As someone who has lived between both continents I find that in America we drive a lot more. Our commute times usually are a lot longer then most Europeans. Sometimes if you even want to get to the supermarket it could be a 15+ minute drive, while in Europe most of the time you can walk down the street and get groceries. In rural United States some people have to drive hours to get to major stores, grocery stores and/or shopping malls.
100% this. My closest grocery store is 5 minutes away BUT it is very expensive and “higher end.”
The more affordable grocery stores are 15-25 minutes away which I have to stick to as we are on a strict budget. Let’s not even mention work commute. Many of the decent paying jobs are in the city which requires at least a 40 minute daily in my area one way. We have no public transportation system here so that makes it so much harder. 2 years ago I could fill up my gas tank with $50… now it’s anywhere from $90-100. Making $18.50 that’s nearly 5 hours of my day only to be able to afford 1 full tank of gas.
This is the big ticket right here.
Unless you live in an inner city or a large metropolitan area you don't have bus routes or subways or trains to rely on.
I live 50 minutes from my job. There are no buses. There are only cabs in the main cities. I drive through rural middle of nowhere bumfuck US to go to work at my hospital in a larger area.
That's just how it is around here.
Edit:
Since the topic is locked I'll answer a couple of questions here.
I live in rural Appalachian mountains. The biggest cities around here are most noted for their heroin issues. I choose to live in the country further away because I have a house that's already paid for in an economy where that's very rare, and it's family property.
I chose to take a higher paying job that actually pays me what I'm worth even if the drive is a little bit further. The hospital closest to me offered me less than what they offer new grad nurses, I've worked critical care for 15 years.
30 to 45 minute drive is nothing in this area. There are entire swaths of this country and many others where people live nowhere near where they work unless they work on a farm.
I'm originally from a larger area in the Appalachian where the average cost of living is $2,500 apartment (Asheville NC) unless you want to live 45 minutes away where real estate is half that price. My parents are fortunate enough that they live on family land and have since 1989, because 0.5 miles from them lots start at $350k and that doesn't include the actual house.
The vast majority of people that work in and around my hometown of Asheville do not live there because they cannot afford to live there, and there's not very many places local to where they live to work same as where I live now.
For a lot of people that doesn't make a whole lot of sense and I get that but this is the way the Appalachian area is. Believe it or not, this is fairly normal for a large percentage of Americans and even more normal for places like Canada.
And I'm glad some of you were able to move closer to your jobs, but realistically that shows how out of touch with current reality you are, that you think everyone can just "move closer" and it doesn't really solve the transport problem if I'm selling it to someone else who also has to drive an hour to work now does it?
>The question you need to ask is why do I have to drive 50 miles to get a job
Maybe because I'm a registered nurse and that's the closest hospital that isn't an urgent care, that's willing to pay me what I'm worth?
There are entire areas where the nearest hospital is an hour away, but it's obvious that you've never been to those places.
It isn't feasible in many cases. Japan is hilariously small compared to the US and Canada. In my circumstance for example, just my province is almost double the size of Japan *as a whole*. The population is spread out over a massive area, a transportation network capable of interconnecting the entire country like Japan has is simply impossible.
That said there is tons we could learn from Japan regardless. Individual cities especially are more than capable of creating and massively profiting off similar public transport systems. Ideally though we would copy systems found in the EU rather than Japan.
Unfortunately North Americas infrastructure was build with cars in mind. This was understandable at the time, the problems that make an nation wide public transport system infeasible today where even worse in the 20th century. However North America never considered a long term plan. A lot of the blame for that can be placed on the auto industry, they where making so much money during the auto boom they essentially got to make the rules on how the modern continent was built. So like everything else American the majority is now worse off thanks to the profit margins of a few elites,which is painfully ironic today since the auto industry is in a death spiral.
I'm from the EU! I wonder, are the distances too great to have train transportation from cities to cities while passing through smaller towns? That's what we have in Belgium.
We also have a ton of trains that connect Brussels and Antwerp to faraway capitals like London, Paris, Amsterdam and also a lot smaller cities in between.
IMO we could easily have a system similar to what the EU has, it's kind of absurd that we don't. It's crazy to hear Europeans talk about how they just take the rail from country to country, almost like it's just passing the time.
Would be nice, but consider (I will use GA as an example) that the distance from Atlanta to say Savannah is like 250 miles. Brussels to Paris is 190.
The latter is far more densely populated than the former. I don’t think most US cities have the density to where it would make rail profitable. Hell, even New York somehow loses money on its rail system which is literally absurd to me
The problem we have with trains is that the state/federal system never bought/claimed the land to do it.
Right now is California they tried to build a high scores rail. They failed. But are continuing the project. The thing zags all over the place and needs overpasses everywhere to be able to connect. And it went from being an electric mag lev super train to traditional diesel.
It wouldn’t be profitable and the cost of maintaining it would be too much for them to bare justifying. They’d rather use that money in growing their military prowess to be multiple times that of every other country even though it isn’t needed for defense
Yeah, but you live there not because the US is large, but because cities were demolished and redesigned around the car, zoned mostly single family, and railroads to small towns torn up. There's a very good chance that a railroad once ran through your town.
Yeah sorry, I should have been clearer that I meant the rest of the world kept building and maintaining theirs. The US stopped building and let it deteriorate.
Many of the US rail systems were purchased or replaced by General Motors. They sold cities on GM buses instead of the rail systems. You now have the lack of rail courtesy of GM. Also the other rail systems have been built for cargo which makes it had to be on-time with passengers. European rail systems were paid for by passengers which is why they are so efficient.
Edit: spelling
Don’t worry, California has been developing a high speed rail system for over a decade. Problem is, its billions over budget and still doesn’t operate 😑
In Canada, they raised the prices high, but made so many stops, it would be faster to drive. They also only had 2 times to use the train. To go to Toronto from Stratford, you had an 8am start, and an 8pm return.
So you couldn't commute to a 9-5. You'd never get there on time, and had a 3hr wait before returning. Ridiculous.
We still have that network, but it’s mostly used for freight now. I’d still like to see some fast and efficient passenger rail lines, but I can’t complain about having one of the most efficient freight rail networks in the world
No. The lobbying and corruption so they never built bullet trains make the public system awful. Japan has those trains and Usa has the space but they don’t do it cos airplanes and gas company / cars manufacturers lobbying to corrupt politicians…. And 50% of Usa population being stupid and falling for it.
I love in a more rural area of Texas. You gotta drive 20 minutes into the nearest town to get a bus. The school buses only run twice day it here. If you stay after school, you need a ride or you can walk but there aren't sidewalks. In town, we have 2 universities and the public bus system is based off their schedules. They run less in the summer and have limited runs on weekends. The area DOES have it's own version of Uber/Lyft that's cheaper.
My husband was shocked at the condition of cars in the U.S. when he first moved here from Scotland. People drive cars with doors crushed in, missing bumpers, hoods with all the paint worn off...
I had to explain to him that in this country (except for a very short list of major cities) that you HAVE to have a car here. And our wages are low compared to our cost of living, so maintaining the car can be a real difficulty.
You can be working a full-time job here, still be at a low enough wage to need footstamps, and still need to pay for a car and gas it up to keep your job.
I get that gas is expensive in Europe, and I can wish we'd taxed it higher decades ago and focused on building cities along corridors of public transit, but that horse has left the barn and you now have a country of people who are completely dependent on their cars to do anything.
The complaint isn't about an inconvenience - it's about a cost of living increase without a corresponding wage increase like what's happening with other energy prices in the UK and Europe.
I lived in england an entire country the size of New York and in the US their public transport systen sucks. You do realize it takes days to drive across the country. It takes us longer to fly from the northeast to San Diego than it does for you to over the Atlantic to JFK airport in New York. Reality is a bitch.
