BYLINE: James Cummings jcummings@DaytonDailyNews.com
DATE: April 19, 2005
PUBLICATION: Dayton Daily News (OH)
SECTION: News
PAGE: A1

DAYTON — Kevin Burnley lives in the University Row neighborhood of northwest Dayton, and he used to complain about how far he had to drive to work in Kettering. The commute he’s been doing for the past year, however, puts the jaunt to Kettering to shame.

“Mercy Healthplex,” Burnley said. “It’s in Anderson Twp. east of Cincinnati. On a good day when the traffic isn’t too bad, I’m in the car an hour each way.”

For most of us, the recent gasoline price spike that drove the charge for a gallon of regular gasoline up into the $2.35 was a headache. For people like Burnley who commute more than 100 miles a day, it was an aneurism.

When the price of gasoline goes from $1.49.9 per gallon — the price from a couple years ago — to $2.34.9 — as it did about a week ago — a 14-gallon fill-up increases in price from $20.99 to $32.89. And if you’re a super commuter who has to fill up several times a week, that is a formula for financial disaster.

“Some people’s fantasy is to hit the Lotto,” said Mike Hedge of Kettering. “My fantasy is a five-minute drive to work.”

Hedge is a partner in Perdatum, a software development company with offices in Columbus. His daily commute from home to work is about 75 miles each way.

Michelle Theve drives every day from her home in Dayton’s South Park neighborhood to her job at the Procter & Gamble offices in downtown Cincinnati.

“I’ve been spending about $100 a week for gas,” Theve said. “I got really excited when gas prices got back down to $2.04.”

Gas prices were as high as $2.23 per gallon for regular last weekend but have continued to slide. Many stations are selling regular gas for about $2 a gallon.

Theve, 33, said her pay as a reporting coordinator for Procter and Gamble is the only income for the household she shares with a partner and a teenager.

“My partner is a full-time student at Sinclair, and she has a car that she drives herself and the teenager around in,” she said. “But it’s the gas for my car that’s really killing us.”

Theve said all the family can do is cut back on expenses, including food, and wait for gas prices to become reasonable again.

“I’m pretty happy with my job, and I can’t afford to move,” she said.

Hedge, 43, is divorced and has a daughter at home who’s attending Wright State University. He said his calculations show it’s cheaper for him to commute to Columbus than it would be to move to Columbus and pay room and board fees for his daughter.

One change he’s considering is trading in his eight-cylinder Lincoln Continental for a more fuel efficient Turbo GTI Volkswagen Jetta..

Hedge said the only place in his budget where he can make cuts is in entertainment expenses. Paying high prices for gas means there’s little left for movies, eating out, golf and other pastimes.

Burnley, 46, is making the biggest change to lower his gas expenses. He has put his house up for sale and is looking for a home closer to his job.

He recently switched careers after training at the Dayton School of Medical Massage, and he found a very good job in Cincinnati as a massage therapist.

“We love our house, we love our neighborhood, but I love my job,” he said. “Something’s got to give, and the financial issues got the final vote.”

Burnley, Theve and Hedge all find the situation frustrating for a couple of reasons. For one thing, they say their lives would be a lot simpler if there was reliable public transportation such as commuter trains connecting Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus.

And they say something has got to be done to keep gas prices under better control.

“Every year the average gas mileage cars get seems to get lower, and the price of gas gets higher,” Burnley said. “There’s something wrong with this picture.”

LISA POWELL/DAYTON DAILY NEWS GAS PRICES can be a major expense for people like Kevin Burnley of Dayton, who commutes 130 miles roundtrip daily to his job in Cincinnati.