Gas prices are ticking up to almost $4.50 a gallon — higher for those buying premium and diesel.

It’s the talk at health clubs, in cafés and all around town. Who doesn’t grimace when a tank full of gas might have cost $50 a year ago and now it’s almost $80? Businesses are feeling the pinch, too, from pizza parlors and taxi companies, to road builders and fishermen, and even police agencies and the public bus system.

High gas prices have been a boon for some entities caught with a growing demand for services from people hesitant to drive, but also a bust considering the skyrocketing costs of doing business.

Read on ... for a look at how companies and agencies are coping — and how you might cope, too.

Business booms for newly crowded public bus system

By Jolene Guzman, Staff Writer

It was a packed bus.

With gas prices skyrocketing, the Coos County Area Transit bus running through North Bend and Coos Bay was full Thursday afternoon. Passengers are not surprised.

“On the bus you can go to North Bend and back for $2.50,” said Sue Nalson of Coos Bay. “It’s hard to get to North Bend without spending $5 anymore.”

Nalson moved here from Portland about four years ago and was surprised to see a transit system operating in the area. Back then, only one or two people would be on the bus with her.

Those days are gone.

Thursday afternoon, 17 people rode one of CCAT’s afternoon routes. As the bus cruised through the stops, the empty seats started to disappear. One rider who jumped on at North Bend Medical Center jokingly said he was going to tell bus driver Dave Conn’s boss that Conn was driving “loaded.”

Everybody on the bus Thursday had different reasons for riding, but saving money was foremost.

Paul Jackson, of Coos Bay, said he was riding the bus while searching for a new car. He sold his gas-guzzling 4x4 recently and was browsing through car ads while on his way to the Coos Bay Public Library. People in the Bay Area are paying about $1.25 more per gallon now than they were last year.

“I’m looking for a more gas-efficient car,” Jackson said.

The bus, he said, though temporary transportation for him, does offer people an alternative to driving.

“And it beats walking,” he said with a laugh.

Roger McPherson has a car, but said it’s cheaper to take the bus to run errands during the week.

“I can ride all around town for $5,” he said.

Everybody had something to say about the price of filling up.

“I thought I would never see the day when diesel is more expensive than gas,” McPherson said.

Conn said the gas prices won’t stop climbing unless people stopped buying.

“They won’t stop rising, not as long as they can gouge it out of us,” he said.

Jackson worried that his 16-month old son would not be able to afford to drive once he was old enough. He said driving his old car was getting too expensive already and thought riding a bike would be a good solution.

“The only problem is I can’t strap a car seat to my bike,” Jackson said.

Though riders seem pleased, CCAT transit manager Bruce Bennett said increasing fuel costs are putting a crunch on the transit system. The fares riders pay cover only about 13 percent of the cost of operating CCAT’s in-town route and daily or weekly trips from other Coos County towns. The price of fuel is far outstripping any potential gain from having more people lining up at bus stops.

In May, 1,883 riders hopped the buses on the Coos Bay-North Bend loop. In May 2007, that number was 1,303. Bennett estimates by year’s end, the route will have served more than 18,000 customers, compared to 14,089 last year.

He can thank gas prices.

“That’s an assumption that doesn’t need to be proven,” Bennett said. “People are looking to us as an alternative.”

CCAT needs to expand its service, but finding resources may be difficult. The transit service does not collect taxes and must exist on grants, donations and the fares people pay to ride.

“We are really stretched to the limit on that,” Bennett said.

Raising user rates is the furthest thing from Bennett’s mind, though.

“I don’t anticipate an increase. That would be the last straw,” Bennett said. “It would just penalize people. Some can hardly afford the prices we charge now.”

Bennett believes CCAT is in a good position — at least this year — to take on the increased costs. He budgeted about $15,000 more for fuel than he did last year.

The transit service has a plan to put another bus on the road on the main route. After purchasing another vehicle, the route would cost about $55,000 per year. CCAT cannot do it alone, Bennett said. It will need financial partners to make it happen.

“How soon that happens is how soon people buy into the need,” Bennett said.