Jobless figures are rising. Earnings reports are dismal. The auto industry is on the brink. But Marylanders are taking some comfort in a plunge in the price of fuel - including gasoline that has fallen under the $2 mark for the first time in 3 1/2 years.
As of yesterday, the average price of regular gasoline in metropolitan Baltimore had fallen to $2.11 after a 2 1/2 -cent overnight drop, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic. Some stations were selling the fuel for as little as $1.91. The statewide average was down to $2.19, propped up by generally higher prices in suburban Washington.
The drop comes as a welcome - and generally unexpected - relief for motorists who were paying more than $4 a gallon at the peak of the market last summer. Marylanders who use natural gas and heating oil to heat their homes may also get a break.
So far, there appears to be no end in sight to the slide as the worldwide economic slowdown takes its toll on the price of crude oil. The price of a barrel of crude dropped $3.50 on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday, closing at $56.16. As recently as this past summer, it was almost $150.
Meanwhile, wholesale prices for coal and natural gas have fallen by half since July. Even wholesale electricity prices are down by about a fifth.
At a Royal Farms gas station in South Baltimore, customer after customer expressed delight at seeing gasoline prices cut to a price they never thought they'd see again.
Bobby Gosnell of Southwest Baltimore had a slight mishap yesterday as he topped off the tank of his gargantuan Ford Expedition, but he wasn't crying over spilled gas - not with the price at $1.97 a gallon.
Gosnell said that the last time he bought gas for his SUV, the price per gallon was $3.78 and the cost of filling up was $95 to $100. He said he kept the gas-guzzling vehicle imprisoned in his garage for months before letting it out within the past two weeks.
For most of the summer and fall, he's been getting around in his fuel-efficient but much smaller Volkswagen Passat.
"It's just so small. It's like being stuck in a box. It's like riding a scooter [compared] to riding a Harley," he said.
Now he's happy to have his "baby" back on the road because "I like something big."
The Royal Farms was one of three stations at the hyper-competitive corner of Patapsco Avenue and Potee Street to offer gas for less than $2 a gallon. Other bastions of bargain gas could be found in Pasadena, White Marsh, Glen Burnie and Essex, though prices of $2.20 or more were still common in central Baltimore and always pricey Columbia and Ellicott City.
