$4 gas rolls in at the pumps
State's drivers express shock
Over the past week, from Provincetown to Pittsfield, the once unthinkable has become the inevitable: The cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gas is crossing the $4 mark - and rising.
While the average price of regular unleaded in Massachusetts yesterday stood at $3.97, the average on Cape Cod, in much of the western part of the state, and at gas stations throughout Greater Boston exceeded $4.
The pain at the pump - a now all-too-hackneyed expression - has left drivers experiencing a mix of fury and despair for months. But with prices now 33 percent higher than at the same time last year, according to AAA, it seems we've crossed a new emotional fault line.
"This may be the first time that people are really psychologically hit by the price," said Art Kinsman, a spokesman for AAA Southern New England. "Whatever that magical number is, I think we've hit it."
At the Mobil station at the corner of Albany and Berkeley streets in the South End, where the price of regular unleaded yesterday was $4.06, Josh Lemay watched the digital price display tick and tick as he filled his 2005 Chevy Silverado.
It was $75, then it was $80. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Then it was $85. The ticker stopped at $90.25.
"Wow," said Lemay, a parking company director from the South End who was paying for midgrade at $4.15 a gallon. "That's definitely a first."
Lemay said he remembers not too long ago when a full tank cost $54. Now, he's trying to cut back. "I tend to do a lot more walking," he said.
At some gas stations, it's becoming an increasingly dangerous job to collect cash.
Jay Abed has heard the cursing from the many cabdrivers who visit his station on Boylston Street in the Fenway, where the price of regular yesterday was $4.05 and premium $4.29.
"They ask if they can talk to the boss" about the price, he said.
But the Shell station cashier said he empathizes with them. He recently exchanged his Dodge Ram, which cost more than $100 to fill, for a motorcycle, which costs $17.50 to fill.
"What are you going to do?" Abed said, adding that his customers' average fill of about $25 is now more than $50. "We have no choice. We have to live our lives."
Shortly afterward, Leonard Nomura, a lawyer from the Fenway, pulled up in his 2001 BMW M3 and paid $65.52 for 15 gallons of gas.
"If I commuted, I'd probably be killing myself," he said. "This gets terrible gas mileage."
At the Shell station across from Magazine Beach in Cambridge, where the price of regular unleaded is $4.02 and premium $4.23, employees had to use a marker on the back of another number because there weren't enough fours.
Arsenio Francisco, a computer technician from Cambridge in a 2004
"It's outrageous; that's the only word that comes to mind," he said after stopping at $46.58.
"You have to be more conscious of where you go. You have to do everything in one trip."
Judy Browning, an attendant at the station for five years, said business has slowed. She said her customers are increasingly buying smaller increments of gas - $10, $20 at a time.
"Nobody likes it, including us. . . . We're not making any more money," she said.
In Plymouth, some drivers pulling into the Verc Mobil Mart seemed unfazed by the $4.05 cost of regular unleaded.
"I expected it; I just don't want to pay it," said Nick Beaumont, who said it costs about $60 to fill his 2000 Chevrolet Blazer.
Deborah Peck, a clerk at the station, said the price first exceeded $4 several days ago.
She's glad she lives close enough that she can walk to work.
"It's ridiculous," Peck said.
"The milk here is cheaper than the gas."
A gallon of whole milk in the mart sold for a relative bargain at $2.79.
For Beaumont, there's no escape from the high prices. He has to commute from Plymouth to Wayland for work.
"There's no extra money; it all goes into the tank," he said. "I'm working to pay for gas and transportation."
John C. Drake and Noah Bierman of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents Alex I. Oster and Matt Collette contributed to this report.
