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Motorists Consider Hybrid Vehicles, Cancel Vacation Plans October 2004For a Birmingham man, it means considering buying a hybrid car. For a Westland family, it means canceled vacation plans. And for a businessman in Romulus, it means a potential change of careers.The soaring price of gasoline is forcing Metro Detroit residents to change their habits, alter their plans and find new ways of doing the things theyve always done. Since January, the average price of a gallon of gas has risen about 50 cents, or an extra $312 a year for someone who drives 12,000 miles per year in a car that gets 20 miles per gallon. With no end in sight to the increases, Metro Detroit residents are making tough decisions. Gas prices have forced Reasther Everett and her husband to put off a Thanksgiving trip they were planning to North Carolina. The Westland family also has cut back on visits to friends and shopping trips they try to get all their errands done the same day so they dont have to make another trip and burn more gas. It costs Everett $25 to $30 to fill an empty tank in her Dodge Stratus. With her husbands Jeep Cherokee, a tank can cost $40 or more. Its hard on the budget because we cant have a budget when we dont know what the gas is going to be next week, said Everett, 69. We had to cut back on some things because you have to use your car. A car without gas is no good. The latest AAA statistics show Michigan residents are paying an average of $2.04 per gallon. Pump-watching Web sites show prices ranging from $1.89 to more than $2.19 in some areas. The fact that gas prices have increased hasnt been lost on the five-child Shrader family, either. The Garden City family owns two minivans. Dawn Shrader said her children are walking to school and their daughter, who is a freshman at Eastern Michigan University, will not be able to visit often because of the prices. The Shraders, who are involved in a local soccer program, have been limiting some of their activity to areas near their home. It costs nearly $40 to fill up each minivan. Its ridiculous we dont do any of the weekend trips that we might do otherwise, Shrader said. We havent done any family trips. My husbands family lives in Houston, and wed like to get there to see them in the spring, but that depends on gas prices, too. Marlean Leach, who logs 70 miles daily for her work as an electrician for the Taylor School District, has become practiced in the art of squeezing miles from a tank of gas. On the highway, she sticks to 55 mph, even on lengthy trips like a recent jaunt to Columbus, Ohio. The windows of her diesel Ford F-250 are always up, making the truck more aerodynamic, she said, and more fuel-efficient. At stoplights, she eases the gas pedal down instead of slamming it to the floor like some people do when the light changes. The slow acceleration is another way she tries to save gas. But Leach hadnt planned on paying these prices for this long, and she has added a new trick. I commute in from Milan, where there isnt a lot of shopping, Leach said. Now, if I need to go to Sams Club or Wal-Mart, I do it on my lunch hour so theres no need to make another trip from home. Detroit Lions running back Paul Smith splits his year between homes in Troy and his native El Paso, Texas. Rising gas prices have caused him and his wife to alter their habits he drives a Hummer and she has a Nissan Maxima. Theyre using the Maxima a lot more lately. We probably get 25 miles a gallon or better with it, he said while filling the Hummer at a station in Birmingham. I love this car though, he said, admiring the Hummer. I dont think I get but 11 miles to a gallon. But Im lucky I have a pretty good job. If commuters are feeling the pinch a little, businesses that rely on gasoline feel it a lot more. Joe Serra runs a limousine service in Romulus. These days, his bottom line at Starlight Entertainment and Limousine has become worrisome. Gas prices are killing us, he said. A year ago, Serra paid about $1,200 a month in gasoline for his fleet of limousines of all shapes and sizes. This year, he figures the monthly cost is close to $2,000. Things are dire enough, he said, that he has considered getting out of the business altogether. Anyone looking for a light at the end of the price tunnel needs to understand that costs are affected by many factors, said John Griffin, executive director of the Associated Petroleum Industries of Michigan. On Wednesday, crude oil for November delivery settled at $54.92 per barrel, up $1.63, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The factors determining crude oil prices these days range from production capacity in Iraq to political uncertainty in Venezuela. All of that has a big impact on people like Tahani Kasham, 22, of Ann Arbor. She is already thinking of a more fuel-efficient car than the 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4 she uses. She commutes 116 miles, round-trip, to her Birmingham mortgage company job. Im not taking any more long road trips, and Im slowing down, said Kasham, as the pump stopped near $40 for her fill-up. Carolynn Gleich of Birmingham pulled in to a Birmingham station with a Ford Explorer but didnt stay long. I dont even know what kind of mileage I get, just it seems I spend a lot of time filling it up, said Gleich, who stopped the pump at $10. I know the prices are high here, but I have a son Im trying to get to a shopping center and just putting in the minimum to get me there and home. Gleich said her husband drives a more economical car, and when possible, her family is taking that vehicle and parking the Explorer. But with two kids a family needs something like this, she said. A small car just doesnt make it. Local auto dealers said Metro Detroit residents also are not shying away from SUVs and other vehicles generally regarded as gas guzzlers. But Jon Whitford, general manager at Alan Ford of Bloomfield Hills, said inquiries about hybrid cars powered by both gasoline and batteries and touted as being more fuel-efficient are increasing. Warren Summers, 61, of Birmingham is one of those giving it consideration. Something has to be done, said Summers, as he begrudgingly fueled his Dodge Caravan on Wednesday. I can get up to 26 miles to a gallon on a trip, but the prices arent going down. We arent driving anything but short trips. I think Im going to look into a fuel cell car, or some kind of hybrid. | ||
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