Somehow I don’t think this is going to come as startling news to most readers.
With the arrival of a three-day Independence Day holiday, most people will try to celebrate a little different kind of freedom – freedom from their cars.
A new report from AAA indicates a lot fewer people are planning to drive this holiday. It’s a repeat of a trend they noticed with the Memorial Day.
Gee, I wonder why? Yep, you guessed it. A lot of people are struggling to pay for gas, along with most other items, such as food, utilities and the mortgage and/or rent payments.
AAA says that in the five-county Philadelphia region, 519,000 residents indicate they plan to travel 50 miles or more from their homes this holiday weekend.
That’s down 1.6 percent from last year.
“This is the first time this decade AAA is projecting a decline in Fourth of July travel,” said Cathy Rossi, manager of public and government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic.
In the meantime, the price at the pump is holding steady – at least for now – at $4.15 a gallon. That’s the average price in the Philly region. Diesel is going for a steep $4.99 a gallon.
But there’s more bad news on the horizon. The price of crude continues to go up. This morning it’s trading at about $142 a barrel.
For some reason the increases in the price of crude seem to show up at the pump a lot faster than when the price is going down.
Stay tuned. I’ll probably be able to write this item again on Labor Day, when we hit the trifecta for declines in summer holiday travel.
With the arrival of a three-day Independence Day holiday, most people will try to celebrate a little different kind of freedom – freedom from their cars.
A new report from AAA indicates a lot fewer people are planning to drive this holiday. It’s a repeat of a trend they noticed with the Memorial Day.
Gee, I wonder why? Yep, you guessed it. A lot of people are struggling to pay for gas, along with most other items, such as food, utilities and the mortgage and/or rent payments.
AAA says that in the five-county Philadelphia region, 519,000 residents indicate they plan to travel 50 miles or more from their homes this holiday weekend.
That’s down 1.6 percent from last year.
“This is the first time this decade AAA is projecting a decline in Fourth of July travel,” said Cathy Rossi, manager of public and government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic.
In the meantime, the price at the pump is holding steady – at least for now – at $4.15 a gallon. That’s the average price in the Philly region. Diesel is going for a steep $4.99 a gallon.
But there’s more bad news on the horizon. The price of crude continues to go up. This morning it’s trading at about $142 a barrel.
For some reason the increases in the price of crude seem to show up at the pump a lot faster than when the price is going down.
Stay tuned. I’ll probably be able to write this item again on Labor Day, when we hit the trifecta for declines in summer holiday travel.
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