Ithaca's first gas station, grooming cars rather than horses, opened about 1909. By 1956 gasoline sales were everybody's business, with 59 gas stations in the city. The Arab oil embargo of 1973 helped major oil companies shut off independent suppliers, so today there are I I stations citywide, with 25 in the entire county. They pump about 35,000,000 gallons per year. This volume of liquid power would fill the Seneca Street parking ramp twice.
Top sales are logged by Chuck's Self Service Mobil, at State and Meadow. According to manager Chris Osborne, city gasoline use floods in May for graduations, then dips in June before tourists replace students. Every purchase from his 30,000-gallon tank registers a new tank level on his computer. From this he calculates how much to order for the next seven days, considering football schedules and weather forecasts. His orders stimulate spot and bulk orders which revise truck schedules and deliveries into the pipeline. Other major buyers of gasoline and diesel include:
ITHACA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT: 56 buses using about 140,000 gallons of diesel per year escort about 2,250 students a million miles, at seven miles per gallon. Agway, which has a refinery in Texas City, Texas, delivers to the District's 20,000 gallon tanks on Bostwick Road. Forty maintenance vehicles also use up to 20,000 gallons of gasoline yearly.
ITHACA POST OFFICE: 43 trucks and jeeps, drive 600 miles daily, 18,000 miles monthly or nearly to the moon each year to deliver our mail, using 24,000 gallons annually.
TOMPKINS COUNTY AIRPORT: The 4,167 commercial takeoffs every month consume over 120,000 gallons of kerosene, called avjet. Headwindy days may demand more, brought from a 20,000-gallon tank. East Hill Flying Club's piston engine fleet uses low-lead avgas. These fuels are delivered by oil tankers to New York and New Jersey refineries, to the trucks of Ontario Fuels to Taughhannock Aviation's airport tanks. From there fuel trucks fill wings.
ITHACA TRANSIT: Nine diesel buses on eight routes used 65,000 gallons last year to cover 293,419 miles. Older buses are being replaced to meet emission standards. Manager Bernard Carpenter says, "I'd rather see one bus on the street than 35 cars. Heavy traffic costs the city more for street maintenance."
TOMTRAN (6 buses) and CORNELL TRANSIT (18 buses): About 120,000 gallons delivered last year by truck from a pipeline at Binghamton.
CORNELL: Burns over 200,000 gallons of #6 fuel oil yearly, for one per cent of campus heating and electricity.
COLLINS GARBAGE DISPOSAL SERVICE: 12 garbage trucks carrying 15-18 loads per day use 36,600 gallons of diesel per year.
NYSEG: The utility itself needs 100,000 gallons of unleaded and 50,000 of diesel for the service fleet. NYSEG's service record is the best of all NYS utilities.
CITY OF ITHACA: Consumed 250,907 gallons in 1987. Two-thirds is gasoline, the rest diesel. They bought gasoline at 61 cents per gallon.
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