  Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 3984 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 141.217.174.229 |
With the gas prices going in one direction UP! to $3.00 a gallon. Lot's of people may have to find a way to commute to work, like carpooling, or taking a bus. What can you do to save money on gas for your car? Do you rather to take the carpool or take the bus? | ||
Detourdetroit Member Username: Detourdetroit Post Number: 188 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 68.255.246.225 |
i take the alley to work. 1.5 minutes. 1 minute during rush hour. for meetings downtown i take the dexter #16. 27.5 seconds to bus stop. wait 0-20 minutes for bus. 10 minutes downtown-$1.50. friends and smells and book/newspaper reading no charge. | ||
Focusonthed Member Username: Focusonthed Post Number: 127 Registered: 02-2006 Posted From: 209.220.229.254 |
Whenever I ride the bus, the smells aren't something I look forward to as you seem to... | ||
Upinottawa Member Username: Upinottawa Post Number: 303 Registered: 09-2005 Posted From: 198.103.184.76 |
The smells on DDOT cannot be worse than the Rome subway system at rush hour in August.... | ||
Spacemonkey Member Username: Spacemonkey Post Number: 12 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 63.102.87.27 |
I'd rather pay the $3.00 a gallon. | ||
Mpow Member Username: Mpow Post Number: 188 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 200.65.7.177 |
agreed upinottawa. smells are part of city living and i embrace imperfect worlds because that is where the spice is. | ||
Fnemecek Member Username: Fnemecek Post Number: 1586 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 69.215.246.115 |
LMAO!!! Detour, there are moments when are truly envy you. Like when I have to haul my butt all the way out to Lansing for work. (Thankfully, I only have to do that a few times each month). | ||
Valkyrias Member Username: Valkyrias Post Number: 235 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 66.238.129.197 |
i actually heard on the radio this morning that *they* are now saying it could reach closer to $3.50 a gallon this summer. last summer i was contemplating using the bus and bike as prices rose, but never really did anything. this year i might be more serious about doing something different because that is just ridiculous. if only i lived closer to where i worked... | ||
Gotdetroit Member Username: Gotdetroit Post Number: 10 Registered: 12-2005 Posted From: 66.208.225.165 |
Shit, the bus or any mass transit is awesome. When I lived in San Francisco, I had no car, and paid $35 bucks a month for unlimited rides. Screw paying for gas. If you can do it, the bus is the best way to go. A car is just a metallic penis that you stare at in the mirror. But in the end all it ever does is cause you grief. This gas crap is bullshit. If I must vent. | ||
Cheddar_bob Member Username: Cheddar_bob Post Number: 594 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 69.246.74.205 |
I'm buying a bicycle. $35 a month for unlimited bus riding here in Flint, so I might buy that. My work is only a mile away, so either option is viable for me because I will not be driving too much. | ||
Ilovedetroit Member Username: Ilovedetroit Post Number: 2262 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 63.149.5.130 |
I drive 50 minutes to work...I will drive... the bus will take a week! I hate driving...I hate Detourdetroit  | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 636 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 68.60.177.56 |
I get out of work at 2 am. Every morning as I leave, there is a small group of workers waiting sadly for a bus. According to the security guard in the lot, sometimes they wait for a full hour for a bus. I would love to take the bus, even at my shift I would love it. It shouldn't take more than a half an hour. But the way it works right now, I would be home sometime after 4 am. I can't do it. I'm going to post a carpool sheet tonight at work. That seems to be the next best thing. | ||
Miss_cleo Member Username: Miss_cleo Post Number: 161 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 69.47.85.139 |
At my husbands new job, up in East Jordan, its a 15 min ride, with no lights or stops signs and all the deer, turkey and elk you care to look at. Cant wait to join him up there! Cause going back and forth on weekends is hurting right now | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 18 Registered: 01-2006 Posted From: 71.144.119.154 |
