Utah drivers cut gasoline use by 20% in a decade

Fairclough said that as gasoline prices rise, AAA has also seen that people tend to cut back on their driving.

"Last year as we went into summer driving, we were hitting record gas prices — just like we are again now. We saw vacation travel flatten. There was a bit of an increase (in driving during the summer season), but it didn't even compare to previous years," Fairclough said.

"There is a certain level of driving that people must do, because we live in a fairly sprawled out area," Fairclough said. But as gasoline prices rise, "People are far more conscious about how they drive and how much driving they do. They cut down on extra trips. They are more conscious of errands. They may not run to the store just for a bottle of catsup but will wait and combine it with other trips."

Mass transit has also become more popular. Back in 1997, such things as TRAX and commuter rail were still on the drawing board, and government-sponsored vanpools were new.

John Inglish, general manager of the Utah Transit Authority, said ridership on UTA buses and trains has consistently risen through the years, from about 3 million trips in 1970 to nearly 150 million now. "And some of those numbers are deceptive," he said, because many of the trips now are for longer intercity trips for commuters than the old, scheduled route trips that many people took for just a few stops.

"In the past, every time there has been a spike in gasoline prices, (mass-transit) ridership goes up. It usually takes six months or so before we see it. It takes a while to convince people that prices are not going to come back down and that they need to change their habits," he said.

Inglish adds that the price increases during the past year may be different, however. "The last price spike (started) a little over a year ago," but UTA this time has not seen a big increase in ridership yet. "We're a little worried that maybe the public has thrown in the towel and decided, 'Maybe I'll eat hamburger instead of steak and keep driving my car."'

He adds, "We'd like to take credit for all the reduction (in gasoline use), but it is probably more attributable to more economical cars."

The Deseret News looked at gasoline consumption trends in Utah for the past 20 years.

Between 1987 and 1997, gasoline prices were much more flat (with increases being relatively small when they came) than in the decade since. In that era, gasoline consumption tended to rise in most years (it did in seven out of 10), from 1.29 gallons used per Utahn per day in 1987 to 1.43 gallons in 1997.

Since 1997, increases in gasoline prices tended to come in big jumps — and Utahns tended to cut back each year on consumption. In fact, consumption dropped in eight of the past 10 years to a new low for the entire 20-year period of 1.14 gallons per person per day in 2007.

During the past year between February 2007 and February 2008, consumption dropped in Utah for 10 of those 12 months compared to the same month a year earlier.

For example, Utahns used 1.07 gallons per person in February 2008 (the last month for which data are available) compared to the 1.09 gallons per person they used in February 2007.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com