2008 Woodie Awards
Students ride bus, drive efficient cars to cope with gas prices
By Lauren Kendrick
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: News
Originally published: 4/17/08 at 7:08 PM CSTLast update: 4/17/08 at 8:06 PM CST
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Students may find the price of gas, at a high of $3.36, difficult to pay with juggling studies, work and family.
Even the cheapest gas in the city is $3.12.
That is equivalent to getting three items from a dollar menu at a fast-food restaurant, for the price one pays for only one gallon of gasoline.
Nowadays, students are riding the bus instead of driving because of the price of gas.
Andy Scheidt, public relations director at VIA Metropolitan Transit, said they have seen a huge increase in people riding the bus. "In the past six months, the number of people riding the bus has risen tremendously," he said.
VIA offers a semester pass that costs $25.
This allows students an unlimited number of rides throughout the semester indicated on the pass.
VIA buses operate seven days a week from 4 a.m. to 1 a.m., and there are 6,960 bus stops along 91 bus lines.
In total, VIA's service area is 1,226.07 square miles, which accounts for 98 percent of Bexar County.
"In the month of March, we saw a 4.63 percent increase in people riding the buses," Scheidt said.
"We saw the largest jump from January where ridership rose 15 percent," Scheidt said.
VIA is committed to helping clean the air in the San Antonio area, and the agency is constantly exploring new technologies for reducing emissions.
In February 2005, VIA switched to using ultra-low-sulfur diesel, or ULSD, in all of its diesel-powered buses.
This move came a year and a half before the fuel was mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency for use in all bus and truck fleets in the nation.
An alternative to riding the bus is getting a more fuel-efficient car such as the Scion.
Psychology sophomore Lauren Chervinskis drives a Scion TC, instead of the 4-Runner she used to drive. Even though the Scion gets much better mileage, she said she still has to pay a lot to drive around town.
"Gas prices are crazy!" she said. "I don't see why we are paying so much for it."
She said she carpools to school with her boyfriend because they have classes at the same time to reduce spending extra money on gas.
"Some of my friends have even moved close to the college because of the high gas prices," Chervinskis said.
With gas prices expected to rise even more for the summer months, Chervinskis wonders what she will do about the ever soaring price.
She works full-time at Dillard's while attending college and says it costs her $40 to fill up, but rarely fills up because "it's a lot of money."
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