Philadelphia-area transportation businesses, employees navigate rising gas prices
Gas prices are climbing back above $4 a gallon, which is putting a strain on the transportation industry in the Philadelphia area.
According to AAA, the average price of regular gasoline in the five-county Philadelphia region Monday is $4.15 a gallon. That's up 19 cents in the past week. The average is $4.08 a gallon in South Jersey and $3.91 in Delaware. Nationally, the average sits at $4.11.
For Jess Declet, a single mom from Concord Township, those prices are taking a toll.
Declet owns Wingmom South PA, a private transportation company she started in 2022. Her team of 65 drivers provides rides for about 1,500 clients across Delaware and Chester counties. Clients include seniors heading to doctors' appointments, students going to school and travelers catching flights.
"It hurts for sure to fill up," Declet said after stopping at Wawa on Chichester Avenue in Upper Chichester, where a gallon of regular cost $4.15. "It's costing me well over $70 to fill up my tank."
Despite rising costs, Declet said she has not raised prices for her customers. But the spike in gas prices is affecting how her business operates.
Some of her drivers are now turning down longer trips because the cost of fuel cuts too deeply into their earnings.
"For instance, if I have a Wingmom who lives out in Media," Declet said. "She may have to decline helping a client that lives all the way in Avondale. Unlike a lot of other companies, we have a minimum of one hour to help a client, so it may not be worth it to that Wingmom driving such a distance for only one hour's worth of work."
The effects of higher fuel prices aren't limited to cars.
At New Garden Flying Field, a small regional airport in Toughkenamon, Chester County, pilots are also paying more to fill up. Fuel there is now around $6 a gallon.
"The average pilot today on a general aviation aircraft is going to spend anywhere between $200 and $300 to fill up," Jon Martin, director of aviation at New Garden Flying Field, said.
The airfield is home to about 130 planes and dozens of student pilots. While Martin said flight activity hasn't dropped yet, he warned that sustained high prices could deter people from flying.
"The higher the cost of fuel," Martin said, "the higher that we're going to have to charge more for people to learn to fly."