Time for Rationing or Just Another Oil Scam?

I am old enough to remember the last gas crisis. Nobody is calling this a crisis? Please tell me that four dollars a gallon for what cost two and a half bucks a year ago isn't a crisis.  Let's talk about peak oil and the end of dead dinosaurs. The administration and the oil companies, who are by the way making record profits, tell us that the weak U.S. dollar and increased demand are driving prices higher. Maybe it is time for the federal government to start rationing gas.

In the late 1970's rationing was done by only allowing cars with license plates that were either even or odd to fill up on days whose numbers were either even or odd. The big difference now is that there are no long lines, there are few if any gas stations closed because they were out of gas. I remember driving to a gas station close to my parent's home before the crack of dawn to sit (sleep) and wait for the station to open to get some gas before they ran out. I remember being on empty in the middle of nowhere-ville Delaware trying to get to the beach in the wee small hours of the morning and waiting until dawn to find out whether the little gas station connected to the general store was going to get a gas delivery.

Funny how the price of gas keeps going through the roof and yet the availability doesn't wane.

I also wonder if the rationing 30 years really did any good. Did it actually reduce the amount of gas consumed or did it lead to hording? Did it lead to drivers making sure that their tanks were topped off to the rim every time they saw a station that was actually open for business?

Maybe this is all just a big scam by the oil producing countries (including the states in our own country that seem to be doing pretty well with the increased prices) as well as the big and little oil companies. Sure, take that tax rebate check you get from the government and sign it over to Exxon/Mobil or Texaco/Chevron. Economic stimulus package? How about just enough to pay for the increases in food and fuel for a month? Thanks for nothing.

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Paul DeMaio manages Arlington County's Bicycle Promotions and Carsharing Program and writes with some corrections and details about the county's upcoming bike sharing program: "We're actually going to use Nextbike's technology. It's a mobile phone based system and much less expensive than Clear Channel's. More about Nextbike is at Nextbike.net. 

"Both Arlington's and DC's bikes won't be allowed in the other's jurisdictions. This is due to liability issues. I've spoken with the DC bike program manager about co-locating stations in Rosslyn at the Key Bridge so folks would be able to seamlessly go from one of Arlington's bike to DC's. DC actually owns a bit of land on the VA side of the Bridge."

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Rodney from Silver Spring writes: "Regarding your post about pedestrian tunnels. Instead of the expense of digging, we can use technology and the announced upgrade to SmarTrip cards to accomplish the exact same thing. Someone who uses a SmarTrip card could get an automatic ten minute 'time-out' to leave either of the Farragut stations so long as he or she re-enters the system at the other station before the ten minutes has expired. We are talking about crossing I street at 17th, and crossing K street at Connecticut Ave. Both intersections are well regulated by lights and pedestrian safety marking and sidewalks exist along the entire path."

 

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Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.

Comments

[Tom]

You wrote: "Funny how the price of gas keeps going through the roof and yet the availability doesn't wane."
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That's how markets work. The price is set where supply equals demand.

Back in the last gas crisis (I'm assuming you are referring to early '70s) there were domestic price controls on oil. That is what caused the shortage.

Today you can get all the oil you want - for a price.

[Steve]

That is one great idea of Rodney's. Virtually a zero-cost way to reduce congestion at Metro Center and improve the commuting experience for thousands of orange/red transfer riders. Nice thinking.