so.  

And they aren’t really high in the USIn many EU countries you pay twice as much.

If only mass transit were better in my areaIn any case, for work it’s 5 miles.
I’d gladly bike but I’m afraid of being ran over.
For school, it’s like 13 miles. I go to school 3 days a week.
A tank of gas (around 12 gallons) lasts me about a week.  =/

It’s like 3.41 here in Central AR. Some places are cheaper or higher.

Well, you asked…

And why does gas peck at the livers of Americans so much. Food prices are up as well. Why aren’t people freaking out about them?

Probably because with average (working-to-middle-class) American lifestyles it’s a lot easier to adjust your food spending than your transportation spending, at least in the short term.  Groceries up by 20% this week? Cut discretionary spending elsewhere, skip certain expensive items this time, wait for the sale, go generic, do the coupon thing, etc. It’s not infinitely sustainable and many of us do some of these things all of the time or all of these things some of the time, but most of us don’t do all of these things all of the time, so there’s a little slack in the food budget.  Whereas if you live at X and you work at Y and you get there by driving your Z, your options for reducing your transportation expense may be very limited in the short run.  How high does fuel need to get for you to consider moving closer to work, or working closer to home? What are the trade offs and are they practical?
Also, fuel prices (gas/diesel and heating oil) are some of the most visible prices in the US – hard to go down the road in a settled area and not see them right there in big, well-lit numbers.  

I like them tooChicago Transit Authority is one of the best bands ever assembled, and their first album is one of the semin… wait. You meant the buses and the trains?
Never mind…