Gas prices around the United States have recently reached prices that haven’t been seen in years. Utah had the lowest with Idaho close behind. Other states like California barely made it under $3.00.

By February 1, 2015 Utah’s lowest marked gas price was under $2.00 but it unfortunately didn’t stay that low for long. Only a few weeks later prices started to rise drastically. The first week in February the average price was $2.03 per gallon and the following week prices raised $0.35. Utah has one of the highest increase within a months time.

To compensate for the low prices state lawmakers approved the rise of Utah’s gas tax from 5 cents per gallon to the current tax of 24.5 cents per gallon. The last time legislators added to the tax was back in 1997. The reason why they added the tax was to keep up with inflation so they can focus on maintaining roads in more rural areas. The tax won’t be in effect until later in the year.

While the prices remain lower than last year, it is not an excuse to drive more. Public transportation organizations are hoping that commuters will use the savings from gas and put them towards using a more effective way of transportation like biking, TRAX, and other public transportation.
Many students at Bingham drive to school regularly and with the cheap prices it may seem more effective to drive to school every day. Carpooling to school is a great way to save even more money because who knows how much longer prices are going to remain this low.