![]() Gasoline costs jumped 40% year-over-year that month. In January, the cost of living increased 7.5%, Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed. Keep in mind 2020 numbers don’t capture the impact of months of red-hot inflation in 20. Transportation costs have ranged between roughly 19% and 15%, with 2020 transportation costs making up 16% of household expenditures.įood, the longtime third-biggest expense, was 11.9% of the household budget in 2020, the data noted. Housing is the biggest piece, accounting for roughly one-third of expenditures, from 1997 to 2020, the data showed. Transportation costs have been the second biggest part of household expenses for a long time, according to Department of Agriculture data. He recently waited in line for more than half an hour for relatively cheap gas at Costco. It feels like we’re being robbed,’ said San Diego resident Moises Godoy. But if current driving patterns hold amid higher gas prices and more people commuting to offices, the result will be more people paying more money on gas, Pishue said. What happens in the future remains to be seen, he noted. “If it’s had an effect, it’s had a relatively small effect on driving,” Pishue said. Nationally, vehicle trips were up 20% last week compared to a January-February 2020 baseline, according to Pishue. So far, higher gas prices aren’t translating into fewer car trips, said Bob Pishue, transportation analyst at INRIX, a traffic and mobility data analytics company. Drivers haven’t started limiting car trips - yetįrom here, the question becomes how much drivers’ behavior will change, how long it will last and how much deeper consumers will have to dig into their wallet. “When gas price rises, consumers get more pessimistic about the overall economy,” said Binder, who’s studied the interplay being Gallup polling data and retail gas prices. But the gas price numbers that people see and pay regularly carry psychological weight, said Haverford College economics professor Carola Binder. When they surpass $5, drivers increasingly follow through on those measures, a AAA spokesman said.Ĭonsumer purchasing power and fuel efficient vehicles may take a little sting out of sticker price shocks, some say. When gas prices hit the $4 mark, drivers increasingly think about fuel-saving tactics such as reducing their travel, grouping chores and carpooling. One day earlier, prices beat the all-time record of $4.11, set in July 2008. On Thursday, AAA said the national average for a gallon of gas was $4.29. ![]() The increased prices are happening at a time when decades-high inflation rates have been sticking around - and when more employers want their workers commuting so they can be physically back in the office. Godoy had to wait in line for 35 minutes because so many other drivers had the same idea on where to get the best (relative) bang for their buck. That was enough to get him over to the discount store CostcoĪnd its cheaper gas prices, where he paid the $130. Actually, Godoy first paid $12 to eke out two gallons at a nearby gas station. That’s what he paid Tuesday to fill up his Chevy The carpool for his son’s basketball practice started before the steep price jumps as a nod to time management, but Reyes said the shared rides are more important than ever now.įor Moises Godoy, an English teacher in the suburbs of San Diego, Calif., the scary number is around $130. When his friend brought up the carpool idea to try saving some bucks, Reyes, 51, was an easy sell. Over the weekend, he started carpooling with a buddy to get to their longtime Saturday morning football game in Manhattan. He’s already researching electric vehicles. The lease on Reyes’ SUV is up at the end of 2023. “I felt like ‘Oh wow,” said the part-time Amazonĭriver with his own blog,. That’s what he paid Monday to gas up his Kia Sorrento. ‘If it’s more than this, what are we going to do?’ It cost Tracy James $57 to fill up her Nissan Altima from a quarter-full tank.įor Teaneck, N.J.
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