High gas prices help push people toward other transportation

High gas prices help push people toward other transportation

April 21, 2005

By TEARSA SMITH
6 News Anchor/Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- High gas prices and vehicle emissions are two reasons that some people have hung up their keys and found other ways to get around town.

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam is urging Knoxvillians this week to hit their bikes to help improve air quality and save a little cash.

But not everyone biking Thursday says they're saving money. "I'd love to say yes but probably I get so hungry after I go on a big bike ride, I eat enough food to make up for what I would've spent in gas," Ray Pais says. "But maybe I'm saving on medical bills."

Knox Area Transit road supervisor Cormac Mohan says others are jumping on the clean air band wagon.

"One day we had the ozone alert. We had a lot of people getting on the buses for free so we started to see an increase in ridership. I sometimes used to use the bus too, when I came to work in the mornings with the high price of gas."

Bus drivers say they're seeing people ditch their cars in favor or much cheaper bus tickets. "I couldn't afford it," Matthew Lashinsky says. "I was spending about $400 a month just to keep the car, versus now, I'm spending about $45 to $50."

"It's a little bit of a hassle but it's worth it," Lashinsky says. "I value a little bit more dollar in my pocket at the end of the day, you know."

Not everyone can walk away from the pump, though. "It's the convenience of it," Missy Corcoran says, "to be able to get in your car and go. If I had a 9:00 to 5:00 job where you're in your office all day and basically coming to work and going home, that might be all right."

If you're looking at alternative transportation and want to save even more money, all KAT transportation is free on ozone alert days.

If you're determined to stay in your car, analysts say sometime this summer, gas prices are expected to drop by about 25 cents.