COLUMBIA, S.C. — Midlands drivers tell News 19 they are still frustrated as they hunt to find a gas station with gas.
"One time, I had to go way down this street here, and I missed about four gas stations," said Jamil Burke. "It took me about 45 minutes to find a gas station last week.
"I'm still trying to find the lowest prices of gas," said Nitya Wilson. "I just came from Broad Riverside, and those prices are high!"
Gas Buddy reports that 44 percent of gas stations in South Carolina are out of gas. Last week, Gas Buddy reported 52 percent of gas stations were out of gas. However, drivers News 19 spoke with are questioning when gas stations will be fully stocked now that the Colonial Pipeline restarted its system.
"The main pipeline runs from Texas, all the way up to New York," explained AAA Carolinas Spokesperson Ernie King. "The amount of time that the gas takes to travel throughout the pipeline to reach the east coast, where it then can be put on the trucks to be delivered through the different gas stations, is roughly about 14 days.
King says travel agencies expect the gas shortage should be over by Memorial Day weekend. He also says that could impact gas prices as people are trying to travel during the holiday.
"We're hoping our prices start to level out before we hit the peak summer season," explained King. "That season, which is a couple of weeks away, is where gas prices regularly climb; we haven't reached that yet."
AAA tells News 19 that South Carolina gas prices are sitting at an average of $2.87. King says that's a 20 cent increase over the week. King is encouraging drivers to be mindful when filling their tanks. Meanwhile, Midlands drivers say waiting until Memorial Day could be a struggle.
"That's crazy. Why the end of the month," asked Burke. "You have people starving for gas. If we don't have gas in our cars, who is going to work? We aren't going to have the transportation in our cars to go to work. It's not like they going to gives us a ride to get there."