Rich Lyons of Hull fills up gas tanks for his boat and lawn tractor on Route 3A at the Hingham Rotary. (GARY HIGGINS/The Patriot Ledger)

By SYDNEY SCHWARTZ
The Patriot Ledger

Amy Ramos of Marshfield usually stops for gas in Whitman on her way to Massasoit Community College in Brockton. She saves 10 cents a gallon that way.

Joe Sammartino of Scituate fills his tank in Hingham during his commute to Boston. He does it because of the ‘‘convenience and reasonably priced gas,’’ he said.

With the approach of summer, gas prices are once again creeping past $3.

The average price for self-serve regular on the South Shore jumped 14 cents to $2.93 a gallon in the Patriot Ledger’s weekly survey. That’s the biggest weekly increase in nine months.

The price is within a penny of what it was a year ago. Prices continued climbing slowly through the summer, peaking in mid-August before plummeting to $2.13 in November.

This year’s spike began in early February and mirrors last year.

For some South Shore residents, higher prices at the pump means it’s time to shop for bargains. Others have been doing that all along.

Several motorists interviewed yesterday said they check out three or four stations in the same area before deciding on one.

But others continue to frequent stations near home, work or along their commute, choosing routine, convenience and loyalty to a brand or station owner over saving money.

Maggie Sprague of Hanover pulled into the full-service Hanover Getty yesterday out of necessity.

‘‘I’m on empty and I was right there,’’ she said.

She picks her gas stations based on convenience, and doesn’t fret about the day-to-day price changes.

But for many, just a few cents makes a difference.

‘‘See, the Mobil is empty over there, just for two cents. It’s unbelievable,’’ Mike Angellis of Hull said yesterday as he stood by the pumps at Super Petroleum on Route 3A in Hingham.

‘‘Honestly, I go to whichever place is the cheapest place. You’ve got a budget. You can only afford so much.’’

Susan Brown of Marshfield said she usually scans three gas stations on the Marshfield-Pembroke line - Gulf, Mobil and Shell - and chooses the one with the lowest price.

Nancy Pitrowiski of Norwell said if there are two stations nearby, she’ll also go for the lower cost.

Yesterday, she chose the 7-Eleven station at Washington and Grove streets, where regular gas was $2.91 per gallon. At the Mobil across the street, it cost $2.93.

But there’s only so much extra driving that makes sense.

‘‘By the time you shop around and drive around, you end up losing a lot of gas,’’ she said.

Still, not everyone puts price above convenience or even habit.

‘‘Generally, the gas gets tanked up here or some place close,’’ said Tom Sullivan of Marshfield, who has been going to the same Citgo station for a decade.

He said he sometimes goes to the Hess station across the street, if he’s going east on Route 139 instead of west. Yesterday, the price at Citgo was $2.89, two cents more than Hess.

Yen Tran, of Whitman, patronizes Go Go Gas on Route 139 in Rockland because her granite countertop business has an account there. Yesterday, she paid $3.13 for full service regular, well above the average price.

‘‘We pay what’s on there,’’ she said.

Why so much?

—Refineries: Many offline for maintenance or changeover to produce summer gas blends.

—Demand: Building after winter slowdown and is higher than last year in U.S.

—Instability: Concern about supplies from Middle East and Africa.

Reporters Diana Schoberg, Jennifer Mann, Andrew Lightman, Kristen Walsh, Karen Goulart and Barry Smith contributed to this report.

Sydney Schwartz may be reached at sschwartz@ledger.com .

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2007/05/03/news/news03.txt