As gas prices rapidly rise across the D.C. region and country, some drivers are changing their plans, opting to take public transportation and avoid nonessential long drives.
According to AAA, average gas prices in D.C. this week hit the $4 threshold for the first time since August 2022. Prices have increased 91 cents since the U.S. and Israel-Iran war began on Feb. 28.
The national average per one gallon of regular gas reached $3.91 on Friday, AAA said.
A line formed at one Shell station along Rockville Pike on Friday afternoon. The price per gallon was listed as $3.94. Nearby stations had higher prices.
Wil Del Pilar, for one, said he has started taking Metro almost daily and is avoiding long trips.
“If I’m driving less, I’m not going out,” Del Pilar said. “I’m not going to drive to a restaurant in Frederick that maybe I wanted to go to, or take these longer trips and spend money on things like that.”
Manreet Cheema has been traveling for work and said she hadn’t felt the impact of the rise in gas prices until Friday. It typically costs her between $40 and $45 to fill up, but most recently it was nearly $60.
“It’s gone up quite a bit,” Cheema said. “For that reason, I was just thinking that I should probably manage and figure out how to recuperate.”
The rise in gas prices comes as the U.S. and Israel wage war with Iran. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, previously told WTOP the surge is the consequence of “the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.”
Candice Marcus said she can’t drive less, but she’s considering dining out less frequently.
“It wasn’t that long ago that it was like this, so I’m kind of feeling like we’re back at that time again,” Marcus said.
Crystal, meanwhile, said she fills her car with high octane gas, which is more costly, and “it actually seems like I’m filling up a little bit more, so that’s unfortunate.”
“You just have to buy it,” she said. “Just like you’ve got to buy food. Buy a little less food, but you need the gas to get around.”
One driver who asked not to be named called the surge in prices “pretty insane,” and is considering plans to carpool with a friend.
But Moji, who said he was born in Iran but has lived in the U.S. for decades, has a different perspective.
“For me to be inconvenienced to pay, obviously, a little more, as we’re all paying, to hopefully get rid of an evil, as an Iranian, I’m forever grateful for it,” he said. “I understand we’re kind of isolated in America from a lot of things. No one wants to pay more for gas prices. But I think it is a small price to pay for trying to help people that desperately need someone’s help.”
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