California’s gas-car phaseout brings turmoil to mom-and-pop gas stations in the Bay Area
California’s gasoline phaseout plan is expected to have a big impact on the Bay Area gas station business.
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California’s gasoline phaseout plan is expected to have a big impact on the Bay Area gas station business.
By
The oil and gas industry has warned that California could go over the $10 a gallon threshold by 2020, but in most regions of the Bay Area’s Bay Area Municipal Utility District, the question isn’t if there will be an economic impact, but when.
The largest impact to gas station owners may be a cut in the number of gas pumps at a time when the supply is so high, according to the utility district. Owners of gas stations could see as few as one or two pumps as a result of the state’s mandatory reduction in gas use for cars and trucks, according to city officials.
The impact of the gas-related reduction is likely to vary by location, but could make the Bay Area’s chain-style gas stations, which have long been dominated by mom-and-pop shop owners, more expensive to operate.
In 2015, the Bay Area BAMUD reported that it had 2,100 gas pumps in its fleet of 1,800 gas stations. By 2020, that number will drop to around 400, and a majority of the pumps will likely be automated, said BAMUD executive director David Johnson.
Johnson said automated pumps are required under the state’s 2015 gas-related phaseout from Jan. 1, but they are unlikely to arrive in the Bay Area until 2018. He explained how automated gas pumps work in a way similar to a car’s cruise control.
“You’ll go to a gas station and push a button, and it’ll automatically pump into your tank and fill up,” he said. “You’ll then sit there and drive to the next location. When you come to another gas station, the pump will know that you’re there and pump your