Hike in gas prices forces drivers to rethink habits

Okemos resident B.J. Rycus has been shutting his car off at drive-thrus, consolidating car trips and spending less time on the road, he said.

With Lansing-area gas prices approaching $4, Rycus said he is getting more pessimistic at the pump because of the amount of driving his work requires.

Gas companies will continue increasing prices until people make changes in the way they consume gas, he said.

AAA Michigan spokesperson Jim Rink said Sunday’s gas average in Lansing was $3.82 per gallon. Michigan’s average gas price was $3.83 per gallon, he said. The price of oil reached $126 per barrel Friday.

The highest prices are in the Upper Peninsula, while the lowest are in the metro Detroit area, Rink added.

Nathan Caoverley, a recent MSU political science and history graduate, said the rise in gas prices became is annoying.

“It’s hard to pay $50 to $60 for a full tank of gas,” he said. “It used to be $40 to $45 a year ago.”

But the price hike doesn’t make him drive any less, he said, for some, the high gas prices could require extra work.

“I’m going to have to get a second job if it gets any worse,” said Shelly Robinson, a Grand Ledge Public School teacher.

Future decreases are uncertain, Rink said. In the past few years they have dropped off at the end of May and might do so again this year.

MSU economics professor Charles Ballard said the increase in gas prices is caused almost exclusively by the increase in oil prices. He said the cost of oil is influenced by factors like political turmoil in the Middle East.

Ballard said that oil prices also depend heavily on what happens at United States’ refineries.

For example, a pipeline that ruptured in 2000 in Jackson caused the price of gas to jump 50 cents, he said. The price returned after the pipeline was fixed.

Some analysts believe summer prices will be moderated by an overall decrease in vacation driving, Ballard said.

“There’s a lot going with the world economy,” Rink said. “Growth in China is creating an unprecedented demand for oil and gas.”

Published on Monday, May 12, 2008