High cost of commuting

Every day 21-year-old J.C. Hungerford drives to Billings to work, he writes off an hour’s salary.

The Carroll College junior returned home to Columbus for the summer but found employment in Billings. He figures it costs him $7 in gas for the 80-mile daily commute.

By Linda Halstead-Acharya of Montana Lee Newspapers

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2004/06/14/featuresbusiness/hjjfjdifjajgfc.txt

‘‘I’m trying to get as long of shifts as I can get,” he said. ‘‘It’s definitely hurting my bank account.”

Hungerford is one of millions across the nation who have been grimacing at the gas pump.

Ruth Weinfurter, also of Columbus, makes a business out of commuting. She owns Errands, Etc., which keeps her busy transporting people and things, mostly from the Columbus area into Billings.

In January, Weinfurter raised her Columbus-to-Billings fee by $5, mostly just to keep up with increased costs across the board. Now that gas is setting record highs, she doesn’t feel she can bump it up again.

‘‘People who need a ride, I hate to burden them,” she said. So Weinfurter, like others who commute, end up losing money.

From carpooling to lightening up on the accelerator, commuters are looking for ways to hold their fuel bills in check. Some are opting to compress their work week into four, 10-hour days. Others have scouted out the cheapest gas stations and some have discovered credit cards that offer discounts on fuel.

Marla McGowan and Amanda Braesicke, of Columbus, have been carpooling for three years.

‘‘I don’t know if I’d want to go to Billings like I do now if I didn’t have someone to commute with,”

McGowan said. The two take turns driving, but McGowan said she figures between them, the trip now costs $12 more a week.

‘‘That’s almost $50 more a month,” she said.

Driving for discounts

Husband and wife Louis Wolff and Jaime Stevens have carpooled from Columbus to Billings for nearly four years. Oddly enough, they’ ve spent less on gas this year than they did last year. Wolff, who keeps meticulous records, said last year he averaged $153 per month in gas. This year, it’s dropped to $138.

‘‘I’m sure it’s going to catch up with us,” he said.

The secret to their savings, they say, is a Holiday Station credit card they got over a month ago. For the first 90 days, Wolff said, the card gives them an 8 percent discount, then it drops to 4 percent.

Since they got the card, Wolff said he’s actually saved about 16 cents on each gallon of gas — bringing his price back to the $1.80 range.

They also credit their Honda Civic — which gets 34 mpg — and a slight change in driving habits for helping keep their fuel budget down.

‘‘One thing we did find with the Honda,” he said, ‘‘was that going 80 mpg really did take off miles per gallon.”

They cut back a few miles per hour and feel the extra few minutes it takes to get to Billings are worth their gas savings.

‘‘We’re in the car commuting two hours a day. We’re used to it,” he said.

Stevens said they had checked into hybrid cars. But, when they crunched the numbers, they decided it wasn’t worth taking on a car payment.

Plus, she said, since they drive mostly highway miles, they wouldn’t get as much benefit from the hybrid’s fuel-saving electric motor as someone driving in stop-and-go traffic.

Round trip to Red Lodge

The commute from Red Lodge — estimated at 125 miles, round trip — used to cost Pete Shelley $10 a day. Now it’s more like $12.

In spite of record gas prices, Shelley said he doesn’t regret his decision to work in Billings. Just to ‘‘stay alive”

in Red Lodge, he said, he used to work two or three jobs at a time. He traded that for four 10-hour days in Billings.

Shelley’s wife, Sheri Henderson, also makes the commute. But, due to conflicting work schedules, they drive separately. Shelley and Henderson have one ace-in-the-hole: an apartment in Billings.

‘‘Before the gas prices went up, we used the apartment more in the winter for safety,” he said. But staying over serves a dual purpose now. It allows them to save on gas. Even record gas prices, however, don’ t keep them from making their regular commute — particularly in the summer.

‘‘We like going home. I still find the drive relaxing,” he said. ‘‘So far, the prices haven’t really affected us yet.”

Carbon County Public Health Nurse Linda Stewart makes the same commute — in the opposite direction. She averages 500 miles per week between her home south of Billings and her offices in Red Lodge and Joliet. Because she needs her car sporadically throughout the day, and because she commutes against the flow, she doesn’ t think carpooling would be feasible for her.

‘‘You can’t boycott because you’ve got to go to work. You can’t make a political statement unless you want to starve to death,” she said, laughing.

Cross-country ‘commute’

When it comes to distance, Darrell Leird of Laurel boasts one of the longest ‘‘commutes.”

As a sales rep for 15 different animal health-care companies, he drives his Chevy Suburban throughout the West averaging about 4,000 to 5,000 miles a month.

‘‘If everything is perfect, I get about 16 mpg,” he said. ‘‘If I get a little wind on my nose, it goes down to 12 or 14 mpg.”

Last week, Leird returned from his monthly trip to the coast. On Wednesday, he paid $2.40 a gallon for gas in Southern California and a few pennies less in Oregon. He’ s learned that gas runs higher in the Bay Area, but even Southern California was nearing $2.50, he said.

Although Leird knows gas prices are taking a chunk of his profit, he hasn’t yet figured how big that chunk is.

‘‘And I’m probably fearful to,” he said. ‘‘It has changed things dramatically, not only for the cost of me doing business, but for the distributors.”

Leird said he can’t downsize his vehicle because he’s already strapped for space. So far, he hasn’t tried slowing down and he noticed that Californians haven’t either.

While some speculate that record gas prices are a short-term anomaly, Leird said he has a hunch low gas prices may be a thing of the past.

‘‘Fuel prices are dramatic. I think it will probably change the way we do business,” he said.

One change, if it comes to pass, would actually mean more business for him. Companies that have their own sales force may decide to replace them with sales reps like Leird, who represent a number of companies, he said.

In the mean time, he is already planning to cut back on travel. Rather than heading for the coast every month, he will try cutting back to every other month.

‘‘Maybe you can use telephones and fax, but in sales, you still have to get face to face with them,” he said.

Leird has also considered one other fuel-saving option: moving closer to the majority of his business. But when he weighs the cost of living in California against the cost of living in Montana, he’ s not sure a move would save him money. Besides, like most commuters, he chooses to drive because he values the place he calls home.

‘‘I may still be better off living here and loving where I live,” he said. ‘‘That’s my choice.”

Linda Halstead-Acharya can be contacted at lhalstead-acharya(at)billingsgazette.com