Fuel price increase good for country

THE EDITOR: I congratulate the Government for having the courage to continue increasing the price of vehicle fuels – a measure long overdue. While the current prices are still way below sensible levels, a good start has been made. The target should be to bring retail fuel prices up to international levels by adding appropriate duties and taxes.

Low fuel prices are harmful to our little country in a number of ways. They are largely responsible for the high volume of traffic, now at crisis level, the associated lack of adequate parking, and a huge waste of productive time nationally.

Traffic fumes result in the deterioration of the quality of the air we breathe, leading long-term to increased healthcare costs, and in future with all our fuel being directly imported, there is the foreign exchange consideration.

In short, no good whatever results from stimulation of the demand for vehicle fuels by keeping prices low; income redistribution and dealing with poverty can be handled in much more effective and targeted ways.

We Trinis need to change our behaviour and start rethinking the amount of driving around we do. We are so used to rock-bottom fuel prices that we do not for a moment consider the cost of driving. We need to start looking at alternatives to driving our car.

So many people have commented that the 25 percent increase in gasoline is going to cost them an extra so many dollars per week. My answer to that is it need not cost them anything at all – all they have to do is reduce the number of miles they drive by the same 25 percent.

They can start doing this right away by sharing school and work trips with neighbours and colleagues, taking the bus, or even (horror of horrors) walking or cycling on short trips. We all need the exercise. Another way is to cluster errands: wait until there are three or four things to do, instead of rushing out in the car immediately for every one.

Longer term, of course, we all should be reducing our dependence on gasoline and diesel fuels by switching to the alternatives: CNG-powered, hybrids and all-electric vehicles. This is the way that the world is going – all indications are that in just a few years gasoline and diesel-powered cars will become obsolete.

Just like everyone else, I hate having to pay more for anything, but in the case of fuel prices, we have to look at the greater good.

GARY N VOSS via e-mail