The Day When All Malaysian Rush to Gas Stations…

Today is an exciting day for me. I shall remembered it as the The Day When All Malaysian Rush to Gas Stations. When I say ALL, I mean ALL. It all began at ….

At 5.20pm:

BREAKING NEWS: Petrol will be RM2.70 a litre at midnight tonight.

The new price of premium leaded petrol (ULG 97) is RM2.70 per litre beginning midnight tonight, it was announced a moment ago. The price for ULG 92 petrol per litre went up by 74 sen to RM2.62. Diesel will go up by RM1 per litre to RM2.58. The 78 sen hike or 40 per cent increase for the ULG 97 petrol is still below the antiticpated RM4 per litre price projected earlier and among the cheapest in Asia. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at a news conference. (NSTP, June 4 2008 )

At 6.30pm (As I was walking to LRT Station)

Normally, this road is only this congested when it is raining. Now look at the sky. It’s sunny. Next look at the pathway. It’s dry. Overall, it was a good evening.

Still don’t believe it is a good sunny evening? Alright, can you see that the two ladies sitting and gossiping (I assumed) by the side of the road?? Alright now you believe it was a good evening, but why the heck the road is so congested? It was so bad that the cars are virtually not moving at all. Not even moving from bumper to bumper.

Somehow, my 6th sense (as if I have, ha ha), told me something was wrong. And it was confirmed when I saw the condition in KLCC’s parking:-

The parking was relatively empty compared to the normal day. A lot of empty parking slots indicates many people has left. But why?

From 6.45pm – 9.45pm

Between this period of time, I was in LRT then KTM before I reached the Gardens @ Midvalley after all the squeezing in the train. I was at the Gardens to have dinner with Juleen and Cheryl Leong at Sushi Zanmai. I will be blogging about this restaurant and the food soon. This shall be my first attempt to become a food critic, so stay tune. Anyway, over the dinner more than half of the topics we talked about has something to do with gasoline. So much to talk about that I am convinced, we can write a research thesis about it. The title for the thesis will be “In Depth Analysis and Impact of High Oil Price in Malaysia“. Ha ha ha…

The girls went for a short shopping right after dinner. And…

At 9.55pm , when we were driving back home,

We realized we chose the wrong route home. Imagine, this was the condition in Bangsar at 9.55pm on the weekday. Absolutely not normal, right? The traffic flow was so slow that instantly I felt so sleepy in the car. Imagine, so slow that even Mr. Tortoise would travel faster than our car. As we drove a little further, we realized that the congestion was caused by cars queuing up to get into the gas station:-

We just find it amusing to see the scenario again and again at different gas stations. I guess that’s what kept us calm and steady in the car despite the traffic condition. Nope, we are not part of them because Juleen had already filled up her tank before 5pm… hehe…

1. Bangsar again…

2. At Section 17…

3. Somewhere at Petaling Jaya

In total, our journey from Midvalley to Bandar Utama took us one and half hour which normally take us mere 20 minutes.

At the end of the day, I am happy because of I am part of this historical moment in Malaysia.

What about my view on the fuel price increase?

To be frank, my heart was crushed and it was like a nightmare came true to me when the government announced the fuel price increase. Forty one percent (41%) increase in fuel is too much to bear, really. I pump on average RM300 a month and now I have to fork out extra RM120 per month for the same amount of fuel. That is a lot of money guys! Anyway, I guess instead of being adamant over the issues, might as well I look at the issues through the kids’ eye, assuming everything will be okay:-

P/S: Now I am more inspired to write the Part II of Fuel Saving Tips…but I am very sleepy… yawn…ZzzZZzzzzz!

Fuel Saving Tips (Part I)

As I was crunching the newly introduced “Reese’s Peanut Butter Pieces” candy in the office, I was wondering whether this chocolate will be affordable in the future. Anyway, the chocolate candy that I was talking about was introduced by Mr. Kar Fu (not that I wanna feature him all the time, but so happened he bought this delicious chocolate candy):-

Apparently, this super – duper – delicious chocolate candy is manufactured in Pennsylvania, United States. And I was shocked!! I was astonished to find out United States, a developed country still producing such a simple consumer product. And then, I was wondering how much does it cost for them to ship it worldwide. Fuel is involved when you talk about production and shipping. Come on, please don’t tell me you only chew and swallow and you never wonder how your food came about. However, look at the graph below:-

The oil price has increased more that 80% year on year. It has been the most talked about topic around the globe lately. The chocolate candy has inspired me to start a post on how to save on your petrol cost. I shall write them in ….. errr….hmm… just two (2) series. The first shall comes from others and the second will come from me.

Anyway, I came across this advice some time ago. From the writing it does sound logical, but since I am not a petroleum engineer, I would not know whether this is the ultimate truth. But what the heck, I shall share with you guys, anyway.

Picture originally posted by TPorter2006

Tip 1: Only buy or fill up your car or motorcycle in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Since, all petrol kiosks have their storage tanks buried underground, the colder the ground the denser the fuel. When it gets warmer petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening, a liter pump into you car in not exactly a liter. It was claimed 1 degree rise in temperature makes a lot of different. And almost all petrol kiosk do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

Tip 2: When you are filling up your gas tank, do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to the fast mode. Normally, the trigger has three (3) stages; i.e. low, middle, and high. When you are pumping on low speed, you are essentially minimizing the vapors that are created. All hoses at the pump have vapor return, therefore if you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes into you tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank, so effectively you are getting less worth for your money.

Tip 3: And never pump gas when your car is completely out of gas. The reason is simple, the more fuel you have in your tank, the less air occupying its empty space. Petrol evaporates faster than you can imagine. Petroleum storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the petrol and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation.

Tip 4: If you notice a fuel truck is pumping into the storage tanks, do not fill up your gas tank at that station. There is likelihood that the petrol/ diesel is being stirred up as the fuel is being delivered and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles at the bottom. Dirt in your car engine will decrease you car’s efficiency.

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They sound logical, don’t they? However, I do not know how much money you’ll save by following the tips above. I did experiment on Tip 2, and I can assure you it takes so long for me to fill up my gas tank that I can see the next driver waiting in line was scolding me in %^&#$#@. I don’t know, you guys go figure out what it means by %^&#$#@.

Again, I am not suggesting the tips above are the ultimate truth but it does add on to existing fuel saving tips such as:-

1. Do not drive with under inflated tyres;

2. Drive smooth and steady;

3. Do not sudden brake too frequently;

4. Do not wind down your window as you are driving;

5. Send your car for service as scheduled;

Blah blah and the list go on…..

Stay tune for the final series on this topic. Feel like taking a break and have a kit kat…. Talk so much also useless! And goodnight!

Photo originally posted by troutfactory

Tips by: Ramesh Patel

Edited by: RuehYinn (Patel?)

** Click here for Fuel Saving Tips Part II