Thursday, September 11, 2008

Why the Matiz Rules Korean Roadways

I filled my car up at the gas station this evening, and this time I paid a little more attention to the amount of gas that the attendant pumped in. Here's the rundown: I got about 28 liters of gas for about 50,000 won. To translate that into terms we hear about a million times a day on the news (I know because I still listen religiously to NPR), that's about 7.5 gallons of gas for about $50, which works out to $6.66 per gallon. That's why there are small cars, public transportation, and about a million taxis here. Take heart, America, it is possible to function as a society when gas prices are almost double what they are now.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yikes! I'm really glad now that I'm only paying about $3.68 a gallon. Do you have to let the workers at the gas station pump or can you get in a "self-serve" line? I know even in NJ it's state law that you cannot pump.

Anonymous said...

There is no legal regulation about self-service or serviced-pumping, but most of Korean gas stations are full-service stations.

Anonymous said...

well, considering that the average income of the U.S. is about twice that of KOrea, the gas prices is in fact about 4 times the price in the States.

Pretty amazing.