'I travel less': Fall River, Taunton area drivers wary of higher gas prices
SOMERSET — The average price of gasoline has risen nearly a $1.35 per gallon in Massachusetts over the past year and is at its highest level since 2014.
And local drivers are not shrugging it off.
“I travel less and try to be conservative,” said Bob Morelli of Somerset.
Morelli had stopped off at the Sunoco gas station on County Street, not to gas up his Subaru Legacy sedan, but instead to buy something in its convenience store.
“I just put gas in the car last night at the Mobil station in Taunton on Route 44,” he said.
Morelli said he paid $3.19 a gallon at the Taunton Mobil station. The price for a gallon of regular-grade gasoline at the Somerset Sunoco on Friday, Nov. 19 was $3.35.
That same day, AAA said both the national and Massachusetts average price of a gallon of gas was $3.41.
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A month ago the average price of gas in Massachusetts was $3.29 a gallon. A year ago, when the coronavirus pandemic was taking a heavier toll on the general population, the average price in the state was $2.07 a gallon.
Bristol County, as of last week, had the lowest gas prices of any county in the Bay State with an average price of $3.32 per gallon.
Morelli says he drives to work in Providence but has become increasingly conscientious about gas prices — to the extent that he sometimes tries to coordinate buying cheaper gas with grocery shopping in a nearby supermarket.
In Fall River on Friday, Nov 19 three gas stations on Broadway were selling regular-grade gas for $3.19 a gallon. A fourth station, AL Prime, had a price tag of $3.17 per gallon of regular grade.
Boston-based fuel-price tech company GasBuddy listed AL Prime as having the lowest price of regular-grade gas in the city on Friday,
Nov 19.
Further north at Riverside Gas & Diesel, located at the corner of North Main Street and President Avenue, Jim Dean of Fall River was at a gas pump filling the tank of his wife’s 2009 Saturn SUV.
“I think it’s outrageous,” the house painter said.
Dean said he and his wife haven’t been driving to Taunton to visit friends and family as often as they used to. He also said he stopped driving his 2003 Silverado pickup truck two months ago because of the rise in gas prices.
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In addition to higher prices at the pumps, he says rising inflation — which registered 6.2 percent in October — is a stark reminder that it pays to be frugal during these times.
Dean thinks President Biden made a mistake his first day in office when he revoked a cross-border presidential permit to prevent implementation of the Keystone XL Pipeline Project — which would have transported tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to fuel refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
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President Biden sent a letter last week to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission asking it to investigate any possible “anti-consumer” conduct by oil and gas companies that has resulted in higher gasoline prices.
Charles Winokoor may be reached at cwinokoor@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism and subscribe to The Herald News today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River, Taunton drivers adjust habits as gas prices rise
