North Texans Paying Way More For Gas As National Per Gallon Average Hits Record High
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The U.S. national average for a gallon of gas hit an all-time high according to GasBuddy.com on Monday, March 7.
It's $4.104 per gallon.
In Texas, the current average is about $3.73.
As an Uber driver, Godson Ezemadu covers the cost of his gas.
"The gas issue is a serious issue," he said. "I'm just an employee so there's literally nothing I can do about it."
To try and compensate, he's added a digital billboard to the top of his car.
"In a month I make approximately $500," he said. "It's awesome. I love it. Making money I'm not working for."
Unlike Uber or Lyft, the locally-owned ride-sharing service, Alto owns its own fleet of SUVs and pays for their drivers' gas.
A spokesperson for the company says in Dallas, they're paying 35% more for gas compared to this time last year.
"We're working with our partners closely and trying to come together as a team to see how we can bear through gas prices," Allison Edwards said.
As for Dallas ISD, it buys its fuel in bulk and says because of this so far, the impact has been minimal.
"We are closely monitoring it for obvious reasons just to make sure, but as of right now we have not heard from our vendors that there would be an increase enough on bulk fuel prices to impact our operating budgets," DISD Director of Service Centers Chris Bayer said.
Bruce Bullock, Director of SMU's Maguire Energy Institute, says historically anytime there's geopolitical tension the oil markets don't respond well.
"People are anticipating the U.S. is going to ban Russian oil and as a result of that over the last two to three days they've driven it even higher," he said. "Things tend to occur really before the event actually happens so the worst part of the run up in price probably will occur before the actual ban itself. The market is so tight right now that you take anything away from it and prices will go up."
He spoke about some of the things being done to try and help the situation.
"First of all, the Canadians have stepped forward and said that they believe they can increase production," Bullock said. "There may be a little bit of relief if they come to some sort of deal with Iranians over the nuclear issue."