Gas prices cause travel costs to rise

• Clay Ingram, public relations manager for AAA of Alabama, said consumers can fight high gasoline prices by reducing the demand for fuel.
• 1. Use public transportation, organize a car pool, shop online, consolidate errands into one trip.
• Hauling a lot of cargo makes a car heavier and reduces gas mileage.
• 5. Consider trading in your vehicle for something that's more fuel-efficient.
• An activity as simple as cutting the lawn or as laid back as a cross-country trip aboard a 38-foot Winnebago Adventurer requires gasoline.
• The fact that recreational vehicles can cost more than $150 to gas up doesn't seem to be stopping Montgomery-area residents from buying them.
• "We're running 25 percent ahead of last year," said Marlin Ingram, owner of the RV center on Troy Highway that bears his name.
• "The gas prices are crippling a lot of independent truckers," said Donald Williams, terminal manager for Brown Trucking Co. in Montgomery.
• Nationwide, diesel fuel averaged $2.24 per gallon Thursday, according to the U.S. Energy Information Association.
• Retirees who make deliveries part time to earn extra cash are also hurt by rising prices at the pump.
• "We use a lot of independent contractors and of course we've had to increase what we pay them," said Ray Bodiford, owner of Executive Couriers of Montgomery.
• While people who use the highways for business are groaning about prices, businesses that rely on people who use the roads for pleasure are more optimistic.
• "We feel that Alabama is well-positioned in the environment of rising gas prices because we have been marketing to potential tourists within a 500-mile radius of the state," said Lee Sentell, director of the Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel.
• Cab drivers, who need a city ordinance to raise rates, are also hurting.