• Slug: Gas prices. About 300 words.
• Video story, photo available (thumbnail and caption below)

 

By CHLOE RANSHAW
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Gas prices in Arizona are expected to rise this summer as the travel season gets underway but most drivers will keep heading down the road anyway, according to AAA Arizona.

Motorists said they would change other habits to compensate for gas prices that may reach $2.77 a gallon, a AAA spokeswoman said.

An AAA Arizona report found 70 percent of consumers surveyed would change their habits to compensate for more expensive gas. They’d rather spend less on food, combine errands or delay big ticket purchases.

“We see more carpooling for day to day things, staying closer to home, shaving a day off of a trip,” AAA spokeswoman Michelle Donati said.

Randy Perez, a student at Arizona State University, joins other young drivers who want low gas prices but won’t let higher prices stop them.

“Trying to get from point A to point B is important and knowing how much it’s going to cost as well,” Perez said.

Donati said millennials are adjusting better than other generations of drivers.

“We’re seeing especially with the younger demographic that they’re not planning to let higher gas prices keep them home,” she said.

The agency said gas prices will rise until they reach a peak this summer, about a 75 cents per-gallon increase over last summer. But the increase has already started: prices are expected to jump about 40 cents a gallon in April.

Gas prices routinely increase in the summer because of higher demand for vacation road trips and the switch from a winter fuel blend to a summer blend.

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An AAA Arizona study says that gas prices will continue to rise. They are expected to reach $2.777 per gallon by summer, a jump over the same time last year. (Photo by Chloe Ranshaw/Cronkite News)