Gas Prices Fall in BP, but Some Residents Still Express Car Cost Concerns

By Yehudit Garmaise

Now that gas in Boro Park has drifted down, like the falling leaves, to prices that are well below the national average of $3.76 per gallon, local drivers are feeling some relief when they fill up their tanks.

Residents can pay as low as $3.65 per gallon at the Rio gas station at 14th Avenue and 38th Street, but Boro Parkers are still worrying that gas prices will rise again.

Today the Exxon at Fort Hamilton Parkway and 43rd Street is charging $3.71 per gallon, and drivers can fill up their tanks at the Shell station at Ditmas and Cortelyou Avenues for $3.89 per gallon, but prices citywide continue to fluctuate.

Among the factors that cause gas prices to rise and fall right now are: changing global oil prices, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, continuing economic recovery from Covid, hurricane season, and economic uncertainty, reported Andrew Gross, an American Automobile Association (AAA) spokesman on AAA.com.

Gas prices are also coming down because of what AAA called “tepid domestic demand,” which means that people just aren’t driving as much as they once did.

High gas prices motivated one local driver’s decision not to renew the lease on his car, and instead, to hop on the subway to his job near Boro Park. 

“Another guy doesn’t want to hear about taking a car because of the parking hassles,” said Yitzchak, who works in Boro Park.

Yitzchak, who commutes daily from Williamsburg to Boro Park, said that he is watching gas prices, but he is not stressing about them.

When gas prices soared over $5 per gallon in June, however, he took on side jobs to pay for his gas and “justify” his driving.

Yitzchak, who is a first-responder, would not give up his wheels, he said, because he needs them to get to emergencies.

Also, his employer contributes to his car costs.

Eliezer, a Boro Park resident, leased his first car last spring to get to work when gas prices were skyrocketing, but his wife told BoroPark24 that they continue to wonder whether the expense of their car is worth it.

“We have never experienced low gas prices nor low car prices, which have also really increased from what they had been,” Eliezer said.

While drivers continue to weigh the pros and cons of car ownership, many locals say that cars are not really necessary to get around the neighborhood.

“Everything is local,” said one resident who works on 13th Avenue.