(The following article by Katie Teller was posted on the Free Lance Star website on September 5.)
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Rick Hood is feeling the effects of soaring gas prices.
Hood owns ABS Vans, a van-pool company that serves Fredericksburg-area commuters.
With prices higher and summer ending, he expects more commuters to use his van service and quit driving.
But at the same time, Hood’s business is taking a hit: It costs more to fuel the vans.
This week, ABS Vans will add a gas surcharge to its rates for riding, which usually average about $175 a month. Hood doesn’t know exactly how much the additional gasoline fee will be; it will vary for the company’s 50-plus routes.
“People think that you’re gouging them, but you have to pass on what you have to pay,” Hood said.
Quick Bus Lines is having the same problem.
The company charges $90 to ride its buses to Northern Virginia and Washington for two weeks.
But manager Gary Everett said that within the next 30 days, the company is going to raise its fees to account for rising gas prices.
Like bus and van services, the Virginia Railway Express is also taking a hit from increased petroleum prices; higher fuel prices mean it costs more to power its trains.
But the VRE isn’t likely to raise its rates.
“We’ve set our fares at this point,” said spokesman Mark Roeber. “Given the current situation that we have, it puts an additional burden on us.”
Roeber said the summer is normally a slow time: People go to work less because they’re on vacation, and kids are out of school. The “September surge” occurs after Labor Day every year, and there’s usually an 8 percent to 10 percent increase in ridership.
However, Roeber said he has seen consistently high VRE ridership this summer, a time when it normally slides.
Additionally, the VRE is taking measures to accommodate growing demand–last month’s problems with railroad crossover work are over–and high prices may incite more commuters to take the train.
The company negotiated a contract to store 20 additional rail cars in the District of Columbia.
Falmouth resident Rachael Doss rides VRE to the AARP’s offices in Washington every day.
“It’s the only way to get in,” Doss said. She comes in to work an hour later than most, and said there are no van pools that serve her neighborhood.
“I tried slugging, that would have its nightmare days,” Doss said.
Lorraine Walton, a veteran VRE rider, has been taking the train from VRE’s Brooke station to her job at Ares Corp. in Crystal City for 13 years.
“Maybe we’ll see an influx of riders when everyone goes back to school,” said Walton, who lives in Stafford County.
Some can’t avoid the high gas prices and frustrations of driving by taking a train, bus or van pool.
Fredericksburg resident Ronald Edington used to ride the commuter bus when he was on active duty in the military.
Now, he works for the Defense Department and drives to various locations. He said he doesn’t have any choice but to drive, since his job often requires him to work in different locations in Virginia and Maryland.
Edington drives a Honda Civic hybrid that averages 46 miles to the gallon.
Increased gas prices have made the cost of Edington’s commute $6 a day.
“It’s still significant,” he said, noting that $6 a day adds up to $30 a week and $120 a month.
Like Edington, Marque Ledoux commutes from Fredericksburg to Washington–in a hybrid Toyota Prius. He says he’s often in the District until late at night, and that VRE’s train schedule doesn’t always work with his schedule.
He bought his hybrid 41/2 years ago for the exception that allows single drivers to ride in the interstate highways’ HOV lanes.
“The hybrid cars are going to be more and more popular now that gas prices are going up,” Ledoux said.