Gas Crunch

If you are from the Metro Atlanta area, I'm sure you're aware of the current gasoline situation. For everyone else, let me explain. Atlanta is a very car-centric city. Nothing is too spread out that one couldn't walk, bike, or bus there, but the majority of people drive. Public transit is available, but is rarely on time and doesn't go everywhere. Everyone I personally know that lives outside of Atlanta proper (and doesn't own their own business) commutes to the city each day for work.

Apparently most of the Southeast gets their gas supply from the Gulf, which is currently recovering from the onslaught of hurricane season. The arrival of supply tanks is unpredictable and most gas stations in town are sold out. The ones that still have any are slammed with long waits and elevated prices.

Last week, I scoffed and rolled my eyes at everyone that was panicking. It was not unlike the hysteria of last hurricane season, where some speculated that our supply would be cut off and prices spiked to $6 a gallon. I thought, oh well, there is gas, just everyone's going at the same time. Everyone's topping off their SUV tanks all at once, no wonder there isn't any gas. But this week I've gone out everyday to 4 or 5 gas stations in a fruitless effort to fill up. Luckily, a few of my close friends live literally across the street from major gas stations, and my parents (who are part of that heavy daily commuting group) are keeping me updated. My mom called me at six AM the other morning to tell me one station by our house got in a shipment that morning.

For now, I'm using this as a good reason to save money by staying in or taking public transit. In the meantime, for those of you who don't have the luxury of "calling in empty" to work, there is this huge Twitter keyword that has exploded: #atlgas. A lot of big blogs and the media have picked up on it - it's in the top five keywords on Twitter. I've been following it since late last night, and at the current moment, it seems QT stations have the most reliable and replenished supply and many places only have regular unleaded fuel.

Best of luck to all my ATL readers!