PROVIDENCE — Warren Graves allows that his Ford Focus gets good mileage — about 31 miles a gallon — but he grimaced into the setting sun last night as he pumped $20 worth at a Hess gasoline station in the city’s Jewelry District.

“Look at that,” said Graves, nodding toward the reading on the pump, which showed that he got a hair more than 5 regular gallons for his $20, which cost him $3.94 per gallon.

“It’s too much money, I know that,” said Graves. “But I don’t have much choice, I drive to Boston every day.”

As regular gas hovered at $4 per gallon yesterday, motorists in Southeastern New England tightened their belts another notch, vowing to take public transportation more, ride bicycles, pare down vacation plans and grouse a bit about the soaring cost of fuel for cars, trucks and SUVs.

Graves, who lives in Portsmouth, has a job that takes him to Needham, Mass., a Boston suburb, every day. He is working on opening a new location for a Wild Willy’s hamburger franchise, needs his car and says he doesn’t have any alternative than to pay the high prices.

“I’m not too happy with the oil companies,” says Graves.

At the same station last night, Robin Vieira was filling her Ford F-150. Vieira says she doesn’t know how much mileage she gets per gallon, but because the truck is a V-8, “I know it isn’t much.”

These days she tries to take the RIPTA bus from her home in Warren to her job at the Turk’s Head Building in downtown Providence, but said that because she had a meeting yesterday she had to take the truck.

“Isn’t it ridiculous,” said Vieira. “I am lucky that most of the time I have the option of taking RIPTA.”

AAA Southern New England is promoting vacations that keep motorists closer to home in this summer of discontent with motor fuel prices. A survey done three weeks ago by AAA showed that 60 percent of motorists plan no changes in their vacations this summer, but that the high prices are likely to force 40 percent to cut down on summer breaks that involve long drives, says Lloyd Albert, senior vice president for public and government affairs at AAA Southern New England.

“The belief here is that many people may be staying closer to home this year because of the gas prices,” said Albert. “They are still looking to get away but they don’t want to bust their budgets.”

Rather than a cross-country drive, Albert said, AAA is directing motorists to such nearby destinations as the Berkshire hills in Massachusetts, the Finger Lakes of upstate New York, the Green Mountain beauty of Stowe, Vt., and such Canadian locales as Montreal and Quebec City.

“People are still going to want to get away, but they may be looking for a destination within a 300- or 400-miles drive rather than a longer trip,” said Albert. “They also may want to stay one less night or so to save money.”

Amanda Ramirez and Maria Ferreras both of Providence, stopped at the Hess station to fill up, but both said they rely on the RIPTA bus system in these days of soaring gas prices.

Becky Hurwitz, who lives in South Providence but works at a nonprofit agency in the city’s West End, said last night that she rides her bicycle to work as often as possible. “The prices sure are high,” said Hurwitz. “It is really terrible for people who don’t have money, the poor.

“I think some of this has to do with our over dependence on oil,” said Hurwitz. “Maybe for some people, they might think twice before driving and look for alternatives.”

What does it cost to drive

Fenway Park: 101 miles $15.08 $19.90

Wrentham Village Premium Outlets:

47 miles $7.02 $9.26

Pilgrim Monument, Provincetown:

241 miles $35.97 $47.49

Newport mansions:

71 miles $10.60 $13.99

T.F. Green Airport:

17 miles $2.54 $3.35

Colt State Park: 35 miles $5.22 $6.90

Narragansett Town Beach: 65 miles $9.70 $12.81

Empire State Building: 355 miles $52.99 $69.95

Sources

May 30, 2007: $3.03 per gallon (in gray)

May 29, 2008: $4 per gallon (in bold)

Average gas prices provided by AAA Southern New England

Costs assume 20.3 miles per gallon, the average fuel

economy for U.S. vehicles in 2005

Distances based on roundtrips from downtown Providence

smackay@projo.com