ALAS, THE GAS
THE UNOFFICIAL kickoff to summer will have millions of people on the move on Memorial Day weekend — and for those with cars, it’ll mean high prices at the pump. Gas prices around New York just tipped over the $3-a-gallon mark. Motorists filling up in the city will pay 24 cents more for each gallon than the national average of $2.91.
Still, higher gas costs “do not seem to be putting a damper on the total number of those who are traveling,” said AAA Northeast spokesman Robert Sinclair.
Most people will still drive for their holiday getaways, though Sinclair said there’s been a slight decrease in the share of motorists making the weekend trek out of the city.
Around the country, 41.5 million people will travel, a 5% increase from last year.
Sinclair said that drivers can expect their trips to be nearly three times longer than normal if they try to escape New York from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“We’ve seen increased traffic in our area during normal conditions,” Sinclair said. “When you combine holiday travelers along with commuters on getaway day Friday, I think we’re looking for some epic traffic leading into the holiday weekend.”
Around the region, the Port Authority is prepared for 6 million people traveling by air, car or rail during the three-day holiday.
That includes 3.3 million people using bridges and tunnels, and 1.8 million fliers in airports.
For the airport crowd, the MTA’s LaGuardia Link bus — also known as the Q70 — will be free through the weekend.
The Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North and Staten Island Railway are adding extra getaway trains on Friday.