SAN FRANCISCO, Cal.-For Sam Funato, an urban commuter from San Francisco, the soaring gas prices have been biting hard on his wallet. Everyday, he said, the first thing he does in the morning is watch the news, and his anguish has been growing as the gasoline prices continue to creep toward $5 per gallon.
"It's crazy! Gas prices are way too high," said Funato who paid $4.25 per gallon on Friday at one of the city's Chevron stations on Howard Street. "I used to pay about a half of what I pay now, but right now it just seems too much."
Nationally, $4.50 per gallon is drivers' "breaking point," according to a survey of 4,000 drivers in ten U.S. metropolitan areas. The survey, conducted by IBM's Institute of Electronic Government, revealed that if gasoline prices continue to climb, approaching $5 per gallon, many drivers will seek alternatives to driving.
Analysis of commuters' responses also indicated that a large percentage of daily commuters in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are seeking transportation alternatives via better public transit and other less expensive commuting solutions.
Data from the Energy Department and Highway Administration and other recent surveys suggests that American consumers are changing their habits and are driving less. Slowing down the gasoline demand helped to send the price of crude oil down to $127 per barrel from the new record $135 per barrel set last week on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Despite a downturn in the cost of crude oil—the raw material from which gasoline is made—gas prices rose to a record national average of $3.96 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA) and will soon pass the $4 threshold.
At the pump, the list of California cities with average gas prices over $4 per gallon just keeps getting longer. Gas prices continue to set records up and down the state of California, according to the May report of AAA which tracks fuel costs as a service to consumers.
"These prices are exactly where the Energy Department forecasted they would be for June," said Michael Geeser, spokesperson for AAA of Northern California in a statement. "The fact that we are already paying more than we anticipated for gas…signals a new era for consumers statewide."
And Also Congestion
Besides high gas prices, the inaugural IBM commuter pain survey asked motorists questions about traffic congestion, and commute related stress levels in order to determine which metropolitan area had the most "painful" experience.
Looking for new options to driving is occurring fastest in Atlanta, Dallas and Minneapolis, and slowest in San Francisco. Analysis of the survey results revealed that 25 percent of the drivers will reconsider driving if fuel prices near $4.00 per gallon (and 46 percent, if prices near $4.50).
The area that said they had the highest amount of negatively impacted work or school performance because of sluggish traffic was Los Angeles, with 27 percent of commuters. The "City of Angels" also reported the highest nationwide increased anger, 36 percent, and 50 percent of the commuters in Dallas, Los Angeles and Miami reported increased stress.
In Los Angeles, the highest percentage, 18 percent, reported less sleep, and 63 percent nationwide reported that traffic has gotten worse in the last three years. Drivers in the surveyed metropolitan areas suggested that if commuting time could be reduced they would spend more time with friends, family, would enjoy recreation, would exercise, sleep and work more.
About one third of the commuters reported that roadway traffic has been so bad within the last three years that at least once they turned around and went home. The figure is highest in Miami, 33 percent, and Los Angeles, 32 percent.
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