Gas creeps towards $2 a litre, Barrie motorists feeling pinch

The wallet is feeling lighter these days after filling up at the pumps as the price of gas continues to climb closer to two dollars per litre in Barrie.

President of Canadians for Affordable Energy Dan McTeague, said the two dollar mark is a range most Canadians would make the choice to not drive.

“We’ve been flirting with the $2 range and that’s sort of the psychological point at which people basically say, I’m not driving anymore,” said McTeague. “They only use vehicles for what they need to do, same for diesel.”

Leaving motorists uneasy of the climbing prices heading into summer

“Driving less, for sure,” said Emmerson Stewart who was filling up his car in north Barrie. “Makes me not want to drive with how expensive everything is.”

“Everything requires gas in the summer,” said Collin Misch. “I like boats, ATV trips and kind of puts a damper on that. Makes you reconsider everything you want to do.”

With reserves slowly being used up, $2 /a litre gas could soon become a norm.

“Two dollars a litre is not far down the road, the fact that we got within four cents of it is, really a symptom of what’s likely to happen,” said McTeague. “It won’t be a question of how long this goes on, because the damage is done. There is a 1.5 billion barrel deficit.”

With the prices continuing to soar, second hand stores are seeing an increase in visits.

“Year over year, we’re starting to see a little more traffic inside the store,” said Scott Simpson, manager of Habitat for Humanity Restore. “Because we do offer affordable prices for people, but for families just starting out as well.”

The store offers delivery services for a charge and has not yet considered a price increase but is actively monitoring the situation.

“We have two trucks in our fleet and at the moment both trucks are on the road,” said Simpson. “With the trucks being out and the price of gas, it does affect our day-to-day operations, our delivery prices are or have not increased yet.”

McTeague said if motorist are on the lookout for cheaper gas to hold out until Friday night if possible.

Gas is expected to drop five cents on Thursday before dropping an additional eight cents on Friday.