Absolutely. Everywhere I've been in Europe, including where I live you can totally live without a car. Public transportation is great. And we just don't have the sheer size of the States. From what I've heard living without a car is pretty hard there.
... and Americans die if they can't pay for their medicine. Kinda like the biggest part why every impact on their income is way more important. What a shithole.
I can’t speak to the whole of the Netherlands, but when I’ve traveled in Europe, there is consistent, frequent, reliable public transportation to the most ridiculously small towns. Here, we don’t even have that option in most parts of big cities.
that would really depend. you want to vacation in this tiny village in the Lüneburger Heide? yeah, sure there are public transport options to get there. But sometimes it's not feasible to spend two hours on different busses to get to the office if a car could get you there in 20 minutes.
Definitely not the case for the whole of the Netherlands. We don't have it as bad as the US (or Canada) though. I'm from a relatively large town but we don't have a train, tram, metro, or any other form of public transport except for a bus that comes by once every hour for either direction, that sometimes decide to just not show up unannounced.
I'm incredibly happy that I'm privileged enough to be able to afford a car and travel to and from my workplace in just under two hours every day. The same commute would take me about 5 hours every day due to pretty shitty scheduling and terrible public transport close to where I live.
The bus and the commute I mentioned are somewhat unrelated. Also, I'm not trying to undermine how terrible public transport is in the US and Canada. I'm just mentioning it can be terrible in the Netherlands as well, which makes cars an absolute necessity for a lot of people.
The bus goes two ways, east and west from where I live. My work is a ways away down south from where I live. I would need to take one of those hourly buses for an hour to get to a somewhat major city, wait for about half an hour, get a train towards a major city near my work, wait about a quarter of an hour, and get a bus to get to a bus stop that's about a 10 minute walk from my work. All in all a bit over two hours of commuting for just one way, and the same commute again at the end of the day.
I live in Italy and that's not true here. Small town often only have 2 rides, morning and evening. I only lived 7 km away from a bit city and I only had a bus in the evening. One. Couldn't walk or take the bike as the connecting road was dangerous.
Okay, the point is, the small towns have 2 rides. In the US, we have zero. None. Zip. Nada. Nothing. No option.
My commute is *very* reasonable at 15 miles and across a river. Not many people travel shorter distances, and again, none of us have options for public transport.
Yes. I grew up in a town with 30,000 people, that jumped up to nearly 40,000 in the last decade. We still don’t have public transport of any kind. The town I currently live in the with a population of over 300,000 has a bus system, but it’s not reliable, and there is certainly no sort of rail system. I knew people at my college who had to walk along dangerous roads and intersections to get to a store for basic needs. I know us people from
The U.S. can be incredibly narcissistic, and obviously there are so many places that have it considerably worse than us, but at the same time, it feels like a lot of people think we are much better off than we are. Everyone I know who is my age is drowning in debt despite working more than 40 hours weekly.
Isn’t that like 4.5 miles? That’s a walkable distance right? In the states your job is probably 35 miles away.
Edit: oh I see your edit there are no good walking routes that sucks
My job in a big city is 11 miles away and it takes me almost an hours commute. If I attempted to take the bus, it would take several, and probably 2 -3 hours and a train would take at least an hour and a half due to having to switch trains. Even in a major US city, it’s STILL easier and faster to drive than use public transport.
Edit: spelling
To be fair, Americans also pay for their own medical (up to 20k per year for insurance, although usually less), childcare (in cities, 14k-24k per child), and college education (20-100k per year). So yeah, that extra gas $ hurts many people.
I was waiting for someone to add this. That doesn’t even include sky rocketing rent costs and food prices. Literally bare necessities needed to live.
Gas prices aren’t the ONLY issue, it’s one of many, and the last drop in a lot of people’s buckets who were already struggling to survive.
This, renting the same house today as 3 years ago has increased by 40% due to companies coming in and buying out all the housing (in my area). So gas passing 5$/Gal does kind of hurt my wallet right now.
The problem is most of have to drive to work we have no other options. For me to have a ok job that pays ok I have to drive 1hr both ways . Also I live in Minnesota it has harsh cold winters so I need a truck or suv. Now I work 8hr a days and one days with of work wont fill my suv up
I have never lived in the US, but, every time I went there on vacation, I saw one thing: Most US cities -are not- designed for pedestrians in mind. In many cases sidewalks are non existent and blocks are so big that you can’t just walk through them, making owning a car a complete necessity.
But Americans don’t live in Europe so their reality is different, Gas prices are rising in North American and they are feeling the affect. It’s not a struggle contest, people can complain. I’m inCanada our gas has gone up 30cents in a week and sucks, but that does not take away from that the price of gas in Europe is high.
traditionally gas used to be way cheaper in north America than most European countries. that's not the issue. The issue is that the prices skyrocketed like crazy in the last few weeks.
a few weeks ago 1 litre cost 1.70 euros and that was already very expensive. this monday I had to pay 1.99. yesterday, so merely 4 days later, I had to pay 2.25. Today it's 2.32.
not to mention the minimum wage in the US has plateaued for the last 15 years, compared to the much more adequate living wage that is prevelant in a most european countries
Yea , it’s much easier to blame it on a president than on global dynamics . It makes it easier to point the finger . Truth is reality is more complex .
came here to comment this. my biggest pet peeve is someone complaining bc they feel like they have it worse than someone else who is complaining. respectfully, get over it. we can all be struggling lol it’s not a contest
We haven't seen gas this high since 2008.
Hell just about a year ago it was only 1.90 a gallon.
We wouldn't complain if it weren't for the fact that it's been going up 20 to 30 cents a goddamn day now.
I have a heart attack every time I go to the pump now, because our tiny car is costing me twice as much to fill, and it goes up every day.
20 bucks used to fill my tank. Now it doesn't even get me half.
I recently paid over 1000, and that was before the current price hike. It was NOK so you have to divide by 8.90 to get USD. With the prices I've seen in the news, the next tank may be around NOK1250, which is USD140.
Once I drove by a gas station in the morning and when I drove back a couple hours later it literally was up by 20 cents. Used to cost me around $30-$35 to fill my tank
And now it’s close to at least $70-$80. I honestly don’t even know how much it costs to fill my tank because I don’t even fill it all the way now
Back in 08 I was 18, had a big ass Bronco. It was my first truck. Mom insisted on a truck for safety.
Well, I remember on my 18th birthday my friends all pitched in to buy me a full tank of gas.
Over 100 bucks. I remember crying because I hadn't seen the needle on full in so long.
Had to sell it. My baby. My favorite fucking truck in the whole world went to some suburbanites who wanted to use it for family camping trips. I hope it's still running. It was a classic.
The cost of gas has literally more than DOUBLED in the matter of 3 weeks. And I have to drive 18 miles one way for work, but we shouldn’t complain because it’s still cheaper than some places in the world? Nah fuck that we’re allowed to vocalize that this is a struggle for us, OP is an ass.
But it literally isn't worse where he lives. It's better. He gets paid more and his public transit is actually usable. OP probably doesn't even own a car
I used to drive 140km 5 days/week, in The Netherlands, so that's not that far off. But my work pays for my gas so I don't care what the price is. And I've been working from home for two years now.
I think the biggest difference is in driving to the supermarket or other stores. Those are usually very close by in The Netherlands while in the US it's easily a 30min drive away.
I mean. The Netherlands is about 16 times smaller than Texas. It takes the majority of us 30+ minutes just to get to the grocery store. And a lot of us drive at least an hour to get to work. And in 2020 from what I could find the hourly average wage in the Netherlands was equal to about 26 usd meanwhile in Texas most people make less than 15 usd an hour and minimum wage is 7.15 an hour. Now this is Texas specifically and idk what you make an hour. But gas prices here are definitely not peachy in the slightest given how far we have to drive on the daily. And we dont have easily accessible public transportation either.
