Pay less for gas, drive more?

As gasoline prices plummet in record amounts, motorists, especially those wistful for longer trips, are rejoicing. But will the frugal habits they developed to cope with high gas prices endure as the winter holidays approach?

"I still have to watch it [gas prices] because of the economy," said Aindrea Pease of Minneapolis. "I guess I've made a change."

On Sunday, Twin Cities residents were enjoying some of the cheapest gas in the nation. And the statewide average of $2.82 -- down 74 cents from only a month ago -- could drop to $2.50 by the end of the year, predicted Jason Toews, co-founder of the gas price monitoring website GasBuddy.com.

Nationwide, the average price of regular fell Sunday by a record amount to $3.31 a gallon, according to oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg. That price marks a fall of more than 80 cents, or 20 percent, below the record nationwide average of $4.114, set July 17.

Sunday's drop was the largest in the six-decade history of Lundberg's survey. The previous largest record drop came after Hurricane Katrina in October 2005, when national gas prices dropped 25 cents a gallon.

The price of crude oil, which accounts for about 73 percent of gasoline's pump price, has fallen 46 percent from a record $147.27 a barrel reached July 11. "Lower crude oil prices are the main cause of this record drop,'' Lundberg said. "Secondarily ... is that U.S. gasoline demand has caved.''

From June 2007 to June 2008, the number of miles driven in the United States declined 4.7 percent or 12 billion miles, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

Advocates for commuting alternatives say they believe many people who have scaled back solo driving in recent months are going to stick with their new routines.

"With the economy being so soft, people are looking for ways to save money. One way is to drive less, carpool more and try transit," said Barb Thoman, program director with Transit for Livable Communities, a Twin Cities transit-advocacy group. "I guess I don't think we're going to see the kind of increases in driving we've seen really continue."

Pease, a mother of three who severely cut back on her driving, movies and eating out this summer because of high gas prices, said the money she saves from the recent drop in gas prices will go toward bills.

"When will I drive more?" she said as she fueled up at Bobby and Steve's Auto World on Washington Avenue in Minneapolis. "When the economy is better. Vacation isn't something that's happening for us right now."

Pease typifies today's motorists: frugal, with changed habits they'll observe indefinitely, said AAA Minneapolis spokeswoman Dawn Duffy. Dropping gas prices don't mean much when the economy is in a slump and motorists are scrimping and saving to pay their mortgages, bills and food costs, she said.

Despite the drop in gas prices, Duffy predicts a 1 to 2 percent decrease nationwide in the number of motorists traveling over the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays. That would mirror what happened with this summer's three big holiday weekends, Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day.

"That's tens of thousands -- hundreds of thousands -- of people," Duffy said. "People still want to travel, but people are being smarter about how far they go, how many days they're gone. Staying in an economy hotel instead of a luxury hotel. Packing a cooler instead of eating out every meal."

Metro Transit spokesman Bob Gibbons thinks the decline in gas prices might be of some help to people's budgets. "But I think people have other economic concerns on their minds -- the uncertainty of the economy, the stability of their job, the value of their home, the value of their investments and their retirement accounts. I think that's more than going to offset in a person's mind the decline in gas prices," he said.

University of Minnesota student Nick Reicther said he stopped driving back home to Duluth over the summer, but has recently taken trips to Duluth and La Crosse, Wis., as gas prices eased up.

"It's easier to budget," he said as he filled up his Honda Accord on Sunday evening. "Truthfully, it's still crazy. It's insane to think that $2.93 [a gallon] is reasonable."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. cxiong@startribune.com • 612-673-4391 mcaul@startribune.com • 612-673-7646