TOLEDO, Ohio — "Frustrating," "crazy" and "ridiculous."
Those are some of the words used by Toledo residents to describe what they're dealing with at the pump.
Locals are feeling the pressure as gas prices continue to climb. A combination of economic issues at home, pandemic recovery, and Russia's war with Ukraine has created a scenario that's causing the price of oil to spike, and now drivers might want to give pause before heading on their next vacation.
"Yeah I'm thinking twice about it," said Ralph Warren, who was filling up at the Speedway on Talmadge Road in west Toledo. "I wanted to take a trip to Kentucky, to Lexington to visit a friend, and I'm thinking about flying because I'm looking at the gas and weighing the differences."
For Mark Webber, another man at the pump, he says price hikes on fuel hurt everyone, but he's especially concerned about how these prices will affect his daughter and other young adults just getting starting in the workforce.
"They have to get two or three kids to go with them just to rent an apartment, just to survive," Webber said. "That's if they want to be independent. They're going to feel a nick in their paycheck every week, it's like a cut in pay, take a dollar an hour cut in pay, just to get into your car and go to work."
However, not everyone seems intimidated by the rising prices.
WTOL 11 spoke to Christianne Box with Central Travel, who says that despite these additional challenges, people still want to get out and have a vacation after years of restricted travel due to the pandemic.
"I think it is a concern, it's an initial concern that our clients will have, and they might make a comment about the gas prices with the airlines, or how that's going to be affected," she said. "So they know it's going to have an overall effect, but I don't think that deters them from traveling."
While some people might not be deterred by rising prices right now, the locals WTOL 11 talked with said that with Russia's war with Ukraine just heating up, they expect the issues at the pump here at home are just getting started.
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