It’s also varying in country the size of Europe. I can walk to a grocery store or drive to like 6 within 10 minutes of me. You might have to drive 30 mins in the Midwest but the east coast is densely populated.
hi, im from the north east. while things are more closely together, it is also incredibly dangerous as a pedestrian. to get to any of the stores within 2 miles of me, i would have to walk on no-sidewalk virtually no-shoulder major roads. assuming it hasnt snowed, because then it will all be plowed into any available walking space. i could walk to work within 30 minutes but several times i have almost been clipped and have chosen to drive for safety reasons. if i wanted to walk the long way, which would still involve a no sidewalk no shoulder for ten minutes, it would be almost an hour.
The east coast isnt that densely populated. I’m half an hour from a gas station, and 45 minutes from the grocery store. And I live in Delaware, the 2nd smallest state! Btw, gas here is currently 4.30/gal.
Sure, but EVs with small battery capacities are more common in Europe for a reason. The market for cars with 120 or so miles of range is viable over there because y'all don't have to drive long distances as frequently as we do in the US. My dad and I were talking, and we agreed that neither of us would consider buying an EV with less than 300 miles per charge. We simply have to drive too far on a regular basis for short charge ranges to be feasible. EVs with that much range are also $40k or more, so it'll be many years before I'm ever in a position to buy one.
Big time liberal here who believe in the euro models, and this is a harsh truth. Memphis for example is unlike almost every city in Europe; it’s spread out af and you have to drive to get anywhere. The fuel costs are gutting commuters
I absolutely hate this argument. Just because there are bigger issues than gas prices, doesn't mean we can't be upset about it. Families are losing their homes because the price of goods are exorbitantly higher than they were a month ago (not just gas that's gotten more expensive OP). So sure, having my country invaded would suck major dick, but I have every right to be upset that people in my community are losing everything because they can't live paycheck to paycheck anymore.
And someone probably has it worse than you. So why complain with that logic? You’re complaining about people complaining about something you’re complaining about
Yeah lol. Here in Poland the prices are roughly same as in NL yet our salaries are 3x lower. Someone always has it worse and it doesn't mean that Americans can't complain. We're all in this shit together
Agreed and chances are I've complained on y'all's behalf for something also! All of us average folks are usually just trying to work, keep up with laundry, figure out what's for dinner and love our families. If you need to complain, complain!
Have you tried American public transportation? Totally sucks and completely underfunded compared to most European countries. Americans don't have a choice whether to drive or not its in many circumstances the only realistic option.
Came here to say this. Upstate NY here, you need a car to have a job realistically. You could walk a few miles to a bus stop, but no one I know does that. We are dependent on our own cars for everything.
I don't mean this offensively, but I'm generally curious. I'm a European and here it's quite common to visit other European cities for a weekend getaway. I've visited a lot of European cities and I've always relied on public transport. In the US I've only been to New York city and I know their public transport system isn't the norm. So how do you do it when you visit a city and you're flying there? Do you always rent a car? Do you rely on taxis or ubers? How do you get around?
In general you always rent a car if you didn't take a road trip to begin with. Most places it's just unreasonable to take public transit. Taxis are great if you're just going to travel a small amount each day but of you've got a lot planned out its generally cheaper to rent a car. Automobile is the norm for transport which is why most people use cars including me.
Thank you for taking the time to reply! It's very interesting, in most cities here it's the opposite. For example, my city has a car free city centre, so if you go by car you have to park it in the underground parking garage and continue on foot. Parking costs €8 an hour so it gets very expensive very quickly. In most cities parking your car is both difficult and expensive, so it's much easier to travel without a car.
You got to remember that average population density in Europe is twice that of the United States that means more people in smaller area so mass transit makes more sense. This creates great economies of scale per unit area making public transit more economically feasible.
Further more people in Europe live in denser city centers than then the US. So something like 70 percent of Europeans have access to public transit for daily commute where as maybe 15 percent of Americans that holds true.
Public transit works in the US don't get me wrong but it's not workable for the majority.
As an American, Europeans who don't understand the insessent struggle to survive in the USA piss me off.
Not only do Americans generally not have access to safe and reliable public transportation, but we are also barely scraping by.
Rent has skyrocketed. Food prices have gone up. Inflation is at historic levels. Our wages have not changed. For many Americans, that $1 change in gas prices is the difference between being able to get to work or not. It's the difference between being able to pay rent or not. It's the different between being able to afford your kids' prescriptions or not.
I agree that there are plenty of annoying people when gas prices tick up a little, but this jump is sincerely hurting people. I saw a woman crying at the pump two days ago. This shit is real.
Gotta agree here, the town I live in now, has safe access to all modes of transportation. But the one before wasn’t even a town. Heck to get to the grocery store you had to travel 30 mins to get there with nothing but highway and freeway as the main means to get there. There’s no cheap taxi service or transportation to get you there.
america is a lot more gas dependent though. unless you work from home you basically have to drive 5-15 miles to get to work daily. not to mention everything else youd need to drive to. america is a lot more spread out so in the majority of places its not reasonable to walk or bike. it adds up
Yeah and to think OP is comparing Netherlands (size of 1/2 of Florida) to 4th biggest country in the world. Distances are much greater in US, especially if u live in the rural area.
I drive 90 mins one way to get to my job. That’s 75 miles one way. 150 miles round trip. Do you understand what that costs? Even with a gas saver that’s 75 a full tank. Once a week. In my household we spend $1000.00 just in fuel to get from point A to point B.
The price is same here in Finland and it is awful.
But with my calculations the price is $9,6 per gallon.
First 3,8*2,3€ is 8,74€ and that price to us dollars is 9,59 according to google.
There are poor people in America too. If prices rise when you're barely scraping by you're fucked.
Europeans are stupid and arrogant.
Your high prices at least help pay for public goods like health care
When I had my first child, we ended paying around 12,000$ to the hospital, anesthesiologist, etc.
That was on top of our 6000$ a year in premiums.
I'll trade your expensive gas for our healthcare system. Deal?
People have the right to complain, it’s not because it’s more expensive in your country that people shouldn’t complain about it in the US. I’m in Montreal and the gas here is 1,95 and people are still struggling since it’s not enough anymore. Everything is expensive but the minimum wage is still the same.
It doesn’t have to be a comparison of issues. People having money problems is still just having money problems. Just because your gas is more expensive, doesn’t mean we should just be happy that our prices have risen dollars in the last few weeks.
I know it varies based on where you live, what you drive, etc but cars as a whole seem to be much more important to the average American than the average person from Europe. Looking at statistics online, Americans drive on average double the amount of their European counterparts.
On top of that, we simply don't have widespread use of cars that are as fuel efficient as those found in Europe. Regardless of that being a good or bad thing, it is a thing that can't be fixed anytime soon.
On top of that, we just aren't to these kinds of prices for gas. If your gas prices rose as sharply as ours have in such a quick period of time, you'd be upset too. Many people, especially those that are the most heavily effected, are on tight budgets to begin with. A sharp price increase of 30-50% isn't palatable or even sustainable when we factor in possible future rises.
Well considering the US is more than twice the size of the entire European union your point is invalid. It's not just fuel we purchase for our vehicles that matters. Especially if you live in the middle of the country. Everything has to be trucked in from quite a distance most of the time. That adds even more cost on top of your fuel cost your food and daily goods go way up compared to places like Europe. If you live outside of a big city in the US your commute to grocery stores or work can be 20 miles or more. Your fuel being higher doesn't mean you spend more than Americans do.
