Zeno Swijtink
05-13-2008, 11:12 PM
High Gas Prices Prompt Some to Take Drastic Measures
JOHN VALENTI - Newsday
https://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-ligas0514,0,3450161.story
One woman said her husband now comes home from work only on weekends, the rising price of gas making it all but impossible for him to afford a daily commute between his home in East Moriches and his job in Maspeth, Queens.
Some readers are riding bicycles to and from work.
Other readers have said that, in response to the current gas price crisis on Long Island, they are driving less -- and, walking more. Others have taken to riding the train.
But at least one reader, Fran Magadan, of Lindenhurst, said she can barely afford to work anymore -- the cost of filling her car with gas is too much.
"This is ridiculous," Magadan, who works for an air-freight company in Jamaica, wrote Monday.
"I drive 250 miles a week to get to work. It doesn't pay to go to work. I will apply for unemployment, because I can't afford to go to work anymore. Not everybody in this country makes [a six-figure salary]."
Which, it seems to most Long Island drivers these days, is the kind of salary you need to fill your car's gas tank.
After all, the average price for a gallon of regular once again -- and, this has become a daily occurrence -- hit a record in Nassau and Suffolk on Tuesday, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge.
Regular is now selling for $3.973 a gallon, AAA reports.
One year ago, it was $3.198.
A gallon of mid-grade is averaging $4.251 a gallon, compared to $3.422 one year ago, while premium is now $4.341 -- compared to $3.494 last year.
The most-shocking increase, though, remains the ever-soaring price for diesel -- which is now nearing an incredulous $5 a gallon. It is now $4.750, according to the AAA.
Last year it was $3.127.
The national average for a gallon of regular is now $3.732, up from $3.718 on Monday.
The price in New York is now the fourth-highest in the nation, having passed Hawaii. A gallon of regular is $3.983 in Alaska, followed by Connecticut ($3.958), California ($3.939) and New York ($3.910).
"Bottom line?" "Joann C." from Ronkonkoma wrote in an e-mail to Newsday. "This country is fleecing the people by allowing this to happen. The big wigs at the oil companies are the ones laughing. They get richer, we get poorer."
"I am middle class," wrote "Peggy," adding, "and I have to cut back my spending in stores in order to be able to pay gas and heating oil prices. "I have been putting the heating oil on my credit card for the past year, but now I will pay cash and just do without a lot of things," she wrote.
"Is it not enough we're struggling to make ends meet?" wrote "Dale" of Sound Beach. "Now skyrocketing fuel costs are causing food [prices] to soar. How are we going to survive? We need to be self-sufficient for our energy needs or the American citizens are going to drown!"
"I thought the U.S.A. was going to war with Iraq to get cheaper oil," "Daniel" of East Patchogue wrote.
But Susan Wood of Oakdale said: "We can blame the government, we can blame ourselves. It doesn't really matter at this point. What matters is doing something about it now.
"The gas prices are a hardship on everyone," she wrote. "With what it costs now to fill your tank we are taking the money from something else. People already struggle on Long Island to pay their mortgages, rent, LIPA [ Long Island Power Authority] and heating oil bills. Gas prices are just one more thing to add . . .
"We need the government to step in now and come up with a good, solid plan."
In the meantime, readers said, they continue to struggle for solutions -- doing anything they can to trim gas bills to get by.
But one reader, who did not give her name, said she and her husband have been forced into a radical solution -- since he can no longer afford the daily commute between his home in East Moriches and job in Maspeth.
"As it costs $75 to fill up his truck, coming home each night just would take too much money out of the budget," the reader wrote, adding: "He stays in an old camper van to save additional money. All the little extras that we would spend money on [are] no longer . . . Food expenses are ridiculous.
"[Four dollars] for a loaf of bread?" she wrote.
Where does it all end, Newsday readers want to know.
With the average cost for a gallon of regular soon to be more than $4 on Long Island, who knows?
JOHN VALENTI - Newsday
https://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-ligas0514,0,3450161.story
One woman said her husband now comes home from work only on weekends, the rising price of gas making it all but impossible for him to afford a daily commute between his home in East Moriches and his job in Maspeth, Queens.
Some readers are riding bicycles to and from work.
Other readers have said that, in response to the current gas price crisis on Long Island, they are driving less -- and, walking more. Others have taken to riding the train.
But at least one reader, Fran Magadan, of Lindenhurst, said she can barely afford to work anymore -- the cost of filling her car with gas is too much.
"This is ridiculous," Magadan, who works for an air-freight company in Jamaica, wrote Monday.
"I drive 250 miles a week to get to work. It doesn't pay to go to work. I will apply for unemployment, because I can't afford to go to work anymore. Not everybody in this country makes [a six-figure salary]."
Which, it seems to most Long Island drivers these days, is the kind of salary you need to fill your car's gas tank.
After all, the average price for a gallon of regular once again -- and, this has become a daily occurrence -- hit a record in Nassau and Suffolk on Tuesday, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge.
Regular is now selling for $3.973 a gallon, AAA reports.
One year ago, it was $3.198.
A gallon of mid-grade is averaging $4.251 a gallon, compared to $3.422 one year ago, while premium is now $4.341 -- compared to $3.494 last year.
The most-shocking increase, though, remains the ever-soaring price for diesel -- which is now nearing an incredulous $5 a gallon. It is now $4.750, according to the AAA.
Last year it was $3.127.
The national average for a gallon of regular is now $3.732, up from $3.718 on Monday.
The price in New York is now the fourth-highest in the nation, having passed Hawaii. A gallon of regular is $3.983 in Alaska, followed by Connecticut ($3.958), California ($3.939) and New York ($3.910).
"Bottom line?" "Joann C." from Ronkonkoma wrote in an e-mail to Newsday. "This country is fleecing the people by allowing this to happen. The big wigs at the oil companies are the ones laughing. They get richer, we get poorer."
"I am middle class," wrote "Peggy," adding, "and I have to cut back my spending in stores in order to be able to pay gas and heating oil prices. "I have been putting the heating oil on my credit card for the past year, but now I will pay cash and just do without a lot of things," she wrote.
"Is it not enough we're struggling to make ends meet?" wrote "Dale" of Sound Beach. "Now skyrocketing fuel costs are causing food [prices] to soar. How are we going to survive? We need to be self-sufficient for our energy needs or the American citizens are going to drown!"
"I thought the U.S.A. was going to war with Iraq to get cheaper oil," "Daniel" of East Patchogue wrote.
But Susan Wood of Oakdale said: "We can blame the government, we can blame ourselves. It doesn't really matter at this point. What matters is doing something about it now.
"The gas prices are a hardship on everyone," she wrote. "With what it costs now to fill your tank we are taking the money from something else. People already struggle on Long Island to pay their mortgages, rent, LIPA [ Long Island Power Authority] and heating oil bills. Gas prices are just one more thing to add . . .
"We need the government to step in now and come up with a good, solid plan."
In the meantime, readers said, they continue to struggle for solutions -- doing anything they can to trim gas bills to get by.
But one reader, who did not give her name, said she and her husband have been forced into a radical solution -- since he can no longer afford the daily commute between his home in East Moriches and job in Maspeth.
"As it costs $75 to fill up his truck, coming home each night just would take too much money out of the budget," the reader wrote, adding: "He stays in an old camper van to save additional money. All the little extras that we would spend money on [are] no longer . . . Food expenses are ridiculous.
"[Four dollars] for a loaf of bread?" she wrote.
Where does it all end, Newsday readers want to know.
With the average cost for a gallon of regular soon to be more than $4 on Long Island, who knows?