"Time to boost the gas tax, up maybe $2/gallon."

Well - this is now current affairs not Space Science.

Here's the UK perspective. Petrol is currently around $6 a gallon in the UK (86p/litre) - and people still cover large distances to commute - particularly in the South East around London.

The price of the fuel doesn't make much of a difference - it's simply that the alternative ( public transport ) is too expensive, too unreliable and too crowded.

An example. I live in Leicester - it's a 1hr 15min train journey to London - and would cost £40 'off peak' but £84 if I wish to return between 1600 and 1900 in the evening ( when everyone wishes to return home from work ). That's not first class - that's just the normal price. Add a bus to get to the station (£2)- or parking AT the station (£8) - if I had to get to London and back every day - even if I had a season pass for that line - it would consume about 1/3rd of my salary.

Fortunately - I don't have to travel to London. I live in the suburbs of Leicester and work in the middle of Leicester. The drive takes abotu 15 minutes and is about 4 miles. Public transport would cost more than the fuel does - and cost twice as much ( because my partner and I work for the same firm ) - and take three times as long. I save an hour of my life every day by driving to work and not using expensive, unreliable, cramped public transport.

Meanwhile - for those that DO have to work in London - they can not afford to live in London ( where a flat of 11ft by 7ft recently went on the market for more than £150k ) - so they are forced to live far away where the prices are reasonable...but then the commute is long.

There is something wrong with the bigger picture - but increasing the price of fuel wont change it - you need to 'carrot' people onto an alternative - as the stick wont work.

Doug