I'm not quite ready for the bus, but the folks urging us to go with it have a good point. I truly enjoy the moments of solitude I have, in my car, going to and from work, but I'm lucky; it's only about a six-mile trip each way. "You Know There Is Something Really Wrong When" Dept.: I live on the NW side, right off of Plymouth Road, between Schaefer and Greenfield. Driving north on Hubbell (a residential street, but a good connector between Michigan Ave. and Seven Mile Rd.,) the major cross-street sequence goes like this: Michigan, Ford Road, Warren, Tireman, Joy, W. Chicago, Plymouth. As of yesterday, there was a 14 to 15 cent variance in price between Warren and W. Chicago, which is a distance of MAYBE, at the MOST, two miles. I reluctantly comprehend that, in certain situations, a gas station is in a position to charge a bit more due to being in a "convenient" (for them, mainly)location: a freeway exit, a spot where there are no other stations nearby (like the one across from the downtown Post Office, which gleefully charges as much as they can possibly get away with without being fire-bombed for their ruthlessness,) and like that. I don't like it, but I get it. But a two-mile distance on Hubbell? C'mon, now; there is no acceptable explanation for that. Which is why I am encouraging you, my fellow citizens, to take a moment out to obtain the phone number of the office of Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox, and program that Mofo into your cell phone, so when you see some bullshit like I saw, you can pull right over and drop a dime on the bastards pulling this stuff, or at least do it when you get where you're going. Actually, here you go: the Detroit office is at (313) 456-0240. The Consumer Protection number (the office is in Lansing, of course) is (517) 373-1140. I don't recall, right now, which one takes gas-gouging complaints, but I know that one of them does, because I got really pissed off about this shameless profiteering a while back, and when I called the Governor's office, they explained to me that A.G. Cox is quite interested in this matter, and that I should call his people about it. If you have been keeping up with the news, you know that our A.G. actually does give a damn about regular, non-rich folks like us and seniors (maybe we should think of him as the Anti-Engler,) so I would like to think that the phone call would not be a waste of our time. Gas station owners and clerks are quick to point out that they do not set the prices, that the prices are set by "the company." That is true. However, what they DON'T say is that a) they have the option of charging more than the price set by "the company," and b) they also have the option-- and I have known stations to actually do this-- of charging a few cents LESS. That may sound like something which nobody in their right mind would do, but think about it for a minute. If you're charging two cents less than everybody else in your area, your pumps will have lines forming at them QUICKLY, and by the time those people have come inside, not just to pay for their gas, but to also grab a handful of personal items like smokes, drinks, chips, candy, milk, swishers, etc. (those items being where the profit margin is much higher for the individual station,) the station has made out like a bandit even while taking a slight loss on the gas. True story!! So, if you see a station that looks like they're trying to keep the price down, help to encourage them to continue doing so: grab a bunch of other junk while you're there, if possible. Also, an e-mail was forwarded to me which urged us to boycott Exxon and Mobil, suggesting that they represent the Really Big Oil in the U.S. The idea was that if their profits start drooping, they will lower their prices, which will, obviously, cause the other companies to follow suit in order to stay competitive. I don't know about all that, but it's an idea, so I thought I would share it. The earlier plan, as you may recall, was to pick a day of the week on which to boycott ALL stations, but that was stupid, since those who were ignored on Tuesday would have to damn well know that, a day or so later, your ass would be on E, and you would come grovelling back, and the net profit would balance out. That is like saying that you're not going to eat on Tuesday. Watch how much grub you shovel into your gut on Wednesday. Please excuse the run-on sentences, and the over-all length of this post. | ||
Millingtond Member Username: Millingtond Post Number: 12 Registered: 03-2006 Posted From: 69.128.233.36 |
All of you take the bus that leaves more gas for me and the 300 SRT8 I drive that sucker 157 miles a day to work and back at 14mpg I'm loving it. | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 19 Registered: 01-2006 Posted From: 71.144.119.154 |
Oops, I forgot one item. WWW.Detroitgasprices.com has a listing of the lowest, and highest, gas prices reported in the Metro Detroit area and environs. It is constantly updated, and you can also narrow it by individual city and brand. (So, if you live in, say, Inkster and, having no cash on ya, need to whip out that Sunoco credit card, you can figure out what would be your best move.) | ||
Rosedaleken Member Username: Rosedaleken Post Number: 166 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 141.211.222.50 |
4 of the highest locations are in Ann Arbor.  | ||
Adamjab19 Member Username: Adamjab19 Post Number: 654 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 24.192.148.148 |
