Results tagged “gasprices”

It's the unofficial start of the summer and the AAA projects that 1.5% more Americans will travel over 50 miles from home this weekend than they did last year. That translates to 32.4 million people on the roads While gas prices are not near last year's expensive prices, some drivers are wary of creeping prices. Gas prices have risen 27 cents/gallon this month (average: $2.36/gallon) and a cab driver, at a Manhattan gas station, told the AP, "Uh-oh. That's the first thing I say when I pull into this gas station each day. Right now it's not that bad, but it's a lot worse than two weeks ago." An energy analyst told the Christian Science Monitor that the prices will top out soon, "Prices usually peak after Memorial Day, perhaps sometime in June."

WCBS 880 spoke to oil analyst Peter Beutel who says that New Yorkers should expect a 50 cent increase in the price of a gallon of gas in the next 72 hours. And that's because Ike is about to hit Texas. And NY's prices aren't as bad as Chicago, which will get a 75 cent hike, and Houston, which faces a $2 increase. Beutel explained, "I'm looking at the wholesale prices that gasoline resellers or the people who sell us the gasoline are going to be paying for the gasoline that we're going to be getting. So this price increase has already occurred. It is a fact already, and it's just a matter now of working it's way through the distribution chain into our tanks."

While oil prices have hit a three-month low, gas prices in the NYC-area are still expensive as gas prices in other parts of the country dip below the $4 level. WCBS 2 tried to find out why, and the AAA New York's Robert Sinclair said, "We saw in the second quarter that Exxon Mobil made nearly $12 billion in profits, so certainly there's some profit built into this and even at the refinery level, the distributor level, they're making money and maybe the retailer is trying to break off a little bit for themselves as well." Other possible factors: The fact that NY drivers need their gas and the state's eight gas taxes (about 70 cents/gallon).

Since the cost of a barrel of oil jumped $11 on Friday, helping the stock market drop 400 points, gas stations in the area made sure to raise their prices, too. The Post reports that many stations were charging $4.50/gallon or more!

More troubles from the airline sector: United Airlines and Continental Airlines announced measures to cut costs through decreasing its workforces and total number of flights. This comes as other carriers have announced higher fares, less flights, and additional charges.

Gerritsen Beach posted this photograph of $4-and-over gasoline in Sheepshead Bay and asked, "Is this hell?" Well, for those drivers who could afford to fill up and head out of town this Memorial weekend, it might be heaven--the Daily News has two photos showing the contrast in traffic between this year's and last year's automobile rush on the Sunrise Highway.

New data supports what everyone's been thinking: Ridership for the subway--and almost every other mass transit option--is up versus last year. So far, subway ridership is up almost 5% for the first three months of 2008 versus same period last year, and bus ridership is up 1.1%.

The NY State Senate may have passed legislation eliminating the NY State gas tax between Memorial Day and Labor Day, but it's unlikely Assembly or Governor will support the plan.