DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 5:46 a.m. September 25, 2008
Trying to find gas? It’s tough all over
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Long lines. Slow pumps. Lots of stations without gas. Although federal authorities lifted North Georgia’s requirement to sell environmentally friendly fuel, metro Atlanta’s gas shortage Wednesday seemed to intensify, or at least remain a huge headache, from a day earlier. Here’s a snapshot of what it was like at six stations around town.
Mike Morris / mmorris@ajc.com
Joe Tierney (in white shirt) and an unidentified motorist, help Joseph McManus push his Jeep up to the Kroger gas pumps after McManus ran out of gas while waiting in line.
Mary Lou Pickel / mpickel@ajc.com
Cars wait in line for gas at a Citgo station on Clairmont Road in DeKalb County. Some drivers waited nearly two hours for gas.
DEKALB COUNTY
Citgo, Clairmont Road
Regular: $4.09
Nidhi Saral waited nearly two hours to get gas at the Citgo on Clairmont Road.
“This is unbelievable,” she said as Unleaded Regular dripped cent by cent into her tank. With every pump going at the same time, pump pressures were close to nil, and it took Saral nearly 30 minutes to get eight gallons.
A dozen cars snaked out of the station’s parking lot and onto the shoulder of Clairmont Road near North Druid Hills Road. As impatient, nearly out-of-gas motorists honked, Saral said she ignored the station’s $10 limit because she needed enough gas to get home to Alpharetta.
“We’ve heard about the gas shortage for over a week, but I didn’t expect this,” Saral said.
Lisa Presmanes waited for more than an hour.
“I was in college in the ’70s during the long gas lines,” said Presmanes, who lives near Emory University. “But this is extraordinary.”
Clerk Tini Patel said she expected the station to run out of gas later in the day.
“I put the limit $10. Nobody can understand,” she said. “They don’t stop.”
SOUTHEAST ATLANTA
BP, at I-20 and Boulevard
Regular: $4.29.
The station got a fresh supply of gas late Wednesday afternoon. There was a steady stream of about 15 cars at 5:30 p.m., and there were no long lines.
It was a welcome sight for Jennifer Cobb of southwest Atlanta.
“I had passed four gas stations coming in from downtown,” she said. All of them were either out of gas or closed. And she was on empty.
Marsha Wassam of Grant Park said she had been looking around town periodically for gas over the past few days, with no luck.
“Good timing,” she said Wednesday evening as she began to fill up, and a short line formed behind her.
COBB COUNTY
Kroger, Cobb Parkway
Regular: $3.97
Think it’s been tough finding gas for the family car this week? Try keeping hundreds of vehicles fueled up. That’s the worry of Joe Tierney of Kennesaw, regional manager for Dish Network, the satellite television provider.
“I actually have about 2,000 vehicles, and we’re going through this every day,” said Tierney, who was waiting in line Wednesday afternoon to fill his Ford Expedition at the Kroger store in Acworth.
“Productivity is way down because guys are out doing their installs, but they’re also looking for gas stations,” Tierney said.
A couple of cars ahead of Tierney was Joseph McManus, whose Jeep ran out of gas just 20 feet from the pumps. Tierney and other waiting drivers helped push the Jeep to the gas nozzle.
McManus, 20, said he had just driven the 30 miles north from Atlanta, and the Kroger was the first station he had found with gas.
“I’ve run out on the highway before, but this is the first time at a gas station,” said McManus, a server at a pizza restaurant.
BUCKHEAD
BP, corner of Piedmont and Pharr roads
No gas
Rhodie Smith, 37, a pharmaceutical salesman from Roswell, had to drive his wife’s 1998 Toyota Camry on Wednesday because his newer car doesn’t take premium, the only kind available at some gas stations.
“It’s bad. I can’t find gas anywhere,” Smith said Wednesday morning as he stopped for snacks at the out-of-gas BP.
A few pumps away, 24-year-old Warren Miles was frustrated at the note on the pump explaining the station was out of gas because of recent hurricanes.
“I’ve driven all up and down Roswell Road and can’t find any,” said Miles, who drives a van for Traffic Technologies Inc. “When is it going to get better?”
More gas was expected later Wednesday, said deli manager Michael Marshall. “At least, that’s what we’re hoping.”
GWINNETT
Shell, at Buford Highway and Jimmy Carter Boulevard
Regular: $4.09
Teddy Tariku finished counting the pennies the customer had given him. It was the last of nine dollars worth of change he’d collected from the sale of two gallons of regular.
Tariku dropped the pennies in the cash drawer and shook his head.
“People are broke,” he said. “They come in patting themselves down for money.”
Tariku understands, because in the two years he has manned the cash register, he has seen how history and happenstance intersect to give life a ragged quality. “It doesn’t get any worse than this,” he said.
At this station, drivers can have as much regular and premium as they can afford.
Ted Poolos, 56, stopped in en route home to Roswell, where if pumps aren’t dry, the long lines make it feel like they are. “It’s amazing,” he said.
At the other Shell just up the road, the only thing available was diesel and hope.
“We just ran out,” said Aziz Mitcha, owner of the station at Buford and Langford Road.
NORTHEAST ATLANTA
Chevron, at Briarcliff and LaVista roads
Regular: $4.29
Robbie Karume, 29, who drives a delivery truck for Peachtree Service Parts, quickly radioed six fellow drivers when he found gas at the busy station.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” Karume said as 10 cars vied for four pumps at the small station.
Twenty feet away, 23-year-old Drew Morris was arguing with a man in a black sports car over who got to the pump first.
“This is ridiculous,” he said before agreeing to let the other man go first.
Judy McDonald, 64, of Virginia Highland finally found gas after hitting three stations earlier Wednesday morning.
As she got 12 gallons of Regular for $53.23, McDonald said she knew the government had temporarily lifted restrictions that would temporarily allow more pollutant gas into metro Atlanta.
“It’s either gas or good air,” she said. “Today, I pick gas.”
– Staff writers Mary Lou Pickel, Gracie Bonds Staples, Mike Morris and Christian Boone contributed to this story.
Services »