Americans driving less as gas is costing more

By RICH SHOPES
Media General News Service
Published: May 28, 2008

As gas prices reach new highs, Americans are driving fewer miles.

A study by the U.S. Department of Transportation shows the sharpest decline ever for March. Compared with the same month a year ago, U.S. motorists drove 11 billion fewer miles.

That 4.3 percent decline was the steepest year-to-year drop for any month since the agency started reporting on estimated travel in 1942.

The data show that driving behavior is a function of price, said AAA’s Gregg Laskoski. “The longer we see rising gas prices, the more likely we will see Americans trying to reduce their discretionary travels.”

The DOT’s Federal Highway Administration, which based its study on traffic counts at 4,000 locations across the country, said Americans started curbing their appetite for driving in November and that Floridians have been chalking up fewer miles since September.

The rate of decline has been steeper in Florida than nationally. Except for one month, December, Florida motorists cut their mileage at a greater rate than drivers nationally.

Laskoski said one reason might be that seniors on fixed incomes are staying home or making fewer long drives to save gas.

Another might be that motorists of all stripes are curbing weekend trips, consolidating their errands and, in general, striving to spend less time in the car and at the pump, he said.

“We’ve got a winning baseball team in Tampa Bay, and they have the best record in baseball, … but they’re still not filling that stadium. I can’t help but think that [the price of gas] is part of this reason,” he said.

High gas prices also are affecting commutes, not just weekend travel. Stephen Reich, an analyst at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida, said car-pooling and public transit numbers are up.

Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, the county’s bus agency, says its ridership is 7.2 percent higher from October through March, the first six months of HART’s fiscal year.
Whether commuters continue to economize is anyone’s guess, Reich said. Although some households try to reign in spending and make permanent the changes in their travel routines, others will hop back into the car “after the initial sticker shock wears off,” he said. “It’s human nature.”

At $4 a gallon, the average American household will spend about $4,000 a year in gas getting to and from work, he said. “That’s just the gas. That doesn’t include the insurance.”

Marie Spencer of South Tampa drives a four-cylinder Honda CRV to her job as a facilities clerk at Verizon. The 60-year-old said she’ll start riding the bus to downtown when gas hits $5 a gallon.

In some ways, she’s already making changes, albeit small ones. “I try to consolidate my errands. If I get off at work and need something at the grocery store, I stop at Publix on my way home instead of putting off and going out later.”

Robert Batte, 50, of Oldsmar, said his family is coping by curbing long trips, especially in their motor home, and taking Batte’s car, a Mercedes, when the two are traveling together. His wife’s Hummer stays in the garage.

In April, the two spent $1,000 taking the family RV to Mississippi and back to visit the grandkids, but as for future trips, Batte will have to weigh the costs first.
He was pondering a long weekend in Key West, but now, “We’re not sure we’ll do that.”

— Rich Shopes is a staff writer for The Tampa Tribune