Two shameless Citgo stations in the Bronx have drivers over a barrel - they're charging more than $4 for a gallon of gas, according to the NY Daily News.
The $4.09 price for regular is 10% higher than the city average and the highest in the nation outside of four stations in California.
The apparent gouging enraged motorists and could land the stations in hot water with the city, which leases them the land on the opposite sides of the Hutchinson River Parkway.
"It's highway robbery - literally," said Miz Donnelly, 42, of Norwalk, Conn., who stopped at one station just to use the bathroom.
"I'd rather run out ... than fill up here. Tell you the truth, I'd rather walk home."
Pete Wolski, 48, filling up a rental car while visiting from Chicago, called it "awful."
"But what can I do?" he asked. "I need the gas and have no choice."
With unrest in the Middle East pushing up oil prices, the city's average for a gallon of regular was up to $3.65 yesterday - compared with $2.90 a year ago.
The national average was $3.37, the Oil Price Information Service said.
A Chevron in Bakersfield, Calif., was charging the most yesterday - $4.29 per gallon of regular, the service said.
The Citgo attendants were unapologetic - and inaccurate - when asked about the cost.
"That's the price," an attendant told a Daily News reporter who paid $10 for just 2.44 gallons of regular. "It's $4 everywhere."
The Citgos lease the land from the city, paying an average of $177,777 per year in rent or 3% of their gross receipts - whichever is larger, said a Parks Department spokesman.
After a complaint about rising prices in August, the city fired off a warning letter to the stations' operator, the ironically named Supervalue.
It noted that its license with the city bars it from charging more than the area's going rate.
A spokesman for the Parks Department said yesterday that the agency is investigating the latest hike and "will determine appropriate next steps."
Councilman Jimmy Vacca (D-Bronx) has an opinion about what that should be.
"They're pigs. Their lease should be terminated," Vacca said. "They have a history of overcharging, and this is just the latest and most egregious example of their greed."
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