Commuter finds longer drive worth price

Despite rising gas prices, drivers across the state still cling to their zig-zag commutes. For many, it boils down to the disconnect between their two main hubs of life -- home and work.

When The News & Observer asked drivers to keep travel diaries for a week, we were particularly interested to see whether climbing gasoline costs were spurring any changes in our commuter culture.

Melodie Bulluck, 41, was among a number of readers who eagerly signed up. She thought keeping a trip log would be a piece of cake.

"I do this all the time. I time everything," she said. "I'm a fanatic at that."

Bulluck typically uses driving logs to plan trips without wasting a minute. But more recently, she has used her logs to track how much more time she spends on the road since moving from Rocky Mount to Wilson.

The move has tripled what used to be a 7-minute drive between home and the RBC Centura Bank in Rocky Mount where she works. In addition to work, she also drives herself and her 6-year-old son, Daniel, to Rocky Mount three or four times a week to attend church or visit family.

But to Bulluck, the extra travel is worth it.

"I was able to get the type of house at a price I could afford in Wilson," she said.

Bulluck is taking online courses to get state certification as a paralegal. She hopes one day to save on gas by having her own home-based paralegal practice. But she may try to get more experience first in a bigger market, such as Raleigh.

"My commute is going to get longer before it gets shorter," she said.

There are some signs, meanwhile, that others are trying to avoid longer commutes. The Triangle's long-expanding galaxy of suburban satellites has been tightening around its geographic core.

In recent years, townhouses built primarily in Wake and Durham counties have experienced strong sales, relative to the rest of the real estate industry, said Bernard Helm of Market Opportunity Research Enterprises, a Rocky Mount company that tracks residential development trends. The townhouses have attracted buyers who otherwise couldn't afford to live near the Triangle's employment centers.

And gas prices could become a growing factor in people's choices about where to live.

Highest since '86

In the last quarter of 2007, energy costs reached about 6.3 percent of the nation's consumer spending, the highest level since 1986, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

"I'm seeing people paying as much on gas as on a car payment ... people with gas bills half their mortgage," said Rebekah O'Connell, a credit counselor with Triangle Family Services. "That you didn't used to see."

The uptick in gas prices has been hardest on those who weren't making a lot of money to begin with.

Kevin Littlejohn, 23, estimates he burns through $8 to $9 of gas each round trip he makes between Raleigh and Chapel Hill, where he lives with his high school sweetheart.

"That's about an hour's worth of work," said the entomology lab research assistant at N.C. State University.

His girlfriend, a UNC-Chapel Hill senior, doesn't drive, so it makes more sense for him to do the commuting, he said.

For a few semesters on weekends, Littlejohn used to take Triangle Transit Authority buses between the two campuses -- 1 1/2 hours one way. It was easy and free to him as a student. But because of where the recent NCSU graduate works now, he'd have to make several city bus transfers to reach the TTA line.

Every time gas prices exceed $3 a gallon, Littlejohn said, he tries to work longer hours or take work home so he can knock off one day a week of going into the lab. And since June, he has worked a second job at Hookah Bliss, where he keeps tobacco water pipes going, serves beers and chats with customers. It's about a mile away from where Littlejohn lives.

"I figured I could get a cheaper, gas-saving job," he said.