At the gas stations that I have experienced, about half to three fourths have very short hoses that don’t reach the other side, and the other quarter has hoses that can easily reach either side. But traffic through the islands is in both directions, so the people can easily drive around the island and come in from the other side.
It seems like most American cars have gas fuel doors on the left (driver’s) side of the vehicle, but it is not standardized, and with imports it’s probably about a 60/40 split or so, so the right-handed pumps tend to be a bit less busy.
It is a bad system and I wish that the longer hoses would be more prevalent. Even with big signs directing traffic in one direction and telling people that they have hoses that will fit to both sides of the vehicle, people still don’t believe them…
