| September | October 2005 Volume 79 Issue 4 |
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| President's Message
Fill ‘er up—with your ideas
The price of gas is at the top of most people's minds these days. Everyone complains about it. The media ask AAA regularly to report on it. AAA has been reporting gas price information since the Arab Oil Embargo price spikes in 1973. At that time, AAA started calling gas stations in order to find reliable price information to help motorists shop wisely. With the advent of the Internet, information became just a click or two away. In 2000, AAA introduced its first website to track gas prices, with averages calculated five days a week from the prices at 85,000 gas stations nationwide. AAA is world-renowned as one of the largest travel publishers, including TourBooks, maps and detailed trip routings called TripTiks. AAA members started to inquire about fuel costs to go on road trips as well. In 2003, AAA responded by introducing its second gas price website, accessed through www.aaa.com/fuelgauge. This website allows motorists to type in the make, model and year of their vehicle to find accurate fuel costs for their journey. Just this past Memorial Day, AAA announced another new website, Fuel Price Finder, which is accessed through www.aaa.com/fuelgauge. Fuel Price Finder tracks local gas prices daily, allowing drivers to find the cheapest gas within a particular zip code or city throughout the U.S. This ser-vice is exclusively available via AAA's website. Little did we know how popular this service would become. Within only a few hours of its debut, so many viewers accessed the website that it had to be taken offline temporarily and given greater capacity. Now back with an improved ability to handle high volumes of traffic, it is one of our most popular online services. But is there something more that AAA can do to provide the reliable gas- or travel-related information that you need? As gas prices continue to rise, what would you like us to focus our reporting and educational efforts on? Gas saving tips? Car maintenance? Documentation for overseas travel? Traveling alone? We welcome your ideas. One of our primary goals at AAA is to help you maintain life-long safe mobility, no matter what mode of transportation or where you want to travel. We want you to be better informed so you can have safe and enjoyable travel experiences. So share your ideas with us! Send them to me at president@colorado.aaa.com or at 4100 E. Arkansas Avenue, Denver, CO 80222. Tony DeNovellis
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