Finally, we get some relief at the pump

Have you noticed a little bit of relief when making that dreaded trip to the gas station, lately? Gasoline prices have continued to fall in the Los Angeles area and across the state, which is good news for anyone who needs to purchase gasoline.

According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded dropped to $5.84, on Friday. It’s down 18 cents, from a week ago, and down 55 cents, from a month ago. Now, the statewide average is $5.79 a gallon, which is down from $6.37 a gallon, a month ago.

While the slight price decrease is good news for drivers — and especially commuters — it’s only a start. In order for us to really see some relief, the prices need to drop some more.

We complained about paying $4 a gallon, about a year ago, but most of us probably would be happy to see the return of the $4 gallon of regular unleaded.

So what’s causing the price of gas to drop? New data from the Energy Information Administration indicates that the demand for gasoline is down from last year, which is resulting in lower prices.

Yes, you read that correctly — there’s less demand. That’s rather difficult to believe, especially if you’ve traveled to Los Angeles recently. The traffic is just as bad, if not worse, than it was pre-pandemic.

We thought perhaps the reason for the lower gas prices had to do with the plan to suspend the federal gas tax over the summer months. States were also urged to suspend their gas tax, so when combined, we’d see a significant drop in the price per gallon. However, it seems that’s not the case — at least not yet. So does that mean that prices could drop even further in the coming weeks? It’s a possibility.

However, with lower gas prices comes higher demand because people who had been limiting their travels due to gas prices might be inclined to drive now.

That would probably mean an increase in prices again, even if the gas taxes get temporarily suspended.

It’s a strange back-and-forth situation we seem to be caught in these days. We never know what we’ll get when we go to the pump.

Too bad we can’t go back to the 90s when gas was 99 cents a gallon. Those were the days.