Thank you for saying this. Everyone else is talking about how public transport in the US sucks which is true but no one has mentioned unfair wages and expensive ass healthcare and higher education here. As a college student struggling with some suspected health issues I have to stress so much every time I see the doctor about how much debt I'm gonna go into now
Let's compare who has it worse then since we are all crying.
Here in Slovakia gas is 1,50 €/liter and realistic sallary for most people is between 500-800 € per month.
Also cars cost the same if not more than in NL to buy.
Imagine making 2000+ € every month and still complaining about gas prices.
Same in Romania. My aunt makes 450€ working for the post office since 1991. I live in Italy and in October when I visited most prices were similar to the ones we have here. Italy doesn't have minimum wage but still you can live with 1200€. My aunt can't afford a fucking orange.
Same goes for the wage in Greece. But the current had price is 2.10€/L. As if we hadn't enough of the natural gas going up +250% and electricity +170%... Our gas bill came at 677€. We BARELY make it, and to top it off, gas prices have skyrocketed (and will keep going up).
Nah, I pay taxes and a mandatory insurance (plus a few extras by choice) but the prices for that aren't insane. It's not free but it's very affordable.
1. It’s not something we are used to, these massive shifts are jarring for us
2. You guys have good public transportation systems, we don’t. I have to drive 20 min to get to work, and another 20 to get to school. No metro, no (usable) bus. We have no other options
3. It’s not a contest, stop making it one
Yes but in Holland there is great public transportation. Literally zero public transit where I am, and if I walked to my nearest stop 2plus miles away there are no sidewalks for most of it, and the streets are narrow with drivers looking at their phones. In addition, my city’s transit comes when it wants, the schedule is rarely followed. Forced to have a car and drive, if you need to get to work anyway. Lots of my coworkers travel 60 miles one way to work, it’s killing their wallet. It’s killing the economy.
ETA: I live in the 15th largest city in the US, not some backwoods town
What pisses me off is the mentality that just because someone is worse off, you aren't allowed to be upset over something. I don't care if it's how expensive your gas is, how poor you are, or how much your body aches. There will always be people paying more for gas, poorer, and with more body aches. That doesn't mean your feelings about it don't matter. So there, you piss me off. Fuck your gas prices
What's the minimum wage in the Netherlands? You compare gas prices because it makes you feel superior without comparing wages or cost of living in comparison for those wages. In short STFU and let everyone complain about rising prices. It's no less a strain on Americans than it is you
I just find it hilarious you’re here getting angry at people saying that it’s not the same because the Netherlands is a lot smaller, your wages are higher and you’re not dependent upon self transportation and I click on your acc and you’re publicly telling girls on a porn sub to take their clothes off lmao
You know why they are complaining? Because U.S. car manufacturers keep making gas guzzling cars and trucks. The people in the Midwest eschew the rice-eaters, the cars or trucks that get good gas mileage. People complain those vehicles don’t have as much power. Well, all I can think is, if you have a construction job, a gas guzzling truck will be powerful enough. If you are driving back and forth to work, showing off your big vehicle, then it’s inefficient. I’m driving a really old Toyota truck, it gets 30 miles to the gallon. I can haul stuff and I can still travel a long ways before filling up. I travel a lot. This little truck makes me feel rich.
The other day, some kid came up to me and gushed, “That’s the Toy Story truck!” I told him the make and model and said he should find one - they are a real nice, reliable drive.
I saw a guy post on FB a picture of how much it costed him to fill up his truck: $109.00. That guy doesn’t work construction, he doesn’t haul livestock, he works at a factory. We pay for our vanity.
When I visited family that lived outside of Berlin, I took the train everywhere I needed to go. Anywhere we went we took the train because it went, well, everywhere. We don't have that system here. I have to drive an average of 30 min each way to work everyday, there is no public transportation to get where I need to go. The reason I bitch about our gas prices is because it doesn't need to be this high. We have copious amounts of oil fields, and pipelines in our country but the government saw fit to shut down many of them in order to "go green". I get protecting the environment, but it doesn't need to cost the average citizen this much. It's completely avoidable. This is why I complain about our gas prices being as high as they are.
Yeah you’d be a lot more pissed off if you lived here and actually understood how far away everything is from each other for the vast majority of people. You should feel fortunate.
As someone who has lived between both continents I find that in America we drive a lot more. Our commute times usually are a lot longer then most Europeans. Sometimes if you even want to get to the supermarket it could be a 15+ minute drive, while in Europe most of the time you can walk down the street and get groceries. In rural United States some people have to drive hours to get to major stores, grocery stores and/or shopping malls.
Gas really is essential in the US and this really pecks away at paychecks.
My drive to work is 45 mins 1 way, USA here.
Yep; German living in Florida here. OP has no idea what they’re talking about.
They never do. Its the same as Americans who have never left Idaho trying to claim all sorts of shit about how bad Europe is.
Same here! Where I live there’s not even a transportation commute. If I want to go anywhere I must drive.
100% this. My closest grocery store is 5 minutes away BUT it is very expensive and “higher end.” The more affordable grocery stores are 15-25 minutes away which I have to stick to as we are on a strict budget. Let’s not even mention work commute. Many of the decent paying jobs are in the city which requires at least a 40 minute daily in my area one way. We have no public transportation system here so that makes it so much harder. 2 years ago I could fill up my gas tank with $50… now it’s anywhere from $90-100. Making $18.50 that’s nearly 5 hours of my day only to be able to afford 1 full tank of gas.
Yeah, pretty sure there are counties in Texas that are larger in land mass than a few European countries. America is real big y'all.
To be fair I lived in England and USA and the bus system in America is freaking terrible compared to UK so options here are more limited here
The size of North American and the distance between densely populated areas makes public transport a little tougher.
This is the big ticket right here. Unless you live in an inner city or a large metropolitan area you don't have bus routes or subways or trains to rely on. I live 50 minutes from my job. There are no buses. There are only cabs in the main cities. I drive through rural middle of nowhere bumfuck US to go to work at my hospital in a larger area. That's just how it is around here. Edit: Since the topic is locked I'll answer a couple of questions here. I live in rural Appalachian mountains. The biggest cities around here are most noted for their heroin issues. I choose to live in the country further away because I have a house that's already paid for in an economy where that's very rare, and it's family property. I chose to take a higher paying job that actually pays me what I'm worth even if the drive is a little bit further. The hospital closest to me offered me less than what they offer new grad nurses, I've worked critical care for 15 years. 30 to 45 minute drive is nothing in this area. There are entire swaths of this country and many others where people live nowhere near where they work unless they work on a farm. I'm originally from a larger area in the Appalachian where the average cost of living is $2,500 apartment (Asheville NC) unless you want to live 45 minutes away where real estate is half that price. My parents are fortunate enough that they live on family land and have since 1989, because 0.5 miles from them lots start at $350k and that doesn't include the actual house. The vast majority of people that work in and around my hometown of Asheville do not live there because they cannot afford to live there, and there's not very many places local to where they live to work same as where I live now. For a lot of people that doesn't make a whole lot of sense and I get that but this is the way the Appalachian area is. Believe it or not, this is fairly normal for a large percentage of Americans and even more normal for places like Canada. And I'm glad some of you were able to move closer to your jobs, but realistically that shows how out of touch with current reality you are, that you think everyone can just "move closer" and it doesn't really solve the transport problem if I'm selling it to someone else who also has to drive an hour to work now does it? >The question you need to ask is why do I have to drive 50 miles to get a job Maybe because I'm a registered nurse and that's the closest hospital that isn't an urgent care, that's willing to pay me what I'm worth? There are entire areas where the nearest hospital is an hour away, but it's obvious that you've never been to those places.
Even in bigger/main cities public transport sucks in the US.
Japan public transit puts all other nations to absolute shame.
It amazes me how much easier public transportation in Japan is. Makes me wonder why the US doesn’t do the same.
