The Fast Trip Gas Station on Chestnut and Clinton looked like a parking lot. People were lining up, to fill up.
Shane Shepherd said, "It's a blessing now that its the holiday times, maybe we can actually travel this year."
Mary Rangel said, "Man, I'm on a fixed budget, so it means a lot to be able to save some money."
Many people thought they wouldn't see the day that gas would fall below the $2.00 mark, but we went back in our archives and found a time when people were complaining because gas was a dollar fifty.
It was May, 1996 back then, Fresno City College Economist Henry Nishimoto told our cameras. "My guess is that they'll probably back them down to about a $1.40 a gallon and it'll give everybody a sense of relief. People at that point will be interestingly satisfied."
Today, Nishimoto says prices this low are unexpected. "We thought gas would continue to rise, but there's been a number of shifts in the market lately that have driven gas prices down."
Those shifts come from a surplus in oil and Americans driving less.
As long as the trend continues for lower demand and greater output, we'll see gas prices continue to fall, but my guess is gas prices have pretty much bottomed out at this point.
The ARCO station just down the block is also selling gas for $1.99. Economists expect prices to jump back up sometime this spring. Until then, your best bet is to fill up, while you still can.
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