I am going to get sick of the cutesy, bullshit news reports of where the cheapest gas is. Why don't they grow some balls and attack the real source of why the gas is so high: the corporations. Also, I keep getting emails about boycotting Exxon and Mobil gas so prices will go lower because these two companies set the price levels... 1. I have never seen an Exxon company in Michigan and 2. I buy my gas at a Marathon station and why aren't all of the other companies keeping prices a little lower or offer incentives to get(take) more business from Exxon and Mobil? 3. If there is even a slight breeze from a hurricane, o man... I think I will shack up with some friends in Ferndale. I guess I am trying to say that the emails of boycotting etc. are bullshit.... | ||
Ilovedetroit Member Username: Ilovedetroit Post Number: 2265 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 68.40.225.75 |
Miss Cleo - I hope one of those turkeys shits all over your car. | ||
Ssport Member Username: Ssport Post Number: 12 Registered: 02-2004 Posted From: 69.246.37.236 |
I decided to take the bus sometime last week.....I'm still waiting for it to show up. | ||
Valkyrias Member Username: Valkyrias Post Number: 236 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 69.47.103.87 |
i always assume that any mass email with no real proof of where it began that tells me to do x so that y might happen are complete and total bunk. and then i go to http://snopes.com to look it up and 99% of the time my assumptions are correct. http://search.atomz.com/search /?sp-q=boycott+gas&sp-a=00062d 45-sp00000000&sp-advanced=1&sp -p=all&sp-w-control=1&sp-w=ali ke&sp-date-range=-1&sp-x=any&s p-c=100&sp-m=1&sp-s=0 | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 5704 Registered: 12-2003 Posted From: 70.236.198.22 |
Only buy Citgo...that is the only gas company that uses exclusively Venezuelan petrol, as far as I know. Piss off W and his gang...buy Citgo gas. Plus, they are the only ones with a program to aide inner-city poor...didn't they get discounted heating oil to qualifying folks this winter?! The one at Gulley Rd. and Ford Rd. in Dearborn is owned by a great fellow that I've known for years...he used to be Mobil, but they did their damnest to chase him away. Plus, Mobil recently made a corporate decision to NOT accept $100 bills...caught that one when I was down in Florida...when they wouldn't take my friend's $100 bill after putting $75 worth of gas into his Avalance. Wonder if they know something about those counterfeit bills coming 'into' the country... | ||
Ravine Member Username: Ravine Post Number: 20 Registered: 01-2006 Posted From: 71.144.119.154 |
Hey, I didn't endorse the e-mail, I was just passing the idea along, and wondering if anyone else received it... Adamjab19: Amoco is Exxon. | ||
Miss_cleo Member Username: Miss_cleo Post Number: 162 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 69.47.85.139 |
I would rather deal with turkey shit than the Shit city of Detroit | ||
Ilovedetroit Member Username: Ilovedetroit Post Number: 2267 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 63.149.5.130 |
Miss_Cleo - You are a stupid cow. Have fun in the country - try river rafting while playing a banjo! | ||
Miss_cleo Member Username: Miss_cleo Post Number: 163 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 69.47.85.139 |
lol, you are all just mad cause I get to move away from all shit Detroit and you get to keep convincing yourself that Detroit will *rise from the ashes* Get over yourselfs, Detroit will always be a cess pool of stank, try to blame the 'burbs all you like. If the government of the D was honest and forth-right and the people who lived there wernt thugs, addicts, hoods, bums, dope fiends, and RACISTS, Detroit MIGHT turn around, butI dont see it and I am not hanging around waiting for it to happen. Face it, the decent people left the D cause its run by clowns and ridden with crime, yet, you call it *white flight* andd *sprawl*.....call it what it really is...people looking for a better quality of life, better schools for their kids, a safe enviroment to live it, and Detroit just doesnt have these things. | ||
Fnemecek Member Username: Fnemecek Post Number: 1587 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 69.217.229.188 |
Bite me. | ||
Ilovedetroit Member Username: Ilovedetroit Post Number: 2268 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 63.149.5.130 |
Ditto Fnemecek - Miss Cleo is a bitter old hag. Cleo- Take your pack of trashy kids and your fat butt old man and go up north and live in your double wide. I bet cupcakes,smokes and beer is cheaper there so your butt should get nice and wide for those cold winters! | ||
Fnemecek Member Username: Fnemecek Post Number: 1588 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 69.217.229.188 |
Actually, the real reason why gas prices are so high is a little thing called the Law of Supply and Demand. When growth in demand for a product exceeds the a company's ability to grow the supply for said product, price will always go up.
