QOTD: Hitting the Breaking Point?
A few miles north of the American border lies a humble, affordable town called Vancouver — a town which just set a record.
That record? The highest gas prices anywhere in North America, ever. Surely, a feat worth celebrating, especially by Car Twitter personalities who own half a dozen vehicles but believe gasoline should cost $7 a gallon to stop people who aren’t them from driving. Well, such purveyors of hot takes got their wish, though for now it’s relegated only to the southwest corner of British Columbia. On Monday, gas stations in Metro Vancouver reported 87 octane prices hovering around $6.55 a gallon, though one station was seen selling it for $6.77.
During afternoon rush hour, quaffers of high-test faced prices of $7.23 a gallon. And prices are expected to rise by the end of the week, too. If transplanted overnight to this bastion of sin (taxes), how long would you continue driving what you’re driving?
Vancouver’s woes are the product of circumstance, bad luck, and careful planning. Taxes heaped upon taxes, offline U.S. refineries and resulting constrained supply, and the switchover to a summer blend all conspired to create today’s reality of sky-high pump prices. Which, it should be said, seems to be what the green-leaning provincial government wants, at least until it hurts them at the polls.
Higher gas prices encourage citizens to make “better choices,” as the country’s PM often claims, so anything that makes a driver think twice about firing up that ICE must be a good thing. Right? Check out that upgraded cruise ship port across the Juan de Fuca Strait in Victoria, by the way. Lots of extra tonnage there now.
But back to the exercise. Suppose you said the wrong thing into the mirror one night and found yourself uprooted from your current life and plopped down in that city. Never mind Vancouver’s insane housing prices; in this scenario, your household expenses and salary and commute distance all remain the same, save for one item: gasoline. You’ll be paying Vancouver prices.
Look out at your driveway. Will the vehicle sitting there remain in your life, or will a quick check of your finances relegate it to garage queen status — or an Auto Trader listing — as you hunt a less-thirsty commuter? Is once-mythical $7 a gallon gas a breaking point that actual forces you into “better choices”?
[Image: © 2016 Bark M./The Truth About Cars]
More by Steph Willems
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$7 a gallon gas would make me bitch, but so would $5 a gallon. I bought my wife's F150 in May of 2014 and gas here was $3.05 a gallon and has not been that high since. However, that truck is paid for now, and so is the vehicle I'm driving. We also live close to our jobs and so could weather such a storm well. I'm afraid the rest of our economy wouldn't be so lucky. At least there would be fewer vehicles on the street. Might get better mileage just from reduced stop-and-go traffic at that price. I also feel like there would be a lot of "gas guzzlers" available for good prices. I would probably be brave and pick up a HEMI Challenger.
I paid $US 6.599 a gallon on March 12, 2019 in California. In Big Sur, for regular unleaded, at the first gas station I’d seen in a lot of miles. (I drove the coastal highway that day from Half Moon Bay to Dana Point. Glorious drive.)