Charlottesville-area businesses acting carefully around rising gas prices

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Rising gas prices have some people avoiding driving all together. For some Charlottesville-area businesses, it is all about strategy when it comes to filling up, especially with busy upcoming summer weekends.

Morgan Dean with AAA says drivers are paying around $1.50 more per gallon than this time last year. The average price around Charlottesville Monday, May 23, was $4.39.

The situation is especially rough for commuters and some on-the-road businesses.

“If we have a busy weekend - Friday, Saturday, Sunday - we may have to fill up two times,” Andre Xavier, a co-owner of Cville Hop-On Tours, said.

His company uses small buses to take people to multiple breweries all around central Virginia.

“We try to fill up the buses a few days in advance,” Xavier said. ‘Weekend comes, we noticing that prices start to go up around Thursday, so we first try to anticipate that and have full tanks.”

Strategy is necessary for Albemarle Limousine, too.

“We’re as busy as can be,” owner Andrea Fathoff said.

Fathoff’s fleet shuttles people for weddings, brewery trips, an more.

“We have it in writing that their price can be adjusted,” she said. “It’s very difficult because that calculation involves a lot of staff effort, as well.”

“It is actually a double-edged sword: There is a higher cost of gas to us, but also we see more people looking for tours, because now they don’t want to drive their own vehicles,” Xavier said.

“We did see increases in both air travel and our other category, which includes bus, trains,” Dean said. “That could be a hint that people are running the numbers to try and see if it might be cheaper.”

Dean doesn’t believe gas prices will be dropping in the near future.

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