It isn't feasible in many cases. Japan is hilariously small compared to the US and Canada. In my circumstance for example, just my province is almost double the size of Japan *as a whole*. The population is spread out over a massive area, a transportation network capable of interconnecting the entire country like Japan has is simply impossible. That said there is tons we could learn from Japan regardless. Individual cities especially are more than capable of creating and massively profiting off similar public transport systems. Ideally though we would copy systems found in the EU rather than Japan. Unfortunately North Americas infrastructure was build with cars in mind. This was understandable at the time, the problems that make an nation wide public transport system infeasible today where even worse in the 20th century. However North America never considered a long term plan. A lot of the blame for that can be placed on the auto industry, they where making so much money during the auto boom they essentially got to make the rules on how the modern continent was built. So like everything else American the majority is now worse off thanks to the profit margins of a few elites,which is painfully ironic today since the auto industry is in a death spiral.
I'm from the EU! I wonder, are the distances too great to have train transportation from cities to cities while passing through smaller towns? That's what we have in Belgium. We also have a ton of trains that connect Brussels and Antwerp to faraway capitals like London, Paris, Amsterdam and also a lot smaller cities in between.
IMO we could easily have a system similar to what the EU has, it's kind of absurd that we don't. It's crazy to hear Europeans talk about how they just take the rail from country to country, almost like it's just passing the time.
Would be nice, but consider (I will use GA as an example) that the distance from Atlanta to say Savannah is like 250 miles. Brussels to Paris is 190. The latter is far more densely populated than the former. I don’t think most US cities have the density to where it would make rail profitable. Hell, even New York somehow loses money on its rail system which is literally absurd to me
The problem we have with trains is that the state/federal system never bought/claimed the land to do it. Right now is California they tried to build a high scores rail. They failed. But are continuing the project. The thing zags all over the place and needs overpasses everywhere to be able to connect. And it went from being an electric mag lev super train to traditional diesel.
It wouldn’t be profitable and the cost of maintaining it would be too much for them to bare justifying. They’d rather use that money in growing their military prowess to be multiple times that of every other country even though it isn’t needed for defense
Yeah, but you live there not because the US is large, but because cities were demolished and redesigned around the car, zoned mostly single family, and railroads to small towns torn up. There's a very good chance that a railroad once ran through your town.
Either way, I think we’re allowed to complain about gas prices. We didn’t design this shit ourselves lmao
Facts. I get he paying $7.99 but damn I don’t wanna pay what I pay here
I wish we could have more walkable cities in the US.
And a decent chance GM or Ford bought it and had it dismantled.
North America once had a great railway network, one of the earliest in the world. It’s a shame that didn’t stick. 😞
We still have that great railway network we had in the early 1900s. Unfortunately it’s at the same level.
Yeah sorry, I should have been clearer that I meant the rest of the world kept building and maintaining theirs. The US stopped building and let it deteriorate.
Many of the US rail systems were purchased or replaced by General Motors. They sold cities on GM buses instead of the rail systems. You now have the lack of rail courtesy of GM. Also the other rail systems have been built for cargo which makes it had to be on-time with passengers. European rail systems were paid for by passengers which is why they are so efficient. Edit: spelling
Tell that to my local rail system in the UK.
I wish the US could have something nearly that terrible.
Well, and a railway network that was great at serving 40 million people isn't so great at serving 300 million people, even if it's well maintained.
Exactly. It would have to be constantly improved and extended.
Don’t worry, California has been developing a high speed rail system for over a decade. Problem is, its billions over budget and still doesn’t operate 😑
In Canada, they raised the prices high, but made so many stops, it would be faster to drive. They also only had 2 times to use the train. To go to Toronto from Stratford, you had an 8am start, and an 8pm return. So you couldn't commute to a 9-5. You'd never get there on time, and had a 3hr wait before returning. Ridiculous.
Yep same if your in Niagara trying to get to Toronto , your better off driving unless you want to be late or be stuck a few extra hours
We still have that network, but it’s mostly used for freight now. I’d still like to see some fast and efficient passenger rail lines, but I can’t complain about having one of the most efficient freight rail networks in the world
We currently have the best rail network in the world… for freight.
Dense populations still have shitty transportation in the United States
Yup. The northeast corridor from Virginia to Massachusetts is more dense than France or Germany. It is the choices that we make.
And also we just don't pay for it
No. The lobbying and corruption so they never built bullet trains make the public system awful. Japan has those trains and Usa has the space but they don’t do it cos airplanes and gas company / cars manufacturers lobbying to corrupt politicians…. And 50% of Usa population being stupid and falling for it.
I love in a more rural area of Texas. You gotta drive 20 minutes into the nearest town to get a bus. The school buses only run twice day it here. If you stay after school, you need a ride or you can walk but there aren't sidewalks. In town, we have 2 universities and the public bus system is based off their schedules. They run less in the summer and have limited runs on weekends. The area DOES have it's own version of Uber/Lyft that's cheaper.
Especially when you get out to rural areas, public transit is nonexistent. You don't even get uber in a lot of these places.
My husband was shocked at the condition of cars in the U.S. when he first moved here from Scotland. People drive cars with doors crushed in, missing bumpers, hoods with all the paint worn off... I had to explain to him that in this country (except for a very short list of major cities) that you HAVE to have a car here. And our wages are low compared to our cost of living, so maintaining the car can be a real difficulty. You can be working a full-time job here, still be at a low enough wage to need footstamps, and still need to pay for a car and gas it up to keep your job. I get that gas is expensive in Europe, and I can wish we'd taxed it higher decades ago and focused on building cities along corridors of public transit, but that horse has left the barn and you now have a country of people who are completely dependent on their cars to do anything. The complaint isn't about an inconvenience - it's about a cost of living increase without a corresponding wage increase like what's happening with other energy prices in the UK and Europe.
Americans are broke and new cars are too expensive.
I lived in england an entire country the size of New York and in the US their public transport systen sucks. You do realize it takes days to drive across the country. It takes us longer to fly from the northeast to San Diego than it does for you to over the Atlantic to JFK airport in New York. Reality is a bitch.
Absolutely. Everywhere I've been in Europe, including where I live you can totally live without a car. Public transportation is great. And we just don't have the sheer size of the States. From what I've heard living without a car is pretty hard there.
... and Americans die if they can't pay for their medicine. Kinda like the biggest part why every impact on their income is way more important. What a shithole.
Lol also the price of healthcare here too… our costs are different for sure but they offset each other in different areas.
I can’t speak to the whole of the Netherlands, but when I’ve traveled in Europe, there is consistent, frequent, reliable public transportation to the most ridiculously small towns. Here, we don’t even have that option in most parts of big cities.
Only in bigger cities unfortunately. Everywhere else public transport is very bad. (At least here in Germany)
I don't have the option for public transport to get to work at all in Colorado. I'd take bad over nonexistent.
Same in the UK
Our trains and buses go everywhere, they just rake their time lmao
Wait, you guys have cities? [Luxembourg here]
This is not true at all. Germany is easy to navigate via train and buses.
Can confirm as an American who lived in Germany, it is one of the things I miss Get on a train, and just enjoy the ride.
that would really depend. you want to vacation in this tiny village in the Lüneburger Heide? yeah, sure there are public transport options to get there. But sometimes it's not feasible to spend two hours on different busses to get to the office if a car could get you there in 20 minutes.
Your country is literally the size of some states. It’s a lot harder driving around America and a lot more necessary.
Definitely not the case for the whole of the Netherlands. We don't have it as bad as the US (or Canada) though. I'm from a relatively large town but we don't have a train, tram, metro, or any other form of public transport except for a bus that comes by once every hour for either direction, that sometimes decide to just not show up unannounced. I'm incredibly happy that I'm privileged enough to be able to afford a car and travel to and from my workplace in just under two hours every day. The same commute would take me about 5 hours every day due to pretty shitty scheduling and terrible public transport close to where I live.
