Without warning – gas prices at the pump shot past the $8 mark at midnight on Saturday. A gallon of premium gas is now $8.31. That is an increase of 96 cents per gallon. Regular gas moved up 51 cents, from $7.80 to $8.31 per gallon. Diesel increased by 48 cents, bringing it to $6.61. So the regular and premium gas are well over $8, even though on April 22nd at his quarterly press conference Prime Minister Dean Barrow promised to revisit the one dollar tax imposed on April 1st if the price went north of $8. So what’s the reaction? Well today at gas pumps we found most drivers taking the increase in stride.
Driver #1,
“I think the Prime Minister set we up. He said in the House no increase would be and still we have increase now. This is a set up.”
Driver #2,
“I can’t feel no way. I just have to put it in or else I will can’t move and things bad right now. Nothing really di go on right now. It goes up and it comes down but like it is going up and it is going up more. I gaan put in gas this morning and I was frightened. Every straight though.”
Driver #3,
“Bwoy I feel it is really ridiculous mein because like they told us the farthest the gas price is going is by $7 and now watch at where it get, it is almost $9 already and that is really affecting fi we taxi business.”
Driver #4,
“Now we have to raise wi taxi and people don’t want to pay the price so it really di hurt wi pocket. It is hurting us badly because this morning people didn’t want to pay $7 and $6. I find out this morning when I came to the pump. Well I heard rumour about it that it was going up so I am not surprised, I was just getting ready to start increase what I charge the same way.”
Driver #5,
“They will kill we because oil deh yah and so I don’t know why they have raise gas so high. Drop back the gas to $5 or $4. We need to get around and make a little money. The government isn’t raising any money for us to pay so much money for gas. In America it is $1.99 for gas so I don’t why the government is raising gas like that every minute.”
Driver #6,
“It gaan up again and I mean fi say we shouldn’t make it go up because we poor and we can’t spend so much money on gas. It is going to affect me because things is not very easy right now.”
Driver #7,
“We are getting back to nearly what we used to pay before. I hope it doesn’t go up farther than this. We leader said they would keep it below $7 so it is kind of surprising. I hope they do something about it.”
Keith Swift,
How you feel about the increase?
Driver #8,
“We just have to pay it.”
Driver #8,
“We are a third world country, if the price goes up up there, in the third world country the price will go up so I don’t think Dean Barrow has anything to do with this price, he is going with the flow of up there because we are down, we no deh dah top there. Me nuh blame he and I didn’t blame PUP when the price was $10 or so. I nuh blame deh neither. That has nothing to do with it. It is the people up there, the first world country.
To me this whole third world country people drink a lot. Instead of they drinking too much, invest it in gas because they need to travel. So that drinking to me, cut it down slight and then you are going to have money to deal with the situation till Dean Barrow finds a solution to deal with the situation which is going higher, you understand me.”
Since April 1st, the price of a gallon of premium gas has increased by $2.58 and regular gas has jumped $2.65.
