I Bought Gas on the Day it Peaked in St. Louis
Every six months or so I do a post on gas prices. As gas prices climbed the last few years I loved being able to fill up my scooter (since sold) for under $5. After returning home from the hospital at the end of April 2008 I began to plan my return to car ownership and driving. By mid-July 2008 that had happened. In fact I bought my first tank of gas for a car in over a year on July 14, 2008 — the very day gas prices peaked in the St. Louis area.
That day I paid $3.979 per gallon. It took 10.017 gallons to fill the tank on my Corolla. My last fill-up was on 12/30/08 with 10.548 gallons at $1.339/gallon.  $14 vs. $39. Today’s pricing, the result of a global drop in demand, does not encourage me to drive more than in July. I think many drivers are in my shoes — personally relieved by the reduced prices but still thrifty. That is a very good thing.
The appeal of the big V-8 SUV has been broken. Families still require more seating capacity than singles. Some construction workers still require a truck to apply their trade. The pressure is on automakers to focus on fuel mileage.
More and more I’m seeing people thinking about living more toward the center of the region. This does not mean they all want to be my neighbors in the downtown loft district. It just means the long standing draw new development on the far edge of the region has lost it appeal to the masses.
As President-elect Obama (I still love hearing that) works to rebuild our economy we will see gas prices return to the July 2008 peak and beyond. Just like a fundamental shift was taking place 50 years ago — one out of the core, we are in the early stages of the shift back inward. I strongly believe our course as a region and country will be very different in the coming 50 years vs. the prior 50 years.
Hopefully in a few years I’ll be plugging in an electric scooter rather than buying gas for a car. Hybrid autos will someday out number internal combusion only vehicles out on the roads. Youngsters will walk or bike to school. By removing legal obstacles, such as Euclidean zoning, we can help this process along.
