Jorge, a New Haven resident of three years, swapped his car for a bike to save on gas. Credit: MONA MAHADEVAN PHOTO
On Monday morning, credit-card gas prices at the BP gas station were $4.09 — about the national average.
Dan Farricielli, a lifelong Connecticut resident, is cutting back on road trips as gas prices surge amid the U.S. war in Iran.
Jorge, a Cuban migrant, has swapped his gas-guzzling car for a motorcycle.
And Saifullah Jan, an Uber/Lyft driver who hails from Afghanistan, is now searching for a second job.
As inflation continues to soar and gas prices hit $4 per gallon, people in New Haven are changing their daily routines to afford their bills — at least according to the Independent’s impromptu survey of drivers who stopped by the BP gas station at 1 Whalley Ave. between 9:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. Monday.
Higher prices are leading many to call for ending the war in Iran, a conflict that is making life significantly more expensive.
On Monday morning, the U.S. began blockading the Strait of Hormuz, which carries 20 percent of the world’s oil. The price of oil has already soared by over 40 percent, and the blockade threatens to increase costs even further.
Soon after the blockade began, much closer to home in New Haven, a dozen people filled up their tanks at the BP Gas Station near Whalley and Broadway.
Rising gas prices pushed Jorge, a Cuban migrant, to start driving his motorcycle instead of his car. Filling up his bike costs $20 — which is $40 less than his car.
Even with the spike in energy prices, Jorge still supports the war in Iran.
“Lebron James says: ‘Keep the main thing the main thing.’ So the main thing for me, even though I may disagree with many other things, is that I don’t want to live in a world where Iran has a nuclear weapon,” he told the Independent.
He views the war as “something that needed to be done.” From his perspective, the Iranian people — like the Cuban people — dislike the current regime and support the U.S.’s intervention.
“Gas prices are nothing compared to living in a world where Iran has a nuclear weapon,” he said.
Jan, a rideshare driver originally from Afghanistan, took the opposite position: the U.S. should stop inciting conflict in the Middle East, he said.
“I don’t personally like fighting. I don’t like war. I’d like for it to be resolved as soon as possible,” he said, because people are “struggling” to afford their regular bills.
As a driver, “the first thing which comes to my mind is: how much is the gas price?” Rising costs at the pump have impaired the economics of long trips, he said. Now, he rarely accepts rides outside of New Haven’s city limits.
To fill up a tank, he now pays $50 — $15 more than it cost before the war began. In case prices rise even further, he is searching for another job to supplement his income.
Farricielli, a long-time telecom employee at Yale, wishes he could tell the Trump administration, “Get out of Iran. Enough.”
To fill up his personal truck, it now costs $80, instead of the prior $60. While his family usually plans roadtrips for the summer, he does not think they will be able to afford a long trip this year.
Farricielli’s work truck had run out of gas by the time he made it to the pumps, so he was just as curious as the Independent to see how much it would cost to fill up the tank.
“$60 dollars for 15 gallons. Wow, that’s a lot of money. That makes it hard to just function,” he said.
The cost of filling up a tank for a large white van on Monday morning.
Many people, who who declined an interview request, remarked to the Independent that prices had spiraled out of control.
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