PRINTHitting empty at the pump
Rising gas prices change Columbians' ways
Olivia Kiespert
April 10, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
In December 2007, Andrew Lynch drove his gunmetal gray Chevy Silverado truck southbound on the lonesome highway. He was just a few miles south of Oklahoma City when the light flashed empty.
He pulled up to the nearest gas station — a two-pump stop nestled in the middle of nowhere. He poured $81 into his tank. It would cost even more today.
Lynch, a student at MU, continually pays for expensive gas here in Columbia. As of Wednesday, gas prices in Columbia idled at a hefty $3.19 per gallon. And it is predicted to hit $4 per gallon by this summer.
“I’d have to stop driving or get a new vehicle,” Lynch says of the prospect of gas prices reaching $4. “I would stop driving recreationally; I would go to and from work, and that’s it.”
This is a great example of exactly how Columbia residents will be affected by rising costs. Gas prices hit Columbia residents harder when they commute to and from work than for other driving, says MU professor of economics Ron Harstad.
Lynch says he spent significantly more on gas when he was living in the Bearfield neighborhood on the south side of Columbia. He says most of the cost was caused by his drives to his job at the Applebee’s located off East Broadway.
Harstad thinks the construction on the south side of town (around the Bearfield neighborhood where Lynch once lived) will start to slow down if gas prices keep rising at their current rate. The south side of town has become a large center of new hustle-and-bustle developments including a new Wal-Mart (built last year), various restaurants and businesses along Nifong, and new plans like an all-Catholic high school set to start building. But living on the south side of town means having a longer commute.
“It may well be that if gas prices stay high, they may do less construction on the edge,” Harstad says.
Joie Hendricks works for the Office of State Courts administrator in Jefferson City, and she must find a way to commute from her home in Columbia to work every day. She used to carpool with a group of women, but her work schedule has changed. Now, she wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and works 10-hour days to compensate for the money lost. She is expecting to spend $200 a month on gas, even though she drives a Saturn Ion 3 Sedan that gets 30 to 35 miles to the gallon.
The city has taken many steps to alleviate the fuel price burden on the backs of Columbia citizens. These plans include a set of interconnected bike paths, new walkways and plans for new bus stops. The city has also just added a new bus to its fleet.
But these plans aren’t meant to solve everyone’s problems, and residents might still have trouble catching a bus.
“The problem that a city like Columbia has is that we don’t have many dense areas,” Mayor Darwin Hindman says when talking about locations for bus stops. “While denser than many cities in Missouri, it’s hard to get stops within walking distance.”
Mayor Hindman also worries about the eventual cost that increased public transit could bring.
“You have to provide enough transit during peak times,” he says. “But when it’s not those times, you have it in excess. No place that I know of, probably in the world, does public transportation pay for itself.”
The city has also started plans to invigorate the housing market in downtown, says the mayor. It is calling for apartments to be built over the top of retail businesses in the style of lofts or apartments. So far the plans are in their early stages and no contractors have bid on the deal.
The other development that brings home closer to work is the sudden increase of new apartment complexes. Hindman hopes these types of developments will allow Columbians to bike or walk most places they need to go.
Hopefully the steps the city is taking will provide adequate alternatives for those not willing to keep dishing out the cash for gas.
