Gasoline prices may keep more people at home this weekend

By Rolf Boone | The Olympian • Published July 03, 2008

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For the first time this decade, fewer people are expected to travel during the July 4 weekend compared with the previous year's holiday, according to AAA data.

Gasoline prices that remain near record highs are to blame, AAA says. It estimates that about 40 million people nationally will travel 50 miles or more from home over the three-day weekend, down 1.3 percent from the four-day holiday weekend last year.

It is the first time this decade in which year-over-year travel volumes have dropped on Memorial Day and are expected to drop over the July 4 weekend, AAA spokeswoman Janet Ray said. The culprit: gasoline prices that remain above $4 a gallon in many places across the country, including an average of $4.38 for regular unleaded in the Olympia area on Wednesday, according to AAA.

Ray said gasoline prices have moderated in the past week, rising slightly compared with recent daily price jumps of three to five cents per gallon.

The record average for the Olympia area this year is $4.397, set June 30, AAA data show.

Tawny Brockman of Olympia, who works at the East Bay Shell station downtown, is among those choosing not to travel this weekend.

Rather than go to Ocean Shores this weekend, she will stay home and save the $85 it costs her to fill her sport utility vehicle.

"I try not to drive," Brockman said. "It's home to work (and back) and that's it."

The East Bay Shell station convenience store was busy Wednesday.

Randy Ferlong of Chehalis, who stopped at the store, still plans to go to Seattle this weekend, but he wishes he could carpool because it costs him $125 to fill his truck.

It has become so expensive for Ferlong that he now drives halfway to work in his car and rides his bike the rest of the way, he said.

Drew Persoon of Olympia switched to driving his 1972 Volkswagen Bug because it costs him $35 to fill its gas tank, compared with $175 to fill his truck's larger tank with diesel fuel.

Mike Anderson of Rochester calls current gasoline prices "outrageous." As a result, he bought a motorcycle six months ago that costs only $12 to $15 to fill with fuel, he said.

Casey Pledger of Olympia got rid of his car, too.

He sold his 1989 Buick and now rides the bus, spending about $25 for a monthly bus pass compared with $65 every week on gasoline, he said.

Erik Dahl of Centralia, who is retired, watches his trips more carefully, he said.

He now travels to Olympia once a week, rather than twice a week. Dahl, who recalled paying 65 cents a gallon for fuel when he was 21, said he always imagined that prices would be this high. Oil is a finite resource, and world demand for fuel has increased, he said.

However, Tim Hamilton, a spokesman for independent gasoline dealers statewide, predicts that regular unleaded fuel prices will hover between $4.25 and $4.50 a gallon this summer because demand will wane in the face of higher prices. He noticed the change on a recent rush-hour trip to Seattle.

"Looks to me like you can see it (fewer cars) on the road," he said.

Brockman expects the price of regular unleaded to reach $5 by the end of the month, and Anderson said prices will hit $6 by the end of next year.

Rolf Boone covers business for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5403 or rboone@theolympian.com.