Carmelo Montañez talks about coping with the rising cost of gas on his fixed income.

The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

Holding her yellow umbrella against the sleet, Wanda Pèrez stepped into an urban stream Monday that coursed down Hartford Avenue in Providence. Every few yards, she paused in sodden shoes, shifted a bag from one arm to the other and pressed homeward through the rain.

Given the weather, she would have preferred to drive. But she can’t afford the gasoline.

“Three days ago, I stopped driving — only if I have to,” said Pèrez, who lives in the Hartford Park low-income housing development and works at its community center. “Right now, my son is sick with asthma. I had to take him to the emergency room. I need to use my car, but I try to save for gas. I don’t know what to do.”

The only thing Pèrez can think of is rationing her gasoline-buying to $10 a week. She stopped picking up her youngest child from elementary school, and restricts trips to absolute musts. For the most part, she said, the van in which she transports her children sits idle.

Carmelo Montañez said he’s also limiting his gas-buying. He receives Supplemental Security Income payments for a disability, and lives in subsidized housing.

“It’s $60 right now to fill the tank,” said Montañez. His Mercury Mountaineer gets only 15 to 18 miles per gallon, but Montañez said he needs to drive to doctor’s appointments, buy food and medications, and other essentials.

“Sometimes, I take the bus. Sometimes I go with my friend” to the store,” said Montañez. Sometimes his sister helps out financially.

“The food is expensive, the clothes are expensive — I’ve got medication,” he said. “I don’t know what will happen — every week, everything is more expensive.”

People with low and limited incomes are not the only ones not filling up at the pumps.

“There are no surveys per se, but what we’re hearing anecdotally is people are fixating on filling half a tank,” said Lloyd P. Albert, senior vice president for public affairs at AAA of Southern New England. “People are looking at $60 fill-ups, not even for an SUV, but just a modest American-made car. They’re limiting to half a tank, and filling up more frequently.”

According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of gas in the Providence area yesterday was $3.58.

Said Albert, “There’s no advantage, to be honest, but psychologically it helps to soothe the harsh reality. You hear about this from colleagues, from people you work with, from family and friends who are struggling to pay the bills.”

The fact that many poor people cannot afford a decent car only worsens their situation.

“It’s very often the case that people of limited means often drive some of the oldest cars in the U.S. fleet,” said Albert, “and maybe often they’re second- or third-hand cars that have been traded up by others for more efficient cars. Consequently, they’re getting some of the worst fuel economy of any of the cars out there on the road today.”

And, if you are strapped for cash, said Albert, “you may be deferring routine maintenance, again causing you to eat up more fuel. Both of these factors come into play. It’s kind of a nasty circumstance.”

Outside the Department of Human Services office on Elmwood Avenue in Providence yesterday, some clients said they were restricting their driving, when possible — but sometimes driving is their only option. Even then, they’ve cut back.

“I only put about $15 in each time,” said Kayla Harper, 19, of Providence, who receives some state medical assistance and school aid. “I’m walking a lot,” whenever possible, she said, “but I go to school in Lincoln. It makes it hard.”

Stacy Smith, of Riverside, is a single parent and Rhode Island College student, who also works 20 hours a week in Newport. She receives food stamps and childcare through the state.

“It’s horrible,” she said, of the rising gasoline prices. “It kills me. This week alone, I’ve already put $60 in.”

Smith said she drives through Fall River to avoid the Pell Bridge tolls. She tries to go food shopping or do other errands in between work or school, and picking up her son at an afterschool program. She would like to buy a smaller, more fuel-efficient car, “but I own this one — I don’t have any car payments. And until I finish school, I have to keep the car I have.”

Social-service agencies say the gas crisis is apparently keeping some clients away – even for food.

At the Jonnycake Center in Wakefield, executive director Susan Gustaitis said at least 10 parents failed to show up for the extra boxes of food distributed during the April school vacation.

Normally, 45 families — regular clients who among them have 105 children — take advantage of the program, Gustaitis said.

“It was quite significant … and when we called up and said, ‘Gee, what happened?’ that’s what we found out,” said Gustaitis. Most of those families did not have the gas money, “and we had not anticipated that problem.”

Gustaitis added, “We’re also seeing people carpooling” to the center.

Deb Nigrelli, executive director of the St. Mary’s-St. James Community Food Pantry and Outreach Center — a multiservice, nonprofit agency in Charlestown, said skyrocketing gas prices are creating acute problems for clients in an area that lacks public transportation.

“Somebody might say, ‘You haven’t seen me for awhile — not because I didn’t need food. It’s because I couldn’t afford to get here,’ ” said Nigrelli. “We see people who are saying they can’t afford the price of gas to get to work. People can’t get to medical appointments, food-stamp certifications …”

Nigrelli said, “I have one lady who is homeless — technically — and living in a hotel . She’s really struggling to get gas to go to her minimum-wage job.” The woman would like to find a job closer to the hotel, but that too, requires gasoline that the woman cannot afford.

“There are no real services in southern Rhode Island, especially transportation. The general public thinks, ‘Oh, Charlestown — it’s affluent.’ But we have approximately 2,000 individuals in need right now of services. People are in a panic state, they can’t afford food,” Nigrelli said.

Clients are lucky if they can afford the gas to drive to the food pantry, she said, “to offset some of their other bills they have.” MORE EFFICIENT DRIVING

AAA of Southern New England recommends the following to increase gas mileage and lessen fuel consumption:

•Consolidate errands

•Put less weight in the car by emptying your trunk and removing the roof rack, unless it is in use.

•Make sure tires are inflated properly.

•As summer approaches, use air conditioning conservatively. Most air conditioners have an “economy” or “recirculation” setting that reduces the amount of hot outside air that must be chilled.

To check local gas prices (in some cases updated by the hour), visit the AAA of Southeastern New England Web site at aaa.com (click on “search gas prices nearby”); or go to www.gasbuddy.com; or www.rhodeislandgasprices.com.

kziner@projo.com