go to the beach, afford to go places with friends,” Alan Pisarski, a transportation analyst, said by phone from Lake Barcroft, Virginia, on Thursday. “Because of the economy coming around and fuel prices decreasing, they’re beginning to be able to afford these things again.”
Retail gasoline prices in the U.S. rose 1.7 cents a gallon Wednesday to an average of $2.58, AAA said on its website. Prices have risen nearly 20 cents since mid-April. A year ago on the same date, the average gallon was $3.691.
About 19 percent of U.S. drivers aged 18-34 reported driving more because of the drop in gasoline prices, compared with 10 percent of people over the age of 35.
Six in 10 Americans said they’re more likely to take a road trip more than 50 miles away from home this year because of lower prices, with drivers aged 18-34 more likely to do so than those over 35.
Even with the decline in pump prices, only 17 percent of Americans think gasoline is cheap at $2.50 a gallon, while 39 percent still think it’s too high. A majority of Americans believe gasoline will be cheap again when it falls to $1.50.
American gasoline demand will average 9.07 million barrels a day this year, up from 8.92 million last year, the Energy Information Administration said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook earlier this month.
So far this year U.S. households have saved about $400 each because of lower gasoline prices. That’s generally had a bigger impact on younger people, who tend to be newer to the workforce, AAA spokesman Michael Green said.
“Younger Americans make less money than the rest of the population,” Green said by phone from Washington. “If you’re not making very much, lower gas prices might actually make a difference in what you spend money on.”
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