Gas talk about town

With gas prices hovering at about $1.40 a litre on the West Island, it’s no surprise people are altering their habits, from hopping on the bus or train more often to completely changing their summer plans.

Travel agent Jacqueline Valois from Voyages Jacqueline in Ste. Anne de Bellevue said she has noticed airline prices go up anywhere “between $50 and $250” over the past few months.

According to Valois, while those people who have booked their vacations months in advance should be spared from raised prices, people will soon start feeling the effects of high gasoline costs even more. “It is still possible for people to travel. It all depends on their budget. It can be done,” Valois said, adding it seems people in the West Island are traveling less this season. “But, for sure…it will be more expensive.”

Last month, Kerry Gillings, the owner of Marine Ste. Anne in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, said while it is still too early to tell how high gas prices will impact boaters this summer, he believes there will be some differences this year. “I had a couple of comments, but it’s not just gas prices. Docking is at a premium, and that’s gone up too. It’s a supply and demand thing,” Gillings said.

When he spoke to The Chronicle in June, Gillings said only about 10 boats had come to fill up their tanks at the marina’s gas bar so far. “We’ve had two extremes. We’ve had a $20 fill-up, and we had a $1,000 fill-up” he said. “I feel that the guy who has the $1,000 fill-up isn’t affected, because he can afford it. The guy at $20 to fill up couldn’t care less, because he’s a fisherman and he wants to get out there, and it’s only $20. I think it’s the mid-range person that’s got the used little cabin cruiser for the family. At $200 a weekend, it’s getting a little high.”

Although gas prices are high, Ste. Anne de Bellevue lockmaster James Powis does not think it will affect boat traffic – which, on average, is about 10,000 boats per season. “Most of the people who come through Ste. Anne de Bellevue, I don’ think the prices will affect them very much...And, with the river closed now, because they’re doing work on the (Galipeault Bridge) on Highway 20, I actually expect us to be busier,” Powis said, explaining that smaller boats, which usually could go through the river, will have to go through the locks during the construction period. “We’re the busiest locks in Canada, not counting the seaway, of course.”

The future of pizza delivery is not so positive, though. According to Nick Koutoulogenis, part-owner of Restaurant GiGi in Pointe Claire, something will need to be done if gas prices continue to rise. “We’ll have to take a decision, but what, we don’t know yet,” he said. Like most delivery personnel, the delivery workers at GiGi pay gas out of their own pockets. With their workers delivering to Pointe Claire, Dorval, Beaconsfield, and Kirkland, Koutoulogenis said prices at the pump can really affect their bottom line. “If it continues like this, for sure we’ll have to do something.”

If fuel costs do keep rising, people – and not just pizza delivery workers – might want to consider hoping on a bike. “Some people who have shorter distances (to travel) have already started. Are we going to see more? I think so. There’s a definite trend of people wanting to commute to work by bike,” said Raymond Schiltz, part-owner of Cycle and Sports Paul in Pointe Claire, adding if the weather had been nicer, the cycling season would have started mid-April. “If the weather starts to get nicer, we’ll see a lot more people. No doubt.”