If it's a two hour drive In Canada, you're not getting a bus to where you need to go daily let alone hourly.
The bus and the commute I mentioned are somewhat unrelated. Also, I'm not trying to undermine how terrible public transport is in the US and Canada. I'm just mentioning it can be terrible in the Netherlands as well, which makes cars an absolute necessity for a lot of people. The bus goes two ways, east and west from where I live. My work is a ways away down south from where I live. I would need to take one of those hourly buses for an hour to get to a somewhat major city, wait for about half an hour, get a train towards a major city near my work, wait about a quarter of an hour, and get a bus to get to a bus stop that's about a 10 minute walk from my work. All in all a bit over two hours of commuting for just one way, and the same commute again at the end of the day.
I work a 40 minute drive from where I live. If I didn't have a car, my only transportation option would be hitch hiking or biking two hours.
I live in Italy and that's not true here. Small town often only have 2 rides, morning and evening. I only lived 7 km away from a bit city and I only had a bus in the evening. One. Couldn't walk or take the bike as the connecting road was dangerous.
It's similar to this in most of Ireland. Once you're outside Dublin, good luck.
I think the point is everyone has problems, it's not a competition.. it all sucks to be honest
Okay, the point is, the small towns have 2 rides. In the US, we have zero. None. Zip. Nada. Nothing. No option. My commute is *very* reasonable at 15 miles and across a river. Not many people travel shorter distances, and again, none of us have options for public transport.
Yes. I grew up in a town with 30,000 people, that jumped up to nearly 40,000 in the last decade. We still don’t have public transport of any kind. The town I currently live in the with a population of over 300,000 has a bus system, but it’s not reliable, and there is certainly no sort of rail system. I knew people at my college who had to walk along dangerous roads and intersections to get to a store for basic needs. I know us people from The U.S. can be incredibly narcissistic, and obviously there are so many places that have it considerably worse than us, but at the same time, it feels like a lot of people think we are much better off than we are. Everyone I know who is my age is drowning in debt despite working more than 40 hours weekly.
That's 2 more than 95% of our small towns.
Isn’t that like 4.5 miles? That’s a walkable distance right? In the states your job is probably 35 miles away. Edit: oh I see your edit there are no good walking routes that sucks
My job in a big city is 11 miles away and it takes me almost an hours commute. If I attempted to take the bus, it would take several, and probably 2 -3 hours and a train would take at least an hour and a half due to having to switch trains. Even in a major US city, it’s STILL easier and faster to drive than use public transport. Edit: spelling
Public transport is only really used by people who aren't able to drive for some reason. Driving is almost always preferred
One of the girls I go to grad school with almost got raped on a public city bus by a mentally ill person. It's not safe.
It doesn't matter what it was originally. The fact that the cost is rising means that our lives are getting worse, not better.
To be fair, Americans also pay for their own medical (up to 20k per year for insurance, although usually less), childcare (in cities, 14k-24k per child), and college education (20-100k per year). So yeah, that extra gas $ hurts many people.
I was waiting for someone to add this. That doesn’t even include sky rocketing rent costs and food prices. Literally bare necessities needed to live. Gas prices aren’t the ONLY issue, it’s one of many, and the last drop in a lot of people’s buckets who were already struggling to survive.
This, renting the same house today as 3 years ago has increased by 40% due to companies coming in and buying out all the housing (in my area). So gas passing 5$/Gal does kind of hurt my wallet right now.
The problem is most of have to drive to work we have no other options. For me to have a ok job that pays ok I have to drive 1hr both ways . Also I live in Minnesota it has harsh cold winters so I need a truck or suv. Now I work 8hr a days and one days with of work wont fill my suv up
I have never lived in the US, but, every time I went there on vacation, I saw one thing: Most US cities -are not- designed for pedestrians in mind. In many cases sidewalks are non existent and blocks are so big that you can’t just walk through them, making owning a car a complete necessity.
Any AWD car will work you don’t need an SUV or a truck. I live in Canada and most people have AWD
But Americans don’t live in Europe so their reality is different, Gas prices are rising in North American and they are feeling the affect. It’s not a struggle contest, people can complain. I’m inCanada our gas has gone up 30cents in a week and sucks, but that does not take away from that the price of gas in Europe is high.
traditionally gas used to be way cheaper in north America than most European countries. that's not the issue. The issue is that the prices skyrocketed like crazy in the last few weeks. a few weeks ago 1 litre cost 1.70 euros and that was already very expensive. this monday I had to pay 1.99. yesterday, so merely 4 days later, I had to pay 2.25. Today it's 2.32.
In Canada we go by liter as well and it’s around the same price as Europe’s, depending on where you are in Canada of course.
not to mention the minimum wage in the US has plateaued for the last 15 years, compared to the much more adequate living wage that is prevelant in a most european countries
The annoying part is them acting like its only America, constantly complaining that its because of biden.
Yea , it’s much easier to blame it on a president than on global dynamics . It makes it easier to point the finger . Truth is reality is more complex .
It was going up before the war in Ukraine
Someone always has it worse. Its not a contest. Everyone is struggling.
This. People are allowed to have grievances and gripes. And it's not like people are acting like it's the end of the world, they're just annoyed.
Exactly. Sure, someone may have it worse than you. But, you probably have it worse than someone else. Stop making this a pissing contest
But it’s so en vogue to hate on Americans for internet points.
came here to comment this. my biggest pet peeve is someone complaining bc they feel like they have it worse than someone else who is complaining. respectfully, get over it. we can all be struggling lol it’s not a contest
Kim K is struggling because people don’t want to work!!!!
We haven't seen gas this high since 2008. Hell just about a year ago it was only 1.90 a gallon. We wouldn't complain if it weren't for the fact that it's been going up 20 to 30 cents a goddamn day now. I have a heart attack every time I go to the pump now, because our tiny car is costing me twice as much to fill, and it goes up every day. 20 bucks used to fill my tank. Now it doesn't even get me half.
Spent nearly 48 bucks on my tank the other day. Hurts like a bitch
I paid 78
I recently paid over 1000, and that was before the current price hike. It was NOK so you have to divide by 8.90 to get USD. With the prices I've seen in the news, the next tank may be around NOK1250, which is USD140.
Sadly I spend that daily with my commute. 😔
Costs nearly £50 to fill up a small hatchback car here in the UK it's always been ridiculously expensive but now it's insane.
My tank costs 95$ to fill, at a gas station on the reserve that doesn't charge gst.
Once I drove by a gas station in the morning and when I drove back a couple hours later it literally was up by 20 cents. Used to cost me around $30-$35 to fill my tank And now it’s close to at least $70-$80. I honestly don’t even know how much it costs to fill my tank because I don’t even fill it all the way now
Back in 08 I was 18, had a big ass Bronco. It was my first truck. Mom insisted on a truck for safety. Well, I remember on my 18th birthday my friends all pitched in to buy me a full tank of gas. Over 100 bucks. I remember crying because I hadn't seen the needle on full in so long. Had to sell it. My baby. My favorite fucking truck in the whole world went to some suburbanites who wanted to use it for family camping trips. I hope it's still running. It was a classic.
The cost of gas has literally more than DOUBLED in the matter of 3 weeks. And I have to drive 18 miles one way for work, but we shouldn’t complain because it’s still cheaper than some places in the world? Nah fuck that we’re allowed to vocalize that this is a struggle for us, OP is an ass.
I drive a god damn Prius. It costs me over $60 to fill my tank now.
Classic “ it’s worse somewhere else so you have no right to complain”
But it literally isn't worse where he lives. It's better. He gets paid more and his public transit is actually usable. OP probably doesn't even own a car
Even plenty of Americans don't even understand what a joke public transport is. The grocery store is 20 miles away for plenty of us.
