That’s it. A poll of sorts. I’m curious what people pay per gallon now compared to what they paid when they started driving.
I started driving in 1995 (I got my license in 1997). I remember paying about 86-89 cents a gallon at the get-go. Now I’m paying about $1.96 give or take. That’s a difference of $1.10, and over a 100% increase in less than 10 years.
I started driving in '96 and was paying between $.98 - $1.02 a gallon (less than ten bucks to fill the tank!). Now I’m paying $2.35 and it cost me $33 yesterday for a fill-up of regular 
As I’m sure you know, gasoline is a commodity whose price is highly volatile so there’s not a steady continuum. While the OP remembers prices of 86-89¢ in 1995, in 1983 the average price per gallon was $1.28 in 1983 dollars. That’s ~$2.36 in 2003 dollars.
That being said, I remember gasoline first hitting $1 a gallon in the late '70s. When I started driving in 1967, pre-embargo, gasoline was, IIRC, ~18¢ a gallon. Four or five deposit soda bottles (long since gone from Texas) had us up and running for the evening.
I got my license in 1971 – gas was, IIRC, $.27/gallon
I started driving in 1981. Gas was about $1.36 a gallon (for leaded, no less). Now, I pay $1.99 a gallon. That’s a pretty big jump, but consider this: in 1981, minimum wage was $3.25 an hour (in the state of Maryland), so after working an hour, you could afford about 2 and a half gallons of gas. Now, minimum wage here is $5.35 an hour, so after working an hour, you can afford closer to 3 gallons of gas. So, as terrible as it seems, it’s not really worse than when I started driving. Oh, yeah, plus in those days I drove a big ol’ '72 Ford Torino, which got about 11 miles to the gallon, and now I drive a mini van that gets about 21 miles to the gallon. So it’s really a lot better. I have to keep reminding myself of that.
I got my license in '99 and for a short time the gas prices were about a dollar a gallon. So they’ve doubled in five years.
Yup. When I was a senior in high school (1970), I remember when gas started going up … from .29/gallon. It was shocking when it first went over .30/gallon.
I got my license in 1993. I seem to recall gas prices being $1.11 in the non-tourist months, and $1.21 during the summer tourist season. frickin’ tourists…Boy, can’t wait for Memorial day, you bet. Anyway, today the average gas price for regular unleaded is about $2.05. It’ll be higher tomorrow.
I, too, remember the gas wars of the '70’s.
Gas was around $.25 a gallon.
Today, gas at my local gas station is $2.20/gallon.
:mad:
I got my license in 1993 gas was at $.89 a gallon, when I was a senior in high school ( 1995 ) I worked at a gas station and remember people getting pissed at me ( like I had any control over the costs ) when gas hit $1.25 a gallon.
Just today we hit 2.00 a gallon here in town.
I started driving in July of 1979. My first purchase of gas was $.94. Today it is between $1.89 and $2.09 depending on where you stop.
That should read - When I got …
I got my license in Dec. of '98. My first tank of gas cost me $1.05. It did drop to about .98 the following summer. I just paid $1.98 this morning. Last week, I paid $2.05 at the same gas station.
Holy cow, only a dollar for an entire tank of gas?
I got my license in 1954; IIRC, gas was around 21 cents per gallon. I’ve seen gas as low as 17 cents per gallon during price wars.
‘54? Damn, LouisB you are like, um, ancient, ya’ know? 
I didn’t get my license until much later than that, in 1958. Same range of gas prices, 17 cents during price wars or at off-brand stations, with the norm being in the low 20’s.
My uncle worked in the oil production business, and I remember him once saying that the price of crude oil was $3 per barrel.
Well, I’m glad norinew is here to remind me, because I also started driving in 1981, I had couldn’t remember what gas cost back then. I do remember sometimes chipping in a buck each when going out with friends who drove a lot (and whose parents made them fill the tank for the privilege of driving).
I’m paying just over $2.00 in suburban Baltimore; it’s about 2.11 or 2.13 (depending on where you go) for the mid-grade stuff, which is what I’ve always used in my Saturn (sheep-like explantion: because the owner’s manual says to), but I recently started putting the low-grade in, since it’s cheaper. I get pretty good mileage, but I’ve stopped using the A/C, because it uses up the gas so much quicker.
Holy cow, man, I guess it’s from living in Hawaii as a teenager, but when I started driving in 1988, basic unleaded was about $1.70 a gallon. Now in the Bay Area, it’s up to $2.30 at the Costco. Color me untraumatized 
I rode motorcycles long before I was old enough for a license. In the desert, or on rural roads in the 1970s the cops generally didn’t hassle you if you were riding okay.
Anyway, I used to carry 50 cents in my toolbox in case I needed to buy a gallon of petrol. Regular was $0.499/gal. By the time I was driving a car and had a license, it was up to $0.659/gal.
When I first began driving, I remember paying 89 cents for gas. This was in 1999. I filled up yesterday at $1.89/gallon.