Students riding the bus or biking to campus may want to whip out the keys — gas prices have plummeted below $3 per gallon for the first time since December 2010.
The national average Monday was $2.98, while Florida’s average price has fallen to $2.96 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association.
“I remember saying a few years ago that we would never see sub-$3 gallons of gas,” said Chris McCarty, director of UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research. “I was pretty wrong about that.”
National prices at the pump plunged 33 cents in October, marking the sharpest decline since 2008.
Florida’s current average of $2.96 is 8 cents less than it was a week ago. Local gas stations are seeing the change, too.
“A big part of the decline is due to a decline in demand, and that typically happens in the fall after Labor Day,” McCarty said. “When all the summer travel is over and kids are back in school, people don’t travel as much.”
McCarty said another reason prices are dropping is because there’s more oil available internationally and domestically.
One practice that has contributed to this is hydraulic fracturing, which involves drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release oil and natural gas.
“It’s extremely controversial,” he said. “People worry about the chemicals that are being pushed down into the ground and water supply, but nevertheless, there’s no doubt it generates oil that we previously didn’t have.”
The recent lack of hurricanes has also contributed to the falling prices, McCarty said, because oil refineries in Texas and Louisiana have been able to operate without disruption.
Tommy Myers, an employee at the Kangaroo Express at 3525 SW 34th St., said the decrease in gas prices has increased competition among local gas stations for customers.
Myers’ store was selling regular gas for $2.97 per gallon Monday.
“We’ve been monitoring prices every hour on the hour,” Myers said.
Myers said the store’s low gas prices are a way to encourage customers to buy other products like hot cakes, drinks and cigarettes.
“I’ve seen a huge increase in people,” he said.
If the nation’s current economic recovery stays as strong as some predict it will next year, it could lead to less demand and a continued decrease in prices, but McCarty doesn’t necessarily think that will happen.
“I can’t imagine them getting down to $2, but maybe I’ll be wrong,” he said.
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 11/4/2014]
David Jonas, a 44-year-old employee of Monterey Boats in Williston, fills up his car Monday at the BP at 334 SW 16th Ave. “I’m always at the gas pump,” said Jonas, referring to the daily commute he makes from Gainesville to Williston.
