We drove a lot this summer. Americans fueled up with gasoline at levels not seen since the onset of the recession nearly nine years ago. New data from U.S. Energy Information Administration indicate that Americans purchased approximately four hundred and six million gallons of gasoline per day on average in June.
As indicated by writer Eric Morath, that surpassed a previous record established in June two thousand and seven. Given that fuel consumption typically peaks for the year in July or August when the summer road trip season is in full swing, it is likely that Americans purchased all-time record volumes of gasoline this summer.
A number of explanatory factors are at work, including the rebounding job market that has more Americans commuting. Lower fuel prices represent another obvious factor. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline exceeded four dollars during the spring of two thousand and eight and then approached that level again in twenty eleven, twenty twelve and twenty fourteen.
By twenty fourteen, the use of trains, buses and other forms of public mass transit reached its highest level since nineteen fifty eight. But with lower fuel prices, that has changed, with more people driving less fuel efficient vehicles.
