Having trouble affording your gas? As busy students, we usually just get gas at the cheapest, most convenient place along our daily routes toward school or work. But a new resource paired with rising gas prices may change our automatic auto habits.
MSN now has a website called MSN Auto that collects gas pricing data from local gas stations on a regular basis. When a user enters a zip code, the site generates a map with icons showing local gas stations. But perhaps more importantly, a list below the map shows the price of gas at each station.
I became interested in MSN's new service primarily after receiving my most recent bank statement in the mail. Indeed, grad students don't make all that much while they're studying hard to get through grad school. So I typed in the zip code for Stony Brook and found some useful results: As of 6 June 2006, a Sunoco on Hwy. 25 near Nicolls Road had the area's lowest gas price at $3.02/gallon. The worst price was at $3.30/gallon, at the Shell station in the Stony Brook village shopping area.
If you're not interested in buying seemingly designer gas from Stony Brook's posh village on the sound, this convenient web service provides an ingenious way to battle rising gas prices. The idea is that as sales increase at the lower priced gas stations and sales decrease at the higher priced stations, the higher priced stations will have to lower their prices in order to increase their sales. The result is more uniform competition and less local monopolization, which can often occur for gas stations located in highly trafficked areas.
Check out the site to enjoy a nice cruise in your car or a trip to the convenience store down the street without continually having to worry about breaking the bank.
By Shawn Pottorf
Leave Feedback
Printer Friendly Format