[DriveElectric]

Gas costs change lifestyles

A few select quotes from the article: By Tom Kenworthy, USA TODAY
BRIGHTON, Colo. The swelling price of gas has left retired stock analyst Don Harris and millions of other Americans re-evaluating life. (Related graphic: Gas prices across the U.S.)
With a Ford F-150 pickup "that likes gas," Harris, 65, is in the market for a mid-size car that will get about 25 miles per gallon.

The 31-foot boat he docks at Lake Powell in Arizona, a guzzler that gets about 2 miles a gallon, will "probably sit all summer."

And he just finished shopping at Wal-Mart, where he "bought things for 10 days" so he doesn't have to go back several times a week, as he once did.

Today's gas prices may not be wrecking the economy or even prompting dramatic changes in driving habits. But public transit agencies in Chicago, Columbus, Denver, Jacksonville, Miami and New York all report increases in ridership and say gas prices may be part of the reason. A Gallup Poll taken this month also found that concerns about the cost of gas rivaled worries about unemployment, jobs and wages.

Perhaps more important, in scores of small ways, for truckers and travelers, for commuters and consumers, for cabbies and others who depend on their cars to make ends meet today's fuel prices are beginning to alter lifestyles across the nation.

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')The 31-foot boat he docks at Lake Powell in Arizona — a guzzler that gets about 2 miles a gallon — will "probably sit all summer..."