En español >>

By Mimmi Tornberg

Gary Payne is someone who took his bike out when he noticed gas prices were moving upwards. It’s not that he hadn’t used his bike before. He rediscovered it and hopes that he will stick to his new lifestyle even though gas prices have gone down.

“I got tired of giving my money to the big oil companies,” he said.
The AAA daily fuel report said that last year the highest recorded price for unleaded gas in the Tri-Cities was an average $4.08 a gallon on Sept. 15. In January, that average had dropped to $1.73.

Payne was sitting on a bench in downtown Kingsport one day last fall, taking a break from riding his bike from Indian Springs. Payne, who grew up in Kingsport but now lives in Chattanooga, usually rides his bike back and forth from his job at the Teen Challenge Drug and Rehabilitation program in Chattanooga. It is a 17-mile ride and Payne starts his journey at 7 a.m.

“We don’t have to have cars, we just conveniently need cars,” he said.

Payne thinks that people who bike have discovered a new side of life and he thinks that the raising of gas prices can be a good thing in that aspect. He noticed a difference in traffic as well.

“People are getting more and more used to having bikes in traffic so people tend to be more aware than before. But it is still dangerous being on a bike in the traffic,” he said.

“But you figure out how the traffic flows and which days that are safer than others and what times are safer than others,” Payne said.

On longer journeys the Greyhound Bus Co. provides bus rides that are cheaper than taking your own car. For going around town, Kingsport Area Transit Service, or KATS, provides services for those who need it.

Jim Brown, Retha Campbell and Bob Dotson work as drivers at KATS. They said mostly younger people, senior citizens and people with disabilities use the bus even though taking the bus would benefit everybody. Brown said that fares are not much affected by gas prices, and rarely go up. Regular fare is $1, but 50 cents for senior citizens and disabled persons.

“There is no reason for people to not ride the bus, but young people don’t think it is cool to ride the bus; they still want their cars,” Dawson said.

“The bus goes everywhere in Kingsport,” Campbell added.
At the Greyhound office, ticket agent Angela Blair said there had been a huge increase in people riding Greyhound after gas prices went up.

“Everybody complains about gas being more expensive, especially since the price of the tickets increases too,” she said.

A third way to reduce money spent on gas is to carpool. But people in Kingsport who carpool have other reasons than gas prices. Margaret Cordle and Jamie Dinkins are roommates who carpool to their work at a local motel, but their decision was not based on gas prices.

“The price of food is more ridiculous,” Dinkins said.

Cordle doesn’t have a car, which is the main reason why they carpool, but the fact that it makes the ride cheaper is an important reason as well.

Martin Ornelas, a Kingsport contractor, said that the only change he saw with high gas prices was that people didn´t drive as much for fun anymore—only when they absolutely had to.

“People who carpool have more or less always carpooled together, regardless of the gas price,” he said.

Ornelas works as a maintenance contractor on demand, driving to get to his customers.

“When I gotta go I gotta go and if I can´t fill up the tank I just need to be paid some more,” Ornelas said.

Juan Ramirez, chef at La Carreta restaurant, has always carpooled with his friends to work and that didn’t change with gas prices.

Neither Dinkins nor Ramirez uses the bus or bike to work, nor do they know anyone who does. They say when a car is available they do not see a reason to go by bus or bike.

Even though there are alternatives with KATS, and the attitude toward bikes is changing, it doesn´t seem as if going by car is going to be outdated anytime soon.