UW-Eau Claire senior, Kristen Hinden, fills her car with gas at Holiday, 539 Water St., in preparation for her drive home after finals. Gas prices reached $2.39 in Eau Claire, Monday.
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Increasing gas prices take toll on area commuting workers
By Mark Schaaf
schaafmw@uwec.edu
Middle school teacher Ryan Krall spends more than an hour a day driving back and forth between Eau Claire and Bloomer. In an average week, he estimates he goes through about a tank and a half of gas. For about the past three years, he watched the cost of that drive increase. With other modes of transportation out of the question, his only choice is to absorb the hit on his pocketbook.
“When it was real bad that was probably 45 to 50 dollars a week,” he said. “I couldn’t walk (to school). There was no other way to do it.”
Since early 2004, the cost of gas has skyrocketed in Eau Claire. The price of a gallon of gas hit $3.15 in the Chippewa Valley over the summer before falling throughout the rest of the year, and it is directly impacting the bank accounts of people who can afford it the least.
The city’s ridership of its buses has increased, and workers are exploring other ways of coping with high gasoline prices. With temperatures in the single digits through much of December, residents are impacted in more ways than just transportation.
Commuters hit the hardest
Just five years ago, there was a lot of hype about prices over $2 per gallon. Now, after a summer of gas prices over $3, the current price of $2.39 seen in Eau Claire is mild, Krall said.
A variety of factors accounted for the increase in fuel prices. According to the federal Energy Information Administration, the demand for gas has never been higher, as populous countries such as India and China become more industrialized.
Prices can change rapidly due to world events such as the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated the crude oil market, initially taking out more than 25 percent of the U.S. crude oil production, according to the EIA.
Fuel costs also vary by region. Areas further away from the Gulf Coast, where much of the U.S. oil is refined, tend to have higher prices because of shipping costs.
No one may have been hit harder by the rising cost of gas than commuters. According to a 2004 University of Wisconsin-Extension study, 89 percent of all Wisconsin workers drive to their places of employment. Of those, 88 percent drive alone and about 11 percent carpool.
When gas prices began climbing in early 2004, few altered behaviors or travel habits, said Matt Krues, GIS state specialist for UW-Extension. That has changed, he said.
Wisconsin Department of Transportation spokeswoman Peg Schmidt said there has been a slight decrease in the number of travelers on the roads, with more people opting to carpool or take public transportation.