KANSAS CITY — As he pumped $4.09-a-gallon gas into his car in the Kansas City suburb of Fairway this week, Joel Kruse was a little surprised to learn he would pay 20 to 30 cents less at some rural stations.
Not that he would ever drive into the country just to refuel, but "if I get out there, I'll make it a point to fill up," said Krus.
Motorists who get around more than Kruse does know gas prices may fall as they get farther from Kansas City, especially on the Missouri side of the Missouri-Kansas border that bisects this urban center.
For instance, on Friday morning the average price per gallon of regular gasoline in Kansas City was $3.95, according to the daily survey by the AAA motor club. The lowest price was $3.89.
Travel south on U.S. 71 in Missouri, and prices start dropping. In Belton, 10 stations had gas at $3.79 a gallon. Keep going, and you’d find prices as low as $3.75 in Lamar and $3.73 in Neosho in the state’s southwest corner.
Motorists who stop at the Fastrip in Lamar are happy about the $3.79 price of gas, manager Carla Miller said.
"We’re cheapest they've found," Miller said. She has no explanation, except that "we're a small town."
The urban-rural difference is not as significant in Kansas, the survey indicates. One factor may be that the excise tax on gas is 7 cents higher in Kansas than in Missouri.
But nine stations sold gas for $3.80 a gallon in Hutchinson, Kan., which was about 17 cents cheaper than the lowest price in Overland Park. Most Kansas towns, however, were closer to the Overland Park figure.
Gas prices are known to fluctuate widely by day and location, even within a single community or neighborhood.
"They make no rhyme or reason," said Phil Pardon of Westwood, Kan., a K.C. suburb that sits right on the state line as he filled up at the same station as Kruse. "I’ve just almost gotten beyond questioning them.”
Competition and the cost of the gas to the dealer at the time of purchase are two factors in price discrepancies.
Additional reasons come into play when comparing urban and rural prices, dealers say.
Gas may be cheaper in rural areas because overhead costs such as rent and taxes are lower than in the city.
But the main factor appears to be that gas dealers in the five-county Kansas City area are required to sell a lower-emissions fuel in summer months to reduce pollution.
That type of gas can cost 10 to 20 cents more per gallon, dealers said. Gas dealers in Jackson, Clay, Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas must sell it between June 1 and Sept. 15, said James Joerke, air quality program manager for the Mid-America Regional Council.
The extra cost of that fuel is the "overwhelming reason" why the price per gallon at the QuikTrip store on Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City on Friday was $3.98, or 18 cents more than at a QuikTrip in Belton in Cass County, corporate spokesman Mike Thornbrugh said.
Mike Right, spokesman for the AAA in the St. Louis office, said AAA had not studied the price of gasoline in urban vs. rural areas. Other than having to sell more expensive fuel in summer, he said, there should be no major price differences.
Joerke is not convinced there is a pattern of lower prices in rural areas, outside of the higher cost of the low-emissions fuel. The price at the pump in a small town is just as likely to jump 10 or 20 cents in a day as in the city, he said.
"There are just so many variables that go into gas prices, it's hard to say what's what," Joerke said.
One downtown Kansas City worker who lives in eastern Jackson County said she needed gas one day this week but decided to take a chance she had enough to get home, where the price was $3.87 per gallon instead of $4.09 at the Valero station at 17th Street and Grand Boulevard.
Station manager Koty Attaluri said he is aware the price of his gas is at the top of the range in Kansas City, but he said it reflects the price he paid for it when delivered a week earlier. Stores that buy gas more often can cut prices when their purchase price drops, he said.
Most of the Valero store's business is for food and convenience items anyway, Attaluri said. Customers who buy gas do so for the convenience of the downtown location, he said. But that location also comes at a high rental cost, he said.
Independent stations sometimes have to pay more for gasoline than do chain stores, such as QuikTrip, which buys in greater volume. That is a factor in the price of gas at the Shamrock store at 47th Street and Mission Road in Kansas that also is home to Oklahoma Joe's Barbeque, said manager Peggy Aguilar.
Gas at the Shamrock outlet was $4.03 in the middle of this past week. Owner Jeff Stehney said the store loses money on gas and will be getting out of the business.
But that's good news for barbecue fans: Stehney said he'd be expanding Oklahoma Joe's takeout operation in about four months.
