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Automotive News & Views Are gas prices fueling your pain? 
10042 messages, Last post on Jul 12, 2008 at 3:07 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: dave8697 (Mar 24, 2008 6:31 pm) KC has some links in a recent blog. Some truckers are beyond "hurting" There was a shutdown in Pittsburgh today: Fuel protestors ‘park it’ for one day in Western Pennsylvania April 1 is the day, supposedly, for a national truckers strike. |
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Replying to: kcram (Mar 24, 2008 2:57 pm) Over last couple of months, have seen a tv commercial (don't remember sponsor, perhaps a railroad association) that gave a statistic on volume of fuel (diesel) to ship an amount of weight a certain distance via rail. Don't know how that would compare to a semi truck, but the figures were impressive. Perhaps there is incentive for railroads and mfrs/producers to team up and do more medium to long haul shipping by rail. Obviously, trucks ultimately have to take freight from rail yard to final destinations. Is the time right for railroads to expand their capacity? If any subsidies, would Fed Govt subsidies to railroads to expand be justified? |
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Replying to: xrunner2 (Mar 25, 2008 5:56 am) That is already being done, and Federal money is involved in various ways. |
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Replying to: xrunner2 (Mar 25, 2008 5:56 am) In contrast, what's the biggest load a tractor trailer could carry? Maybe 40 tons? And what kind of mpg would it get? Maybe 8? If I'm doing the math right, that calculates a ton of cargo 320 miles on a gallon. |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Mar 25, 2008 6:23 am) |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Mar 25, 2008 6:23 am) Then there are the other cost comparisons: Cost of repairing damage to highways from semis vs rail costs of overpasses, underpasses, grade crossing, rail maintenance, etc. |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Mar 25, 2008 6:23 am) Regards, OW |
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Replying to: circlew (Mar 25, 2008 8:18 am) Only time I ever had an eighteen wheeler show up at my front door was when I had my garage built. The lumber, trusses, and all other material were trucked out from Ohio, and the flatbed trailer even had its own little crane on it to unload. If you have a lot of stuff you need shipped, but it doesn't really need to get there all that quickly, a train is probably the way to go. But with a lot of smaller shipments, adding a train into the mix probably just complicates the logistics. |
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Replying to: circlew (Mar 25, 2008 8:18 am)  Most of the cargo that is handled by more than one mode of transit is containerized these days, though. 
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Replying to: tedebear (Mar 22, 2008 5:49 pm) Federal fuel taxes are levied on gasoline (18.4 cents per gallon) and diesel fuel (24.4 cents per gallon), and some automotive products (tires, if I recall correctly). There is no federal vehicle registration for passenger cars and light trucks. The money raised by the federal taxes is used by states for road and bridge construction and maintenance. This is the money that is being diverted for non-road "demonstration projects," including bike paths. How each state raises money for the portion of road and bridge repair and maintenance is up to that particular state, but the all levy gasoline taxes, and all rely heavily on them. The average state gasoline excise tax is 18.2 cents per gallon, with another 10.2 cents per gallon added through other state taxes. In Pennsylvania, all fuel taxes go a special fund earmarked only (as per the state constitution) for road and bridge repairs and maintenance. Vehicle registration fees and driver's license fees also go into this fund as well, but they are not nearly as important as the tax on fuels (registering a passenger car costs $36 annually; driver's licenses are renewed every four years, and the fee is only paid at renewal time). I doubt that it is different in other states. Highlighting a problem that is cropping up in other states, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue noted that taxable gallons of gasoline had fallen by 4 percent, from 5.2 billion gallons in fiscal year end 2005 to 5 billion gallons in fiscal year end 2007. Revenues from the liquid fuels tax grew by only 25 percent from 1997 through 2007, whereas other taxes revenues grew by 50 percent. PennDOT has reported a 0.13 percent decline in vehicular traffic at 59 counting points, and the Federal Highway Administration indicates, in preliminary reports, that nationally, miles driven in December 2007 were only 99.6 percent of those driven a year earlier. All of which diminish the reveunes available for road and bridge construction. And lest you think that because the number of miles driven is declining, Pennsylvania can spend less on road and bridge construction - Pennsylvania is grappling with a shortfall in funds for road and bridge work, and this is not making it any easier. Nor is the Keystone State the only one facing this problem. Nothing wrong with biking - I do it myself (although not to work). But you are not "subsidizing" drivers through the vehicle registration fees and driver's license fees you still pay. Revenue generated by fuel taxes constitutes the bulk of the money for road and bridge projects.
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