Saving Fuel Costs

With the continuous increase in fuel prices ( Bangalore has reached 67Rs/ lt!) life is becoming more and more difficult to manage. It pinches that the 500Rs or the 1000 Rs note suddenly runs out faster than what it had just a few weeks ago.

If i recall around 6 months back fuel prices in Bangalore used to 49Rs / Lt and it has had a whopping increase of 38% which if you translate to an annualized number is almost 76%!!

Fuel prices are not going to come down, they are heading northwards with all of the western world coming out of the recession led by the United States.

But the pinch on peoples pockets in India seems to be getting harder and harder. While the prices of fuel are increasing, the government is not doing anything to reduce the amount of taxes that they are collecting from the people- leading to even higher fuel prices.

If we were to convert this into US $, 1 lt of fuel in India costs 1.48USD... which is so much higher than the 1.2$ / gallon in the US.

The issue is the higher taxes in India. The government seems to be using the taxes to further subsidize the prices of diesel in the economy.

To refresh your memory, here is an older post on how to save fuel for your motor vehicle, by going back to the basics.
20% discount on Fuel

But now even more drastic measures would need to be taken to help reduce fuel consumption for the economy as well as for your pockets.

So what am i thinking

1. Car pooling- This will work especially if you have some fixed timings . This makes huge sense for people.
2. Use the public transport system- buses, metros ( Bangalore metro will take a couple of years to come through, though the first phase should go live in a couple of weeks time)
3. Move to a lower or a more fuel efficient vehicle- like a Tata Nano or motor cycles.
4. Cycle to work-- works well with my new year resolution on health ( I actually have heard of someone in my building who cycles to work everyday).
5. Work from home for a couple of days a week-- cut the cost of petrol by that much if your company allows that flexibility.
6. Move to a closer office.

I am not sure what works for you- but point no 5 and 6 looks to be feasible for my kind of work and company.

Go ahead- evaluate what works before petrol starts buring a bigger hole in your pocket!!


Some earlier posts
fuel price hike part 2 
20% discount on fuel


Happy investing!

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