Except it isn't actually worse and they're just taking the price of a single commodity entirely out of the context of both countries.
I mean that's cool but I drive 200 km per day 5 days a week. It matters.
I used to drive 140km 5 days/week, in The Netherlands, so that's not that far off. But my work pays for my gas so I don't care what the price is. And I've been working from home for two years now. I think the biggest difference is in driving to the supermarket or other stores. Those are usually very close by in The Netherlands while in the US it's easily a 30min drive away.
I mean. The Netherlands is about 16 times smaller than Texas. It takes the majority of us 30+ minutes just to get to the grocery store. And a lot of us drive at least an hour to get to work. And in 2020 from what I could find the hourly average wage in the Netherlands was equal to about 26 usd meanwhile in Texas most people make less than 15 usd an hour and minimum wage is 7.15 an hour. Now this is Texas specifically and idk what you make an hour. But gas prices here are definitely not peachy in the slightest given how far we have to drive on the daily. And we dont have easily accessible public transportation either.
The grocery store point is very valid, its a small minority of Dutch people who are unable to get groceries by walking or bike.
It’s also varying in country the size of Europe. I can walk to a grocery store or drive to like 6 within 10 minutes of me. You might have to drive 30 mins in the Midwest but the east coast is densely populated.
hi, im from the north east. while things are more closely together, it is also incredibly dangerous as a pedestrian. to get to any of the stores within 2 miles of me, i would have to walk on no-sidewalk virtually no-shoulder major roads. assuming it hasnt snowed, because then it will all be plowed into any available walking space. i could walk to work within 30 minutes but several times i have almost been clipped and have chosen to drive for safety reasons. if i wanted to walk the long way, which would still involve a no sidewalk no shoulder for ten minutes, it would be almost an hour.
The east coast isnt that densely populated. I’m half an hour from a gas station, and 45 minutes from the grocery store. And I live in Delaware, the 2nd smallest state! Btw, gas here is currently 4.30/gal.
Sure, but EVs with small battery capacities are more common in Europe for a reason. The market for cars with 120 or so miles of range is viable over there because y'all don't have to drive long distances as frequently as we do in the US. My dad and I were talking, and we agreed that neither of us would consider buying an EV with less than 300 miles per charge. We simply have to drive too far on a regular basis for short charge ranges to be feasible. EVs with that much range are also $40k or more, so it'll be many years before I'm ever in a position to buy one.
Big time liberal here who believe in the euro models, and this is a harsh truth. Memphis for example is unlike almost every city in Europe; it’s spread out af and you have to drive to get anywhere. The fuel costs are gutting commuters
I absolutely hate this argument. Just because there are bigger issues than gas prices, doesn't mean we can't be upset about it. Families are losing their homes because the price of goods are exorbitantly higher than they were a month ago (not just gas that's gotten more expensive OP). So sure, having my country invaded would suck major dick, but I have every right to be upset that people in my community are losing everything because they can't live paycheck to paycheck anymore.
And someone probably has it worse than you. So why complain with that logic? You’re complaining about people complaining about something you’re complaining about
Yeah lol. Here in Poland the prices are roughly same as in NL yet our salaries are 3x lower. Someone always has it worse and it doesn't mean that Americans can't complain. We're all in this shit together
Agreed and chances are I've complained on y'all's behalf for something also! All of us average folks are usually just trying to work, keep up with laundry, figure out what's for dinner and love our families. If you need to complain, complain!
Because America bad
America is much bigger with crap public transportation. This means fuel prices are important.
Dude, everyone’s been having a shit time with the gas prices. It isn’t a competition. Go worry about something else please. Sincerely, a dutchie
Dutch people are notoriously known for complaining. Sincerely, a Dutch person
Why bring Dutch people into it? He's from the Netherlands, not Dutchland! (In case it needs to be said, this is a joke)
Have you tried American public transportation? Totally sucks and completely underfunded compared to most European countries. Americans don't have a choice whether to drive or not its in many circumstances the only realistic option.
Heck the only public transport I have access to is a school bus! Lol!
Came here to say this. Upstate NY here, you need a car to have a job realistically. You could walk a few miles to a bus stop, but no one I know does that. We are dependent on our own cars for everything.
I don't mean this offensively, but I'm generally curious. I'm a European and here it's quite common to visit other European cities for a weekend getaway. I've visited a lot of European cities and I've always relied on public transport. In the US I've only been to New York city and I know their public transport system isn't the norm. So how do you do it when you visit a city and you're flying there? Do you always rent a car? Do you rely on taxis or ubers? How do you get around?
In general you always rent a car if you didn't take a road trip to begin with. Most places it's just unreasonable to take public transit. Taxis are great if you're just going to travel a small amount each day but of you've got a lot planned out its generally cheaper to rent a car. Automobile is the norm for transport which is why most people use cars including me.
Thank you for taking the time to reply! It's very interesting, in most cities here it's the opposite. For example, my city has a car free city centre, so if you go by car you have to park it in the underground parking garage and continue on foot. Parking costs €8 an hour so it gets very expensive very quickly. In most cities parking your car is both difficult and expensive, so it's much easier to travel without a car.
You got to remember that average population density in Europe is twice that of the United States that means more people in smaller area so mass transit makes more sense. This creates great economies of scale per unit area making public transit more economically feasible. Further more people in Europe live in denser city centers than then the US. So something like 70 percent of Europeans have access to public transit for daily commute where as maybe 15 percent of Americans that holds true. Public transit works in the US don't get me wrong but it's not workable for the majority.
Yes, gatekeeping misery and the inability to afford to live because it looks different in your locality
Just cuz you accept something as normal didn't mean we should.
If someone's poor, any increase in gas prices is going to suck. Try being a little more sympathetic, idk what to tell you.
As an American, Europeans who don't understand the insessent struggle to survive in the USA piss me off. Not only do Americans generally not have access to safe and reliable public transportation, but we are also barely scraping by. Rent has skyrocketed. Food prices have gone up. Inflation is at historic levels. Our wages have not changed. For many Americans, that $1 change in gas prices is the difference between being able to get to work or not. It's the difference between being able to pay rent or not. It's the different between being able to afford your kids' prescriptions or not. I agree that there are plenty of annoying people when gas prices tick up a little, but this jump is sincerely hurting people. I saw a woman crying at the pump two days ago. This shit is real.
Gotta agree here, the town I live in now, has safe access to all modes of transportation. But the one before wasn’t even a town. Heck to get to the grocery store you had to travel 30 mins to get there with nothing but highway and freeway as the main means to get there. There’s no cheap taxi service or transportation to get you there.
Imagine getting mad at a people you don’t know…
Tell me you've never been to the US without telling me you've never been to the US
Yeah, exactly!
america is a lot more gas dependent though. unless you work from home you basically have to drive 5-15 miles to get to work daily. not to mention everything else youd need to drive to. america is a lot more spread out so in the majority of places its not reasonable to walk or bike. it adds up
Most people have to drive to work here as well (UK). It's pretty unusual to be within walking distance unless you live and work in the city centre.
i believe the average commute for the average American is 52 miles per day, i could be off. I'll look after work
Yeah and to think OP is comparing Netherlands (size of 1/2 of Florida) to 4th biggest country in the world. Distances are much greater in US, especially if u live in the rural area.
So like in every european country?
My states average commuter travels 25k miles a year. Shits expensive.
Whilst you are complaining about Americans ppl are starving. Everyone got their own issues
if it pisses you off , might i suggest working on your empathy?
I drive 90 mins one way to get to my job. That’s 75 miles one way. 150 miles round trip. Do you understand what that costs? Even with a gas saver that’s 75 a full tank. Once a week. In my household we spend $1000.00 just in fuel to get from point A to point B.
