LONG ISLAND CITY, Queens (PIX11) — Filling up at the pump has been less expensive in recent weeks, as just about any driver can attest. What they may also point out is that the price reductions that have been seen have reduced the pain to their pocketbooks only marginally.
"It's still hurting us," said one motorist, who only gave his first name, Jamal. He acknowledged that gasoline has declined in price, but, in his opinion, not nearly enough.
Jimmy Soriano, who was behind the wheel of his SUV, agreed.
"It's an improvement," he said about gas prices' decline, "but they go up and down. It depends where you're at."
In fact, according to AAA's gas price index, in the tri-state, New York tends to have the highest prices. New Jersey has the second-highest, and Connecticut the lowest.
In all three states, gas prices are lowering steadily. They've gone from a range of $4.86 to $5.20 per gallon a month or so ago to a range of $4.62 to $4.79 now.
Patrick De Haan, chief of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said that the price reductions have been steady.
"We've seen the national average declining for 28 straight days," he said. "So it's been quite the decline."
While that is the case, truck driver Kieron Grady said that it's still not enough.
"It cost me about $250 to fill this thing," he said, as he prepared to pump diesel fuel into his delivery truck's external tank.
He pointed out that even with gas down as much as 30 to 40 cents a gallon from a month ago, it's still expensive, especially for diesel, for which he was paying $5.69 per gallon.
However, said De Haan, "where New York scores big is the falling price of diesel. New York [is] seeing the 12th largest monthly decline [among the 50 states] in the average price of diesel."
That reduction in the price of diesel, as well as in other automotive fuels, was not enough to impress many drivers who spoke with PIX11 News.
One of them, who goes by her initials, Y.O., said that she wants to see gas prices plummet over the course of the year.
"[A] dollar on premium," she said. "Down. Dollar on premium down. Definitely."
It may not decline by a dollar, but there is a chance that prices could lower notably through the summer, and the rest of the year, depending on some factors outside of the oil and gas business, according to De Haan.
He said that an increased supply of gas from refineries is the main reason for lower prices. That higher supply level could continue, and further reduce prices — as long as external factors don't interrupt the flow.
"For now," De Haan continued, "I'm cautiously optimistic that prices should decline for another few weeks. And if we can escape hurricane season without a major storm, we could see prices nationally falling back closer to $4 a gallon."
