I was thinking along the same lines - what changes in society have occurred since then that would make any one person need to expend this much fuel to get from

I was thinking along the same lines - what changes in society have occurred since then that would make any one person need to expend this much fuel to get from point a to point b marginally quicker? You'd think with advancements in telecommunications - the internet, etc - there'd be even less reason to need to be physically present in a place.