Have you considered doing something radical? Like maybe waiting by the bus stop? | ||
Fnemecek Member Username: Fnemecek Post Number: 1589 Registered: 12-2004 Posted From: 69.217.229.188 |
Don't forget Moon Pies, ILD. White trash just love their Moon Pies. And the great thing is, you can still be white trash no matter what color your skin actually is. | ||
Spaceboykelly Member Username: Spaceboykelly Post Number: 139 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 69.246.30.248 |
I live in the city, and got rid of my car at the beginning of this year. I take the DDOT Woodward bus to work, and sometimes take the Smart bus to the suburbs. Occasionally, I get out of work very late [3 or 4 am], and I take a cab home [$10]. Even with the expensive cab rides I save a ton of money by not keeping a car. Lease payments, parking meters/garages, car insurance, gas prices, accidents, plates, oil changes, etc all add up. I would also say my stress level from commuting has gone down significantly. I don't understand some of the above criticisms. The system here, although not the best, is surprisingly efficient during peak hours 7 am - 7 pm. Maybe if more people actually tried taking the bus to school or work they would realize it's more quick and easy than they'd expected. | ||
Thecarl Member Username: Thecarl Post Number: 710 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 69.14.30.175 |
when gas hits $3 per gallon, that's when the car stays parked, and i take the 465 auburn hills limited to work. it'll add extra time to the commute, but i'll have a chance to read the paper, do some sudoku puzzles, or - after i get my tax return - fiddle around on my future notebook computer. i've only taken the (smart) bus a few times, but it's always been a decent experience. however, the failure to post route numbers and schedules at the stops is ridiculous. | ||
Detroitduo Member Username: Detroitduo Post Number: 588 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 194.138.39.54 |
Alright girls, let's settle down (ILD & Miss Cleo). Let's not get our skirts ruffled. Act like "real" ladies. (Miss Cleo, if you're not sure how, ask ILD... she's got it down pat!) | ||
Miss_cleo Member Username: Miss_cleo Post Number: 164 Registered: 05-2005 Posted From: 69.47.85.139 |
At least I can communicate without calling people names, I dont drink, smoke nor am I fat, and we most certainly wont be living in a trailer....you are all just showing your true colors with your *gasp* racist views of up north, much like you complain people giving the D a bad rap, lol........pot meet the kettle! Detroit offers nothing to me and my family, we like to camp, ski, canoe, hike, hunt, fish....cant find that in the D | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 706 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 68.76.202.10 |
Cleo, Why do you visit or participate in this forum? What do you learn or gain from being here? In 164 posts, the only thing I've been able to determine is that you don't care for Southeastern Michigan. What purpose is served by you visiting a pro-Southeast Michigan website? I genuinely want to know! I'm not trying to be snarky or mean in any way. I just really want to know why a person with such disdain for a place would ever visit a website that is unabashedly pro. I liken it to a vegetarian surfing for meat recipies. | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 707 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 68.76.202.10 |
bump | ||
Thecarl Member Username: Thecarl Post Number: 712 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 69.14.30.175 |
you know what bugs me? hot dog buns! why do hot dogs come in packages of six, but buns come in packages of eight? i have to buy four packages of hot dogs and three packages of buns just to get everything to work out right? are the bakers selling us more than we need, or are the meat processers enticing us to buy more meat? what's up with that? why can't i eat a simple hot dog without having to do a bunch of math? | ||
Detroitduo Member Username: Detroitduo Post Number: 589 Registered: 06-2005 Posted From: 194.138.39.54 |
LOL @ thecarl. I was complaining about that to myself the other day. Thanks. Cleo: I have to agree with Eric_c. I also am very interested in your desire to participate on a forum about a region you obviously dislike so much. And by the way, what you post, I wouldn't consider "communication". What you post is venom, not aimed at particular people, but for a City and region which you obviously have nothing nice to say about. OH and how are any comments about Northern Michigan "racist"? There's nothing racist about turkeys and deer, however if you feel that you are moving to northern Michigan due to your own racist reasons, well, that's your baggage to carry with you. I wish you and your family the best possible happiness and watch out for those black bears up there... | ||
Ilovedetroit Member Username: Ilovedetroit Post Number: 2269 Registered: 02-2005 Posted From: 68.40.225.75 |
Detroitduo - You make me laugh....I try so hard to be a proper lady. I was top student at Miss Ligget's School for Manners you know PS - And no I did not sleep with my teachers! | ||
Adamjab19 Member Username: Adamjab19 Post Number: 656 Registered: 11-2003 Posted From: 65.111.192.130 |
Has anyone ever taken the 450/460 down woodward? In the key of the route map it says that from 8 mile to south of the davidson is non-stop but then it also says in the key that riders can board between those areas. What does this mean? At the top of the route it shows a stretch Also would I have to transfer to a DDot bus at state fair? http://www.smartbus.org/Smart/ Ride%20SMART/GetMap_Action.asp x?ddLineDs=450/460%20WOODWARD% 20LOCAL If anyone can help that would be great! | ||
Thecarl Member Username: Thecarl Post Number: 720 Registered: 04-2005 Posted From: 69.14.30.175 |
adamjab, you can get off the bus for a transfer, but the bus does not stop moving. dress appropriately. transferring ONTO the moving bus is a far more difficult proposition and usually requires a bit of ingenuity. i guess you echo one of the feelings i have about the system, which is that information about the routes is unclear. i just called, and got a message that "general information is unavailable at this time, as the office is closed. please visit the web, or call back tomorrow after 6:30 am." okay, i'll call back tomorrow at 9:50 pm. that's after 6:30 am, so someone should answer. par for the course. how could they screw up so much stuff that is so simple? | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 3574 Registered: 10-2003 Posted From: 67.172.95.197 |
lol @ Carl! That was funny, for sure. |
