Americas Thirst for Gasoline May Not Recover After Iran War

Judy Vassallo, an 89-year-old retired art teacher who lives on her own in a leafy neighborhood just north of Center City in Philadelphia, used to take her 2002 Honda CRV to the suburbs for a visit with friends, or downtown for doctor appointments and Pilates classes.But since gasoline prices shot up after the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February, she couldn’t stomach paying nearly twice as much to fill her tank.Instead, Ms.

Vassallo started taking the city bus, which is free for seniors.She found that she liked it — saving on gas and parking tickets.“Once it becomes a habit, it’s not an onerous thing, it’s built into the pattern of my behavior,” Ms.

Vassallo said.“You’re going into the city, you’re going to take the bus.

And I’m finding that it’s so much easier.”Americans are powerfully attached to their cars, and their spending at gasoline stations jumped 21 percent from February to May.But that ability to spend has limits.

According to Dow Jones Energy, consumption was 6.1 percent lower in May from a year earlier.Some of that is a long-running trend owing to the increasing efficiency of passenger vehicles, said Denton Cinquegrana, the company’s chief oil analyst, and about half is probably a consumer response to higher prices.Much of that response comes from people forgoing discretionary driving, like road trips and grandchildren’s traveling sports games, particularly those with lower incomes.

But in recent years, Americans have also gained greater ability to adapt, as more employers have allowed for telecommuting and more electric vehicles have arrived on the market.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want al...