With oil now at $130 a barrel and gas above $4 per gallon at a sprinkling of stations in the area, higher prices are cutting into the driving habits of some people.
Some drivers say that they are trying to cut back on consumption - walking more, consolidating local errands, forgoing a trip - but that they find it's hard to kick the habit when they live in the car-reliant suburbs.
Dabney, who lives in West Conshohocken and works three miles away at Spring Mill Presbyterian Village in Lafayette Hill, said she uses her car only to get to work and back.
"We don't go anywhere," she said.
A couple of weeks ago when her children wanted ice cream, they walked a half-mile to Scoops in Conshohocken rather than drive. They've cut out trips to the movies, Wendy's and the go-carts park, and she carpools with two other women to go to the grocery store.
After her 7-to-11 a.m. shift, she drives home and parks the car until she goes to work the next morning.
As Memorial Day weekend approaches, the average price for regular gasoline in Philadelphia was $3.84 a gallon.
On the other side of the Delaware River, Mid-Atlantic AAA expects 45,000 fewer Garden State residents will be on the road this weekend, compared with 2007.
However, Jersey Shore business owners said this week that they expect the usual beach crowds. Those drivers will find gasoline is, on average, $3.69 a gallon in New Jersey.
Schane Vonhartleben, 30, would love to imitate Dabney and drive less, but he sometimes has to make two trips a day from his home in Lafayette Hill to the skateshop he owns on South Street. Sometimes he has to go home to tend to his 4-year-old daughter for a few hours in the middle of the day.
He has seen his gas bill shoot up to about $125 every few days.
Yesterday, seeing his hard-earned cash pour into the tank of his Range Rover, he got an idea.
"I'm definitely going to get a motorcycle," he said.
Then he had an even better idea.