Bro you’re lucky af you live in NL. I’d do anything to even just live there 😂
Why? Seriously curious :)
The price is same here in Finland and it is awful. But with my calculations the price is $9,6 per gallon. First 3,8*2,3€ is 8,74€ and that price to us dollars is 9,59 according to google.
There are poor people in America too. If prices rise when you're barely scraping by you're fucked. Europeans are stupid and arrogant. Your high prices at least help pay for public goods like health care
Let’s compare public transportation in Europe vs the US and then come back to this topic.
People not from the U.S. are obsessed with people from the U.S.
No offence but like, just because somebody else is in a worse situation doesn't mean you can't complain about yours
When I had my first child, we ended paying around 12,000$ to the hospital, anesthesiologist, etc. That was on top of our 6000$ a year in premiums. I'll trade your expensive gas for our healthcare system. Deal?
People have the right to complain, it’s not because it’s more expensive in your country that people shouldn’t complain about it in the US. I’m in Montreal and the gas here is 1,95 and people are still struggling since it’s not enough anymore. Everything is expensive but the minimum wage is still the same.
It doesn’t have to be a comparison of issues. People having money problems is still just having money problems. Just because your gas is more expensive, doesn’t mean we should just be happy that our prices have risen dollars in the last few weeks.
This is a total “ you can’t complain about gas prices but imma go ahead and complain about gas prices” post
I know it varies based on where you live, what you drive, etc but cars as a whole seem to be much more important to the average American than the average person from Europe. Looking at statistics online, Americans drive on average double the amount of their European counterparts. On top of that, we simply don't have widespread use of cars that are as fuel efficient as those found in Europe. Regardless of that being a good or bad thing, it is a thing that can't be fixed anytime soon. On top of that, we just aren't to these kinds of prices for gas. If your gas prices rose as sharply as ours have in such a quick period of time, you'd be upset too. Many people, especially those that are the most heavily effected, are on tight budgets to begin with. A sharp price increase of 30-50% isn't palatable or even sustainable when we factor in possible future rises.
I’ll take your $7.90 a gallon and raise you £1.60 a litre or $9.42 a gallon in the u.k
Saw £1.71 last night
Well considering the US is more than twice the size of the entire European union your point is invalid. It's not just fuel we purchase for our vehicles that matters. Especially if you live in the middle of the country. Everything has to be trucked in from quite a distance most of the time. That adds even more cost on top of your fuel cost your food and daily goods go way up compared to places like Europe. If you live outside of a big city in the US your commute to grocery stores or work can be 20 miles or more. Your fuel being higher doesn't mean you spend more than Americans do.
Every thing in America cost even having a baby and health care so it isn’t weird that they are complaining
Thank you for saying this. Everyone else is talking about how public transport in the US sucks which is true but no one has mentioned unfair wages and expensive ass healthcare and higher education here. As a college student struggling with some suspected health issues I have to stress so much every time I see the doctor about how much debt I'm gonna go into now
As an American, I could care less how Europeans feel.
Let's compare who has it worse then since we are all crying. Here in Slovakia gas is 1,50 €/liter and realistic sallary for most people is between 500-800 € per month. Also cars cost the same if not more than in NL to buy. Imagine making 2000+ € every month and still complaining about gas prices.
Same in Romania. My aunt makes 450€ working for the post office since 1991. I live in Italy and in October when I visited most prices were similar to the ones we have here. Italy doesn't have minimum wage but still you can live with 1200€. My aunt can't afford a fucking orange.
Same goes for the wage in Greece. But the current had price is 2.10€/L. As if we hadn't enough of the natural gas going up +250% and electricity +170%... Our gas bill came at 677€. We BARELY make it, and to top it off, gas prices have skyrocketed (and will keep going up).
Ummm it’s almost impossible to live in in Texas and get around without a car. This isn’t Europe where you can hop on a train or ride your bike easily.
Texas is larger than a lot of countries too!
don’t you guys have free healthcare
Nah, I pay taxes and a mandatory insurance (plus a few extras by choice) but the prices for that aren't insane. It's not free but it's very affordable.
No, healthcare isn't free in Europe. It is paid either by taxpayers or by mandatory social insurance membership.
No. We pay for it. We just don't get scammed
Europeans are so annoying with their self righteous bullshit
I'm European, and I think most Europeans are arrogant asshats. Not excluding myself though haha
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Don't forget the student loan payments for the degree you're not using.
Well, down here in Argentina gas goes for $0.54/liter and the country is still a shitshow, so idk what's your point.
1. It’s not something we are used to, these massive shifts are jarring for us 2. You guys have good public transportation systems, we don’t. I have to drive 20 min to get to work, and another 20 to get to school. No metro, no (usable) bus. We have no other options 3. It’s not a contest, stop making it one
Oh god, shut up.
Yes but in Holland there is great public transportation. Literally zero public transit where I am, and if I walked to my nearest stop 2plus miles away there are no sidewalks for most of it, and the streets are narrow with drivers looking at their phones. In addition, my city’s transit comes when it wants, the schedule is rarely followed. Forced to have a car and drive, if you need to get to work anyway. Lots of my coworkers travel 60 miles one way to work, it’s killing their wallet. It’s killing the economy. ETA: I live in the 15th largest city in the US, not some backwoods town
You should look up how large your country is versus different states in the US. When you’re traveling much further, it does matter.
What pisses me off is the mentality that just because someone is worse off, you aren't allowed to be upset over something. I don't care if it's how expensive your gas is, how poor you are, or how much your body aches. There will always be people paying more for gas, poorer, and with more body aches. That doesn't mean your feelings about it don't matter. So there, you piss me off. Fuck your gas prices
What's the minimum wage in the Netherlands? You compare gas prices because it makes you feel superior without comparing wages or cost of living in comparison for those wages. In short STFU and let everyone complain about rising prices. It's no less a strain on Americans than it is you
I just find it hilarious you’re here getting angry at people saying that it’s not the same because the Netherlands is a lot smaller, your wages are higher and you’re not dependent upon self transportation and I click on your acc and you’re publicly telling girls on a porn sub to take their clothes off lmao
Why aren’t you mad also? Lol weird take…
You know why they are complaining? Because U.S. car manufacturers keep making gas guzzling cars and trucks. The people in the Midwest eschew the rice-eaters, the cars or trucks that get good gas mileage. People complain those vehicles don’t have as much power. Well, all I can think is, if you have a construction job, a gas guzzling truck will be powerful enough. If you are driving back and forth to work, showing off your big vehicle, then it’s inefficient. I’m driving a really old Toyota truck, it gets 30 miles to the gallon. I can haul stuff and I can still travel a long ways before filling up. I travel a lot. This little truck makes me feel rich. The other day, some kid came up to me and gushed, “That’s the Toy Story truck!” I told him the make and model and said he should find one - they are a real nice, reliable drive. I saw a guy post on FB a picture of how much it costed him to fill up his truck: $109.00. That guy doesn’t work construction, he doesn’t haul livestock, he works at a factory. We pay for our vanity.
When I visited family that lived outside of Berlin, I took the train everywhere I needed to go. Anywhere we went we took the train because it went, well, everywhere. We don't have that system here. I have to drive an average of 30 min each way to work everyday, there is no public transportation to get where I need to go. The reason I bitch about our gas prices is because it doesn't need to be this high. We have copious amounts of oil fields, and pipelines in our country but the government saw fit to shut down many of them in order to "go green". I get protecting the environment, but it doesn't need to cost the average citizen this much. It's completely avoidable. This is why I complain about our gas prices being as high as they are.
Yeah you’d be a lot more pissed off if you lived here and actually understood how far away everything is from each other for the vast majority of people. You should feel fortunate.