Gas Prices Fall and Travel Rates Rise for 2013 Labor Day Weekend

AAA predicted that nearly 4 million Californians will travel over the upcoming Labor Day weekend, a 6 percent increase over last year.  AAA said more than 3.9 million will travel 50 miles or more over the three-day holiday weekend.

“This resurgence of travel is partly due to improved consumer confidence, which is at a much higher level than 2012,” said AAA Northern California spokeswoman Cynthia Harris.  “Although there are lingering budgetary concerns, Californians will not let this last opportunity to celebrate summer go back without a quick holiday getaway.”

AAA projected that more than more than 3.1 million Californians will be driving to their destinations, and more than 500,000 plan to travel by air.  Approximately 300,000 state residents are expected to travel by other modes of transportation, including rail, bus and watercraft.  Nationally, AAA predicts that about 34 million people will travel 50 miles or more during the Labor Day weekend, a 4.2 percent increase over 2012.

Does car travel have you worried though? Don’t fear, gas prices have fallen in the past week! So there should be nothing stopping you and your family from taking a road trip this Labor Day weekend.

GAS PRICES

Average retail gasoline prices in the Sacramento area fell another 4 cents over the past week, according to today’s weekly report by national gas price tracker GasBuddy.com. GasBuddy, which surveys 720 gasoline outlets in the area, said the average price is $3.65 a gallon.  That’s 41.6 cents lower than one year ago and 20.5 cents below a month ago.

Nationally, the average price fell just 0.4 cents over the past week to $3.57 a gallon – down 9.5 cents from last month and 16.6 cents below one year ago.

“As driving season closes out, the national average has been remarkably quiet, so far, but that may change as gasoline inventories declined … last week,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.

Source: Sacbee.com