Hamptons drivers are facing the Pumpocalypse!
The already high gas prices on the East End of Long Island have broken the once-unthinkable $5 barrier, with one station selling premium for a stunning $5.09 per gallon.
The Coastal station on Three Mile Road in East Hampton has been quietly selling its super-unleaded gas above the five-buck mark for the past two weeks, an ugly fact that city dwellers out for a getaway from the heat are going to have to face this weekend.
The regular gas at the Coastal isn’t much cheaper, coming in at $4.89 per gallon. That’s nearly 90 cents more than the average price of regular on the rest of the Island.
It’s a situation that has Hamptons drivers fuming and at least one politician talking of “price gouging.”
“It’s ridiculous, but what are you going to do? Walk?” said landscaper Mike Alvarado of Springs. “It costs me $100 to fill up when the prices go up in the summer. If you drive a truck or an SUV out here, half your money goes to gas.”
Pool builder Miguel Espinoza, 25, of Southampton, added, “It hits you hard. These prices just don’t stop going up, and all of a sudden you’re paying $80 to fill up.”
The Coastal station owner, who did not want angry drivers to learn his name, said he was forced to raise his prices above $5 because his distributors charge extra to transport their gas out to the East End.
“Once their trucks go past a certain point, they charge more,” he said. “That’s why we have to charge what we charge out here.”
Despite that, other area stations aren’t selling any of their grades of gas for more than $5. Most stations past Southampton were selling gas for between $4 and $4.50 for self-service regular, and $4.20 and $4.70 for full service.
State Assemblyman Fred Thiele, who has been fighting East End price gouging for years, blasted the Coastal station for selling $5 gas.
“I understand that things are going to be more expensive in the Hamptons,” he said. “But when the price difference becomes more than 20 cents a gallon, that’s price gouging.”
Long Islanders are used to facing high gas prices. The average cost of regular across the country yesterday was $3.68, well below the Long Island average of $4.02.
“You expect to spend more for everything in the Hamptons, so I’m not totally surprised,” said Trish Smith, 42, of White Plains, Westchester, as she filled up at Coastal. “When you need gas, you need gas. It’s just one of those things that are just out of your control.”