In New York City, the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is $4.05. Which represents an increase of 5% in just two days.
It is the highest price since the summer of 2014, according to the automotive organization AAA. Something that has surprised Rafael Álvarez, a construction worker and father of three who lives in Corona but works in Staten Island.
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“I go to Staten Island all week and I spend $58 dollars. That amount, three times a week, adds up to almost $170 dollars. Now with this increase I think it will be more than $190. There won’t even be enough to eat. This is going to be, I don’t know, maybe we have to leave the car”.
And in some parts of the city, like Corona, Queens, drivers are paying an even higher price than average.
Gasoline increased 5% in just two days.
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In this establishment, a gallon of regular gasoline costs $4.29 cents. Juzdilia Salazar, who works as a taxi driver, says she has to buy gasoline at any price to be able to work: “It’s not sad, but what are we going to do, we can’t do anything. Praying is the only thing we have to do because otherwise we can’t help.”
And it is that, it seems, things are getting much worse before they get better, Mónica Ramírez, representative of the Triple A Insurance Department, told us. This past Friday, the price of crude oil was quoted at more than $111 per barrel, while it continues the war between Russia and Ukraine: “We all know what’s going on with Russia and Ukraine. So this is definitely affecting prices when it comes to putting gasoline at the pumps.”
Taxi drivers with no option to fight increases.
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And that’s not all, as the weather gets warmer, drivers hit the roads more often. Something that increases the demand for gasoline and raises prices, according to AAA. “So we are going to see prices rise in the future, if it is going to be a trend,” says Ramírez.
A situation that for drivers like Catalina Santa, seems to be very clear: “I don’t see that it will improve very soon. I see that it will get worse as the days go by and it worries, it worries a lot, imagine.”
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