Petrol Price hike: Have you changed your lifestyle?

We in India are getting accustomed to a hike in petrol/gas prices. It is hurting the huge Indian middle class, but we have to start facing reality. Just a few days ago, I saw a report which said we can expect yet another hike of Rs 5/litre.

Gas prices have been increasing in the US too. Nielsen reports on how this hike has affected people in the US and Canada,

• Trip compression continues to dominate as a key strategy for 67 percent of households looking to save on high gas prices.
• Nearly half of consumers (46%) in the US will continue to seek lower-priced gas stations and eat out less (45%) and over one-third (36%) will shop closer to home to offset high prices at the pump.
• 12 percent say they are buying larger economy sizes (buying wholesale)
• More and more savvy shoppers are taking advantage of incentive programs linked to grocery spending to buy gas. 28 percent of consumers say they are using their grocery shopper loyalty cards to save up to 10, 20 and 30 cents on a gallon of gas by redeeming points at participating gas stations. (this will never happen in India)
• With four out of six households saying they are combining errands to reduce their driving and control their gas spending
• Gas prices in Canada have increased 30 percent in the past year, which is costing the average household an additional $73 per month for a monthly outlay of $300.
• The current average price in Canada for regular gasoline is $1.31 per litre, which is 30 percent higher than comparable U.S. prices
• One in five households (21%) in US say they are reducing spending to a great degree. 86% of Canadians indicate that rising gas prices are impacting driving and shopping habits – a 31 percent increase since 2010.
• When prices exceed $1.75 per litre, the monthly gas bill will actually exceed the grocery bill
• Rising gas prices mean consumers are likely to opt for more stay-at-home activities. More than half (55%) of Canadians say they plan to do more things at home.
• One-third of households will consider grocery home delivery (32%), shop close to home (31%), seek out low-priced gas stations (31%), use lower grades of gas (31%) and 14% will eat out less often.
• Overall consumer shopping trips are down.
• One coping mechanism to minimize drive time is using a carpool, which is being deployed by 24 percent of households.
• One in five (21%) plan to buy less expensive brands, 17 percent intend to purchase larger pack sizes, 15 percent will look for savings at warehouse club outlets, 12 percent say they will combine errands/trips, 11 percent aim to stock up the pantry and 4 percent are determined to save by using more coupons.

Unlike in India, gas prices keep varying between gas stations in the US and Canada. People find the cheapest gas station in their area from sites like GasBuddy.

Car Pooling

Carpooling is one way to save on your petrol bill but I feel we are not that open to carpooling in India. Few sites are out there for carpooling, haven’t seen any of them rocking. I carpool during weekends with friends but can’t see that happening for my work.

Public Transportation

Except for Mumbai, I am not sure in which city in Bangalore public transportation is good. Bangalore has lovely Volvo buses. I am looking forward to using Metro in Bangalore.

In India, luckily, we have small shops (“kirana” shops as we call in Karnataka) all around the house. We usually walk up to these shops, except for the monthly groceries.

When the price rises, I hear people whining about it but later just forget about it. Their travelling habits rarely change.