For the past two years I’ve lived in New York City and therefore have had no need for a car. The pains of gas price increases went completely unnoticed. In the past week, though, I’ve been doing a ton of driving and therefore have had to top off the tank a few times. It was an easy reminder of why I chose the city life. Gas can get expensive, and it seems like the most conveniently located stations have the highest priced gas. It came as a disappointment, then, that I didn’t come across the GasBuddy application until after I finished my driving duties yesterday. It would have been used frequently during the past week to help me find the closest and cheapest gas stations.
There’s really not much to operating the app. You search either using your GPS location or by zip code. GasBuddy then brings up a list of gas stations in the area and their prices, sorted by distance. It’s not a perfect measure, at least in my tests. It appears that searching by location isn’t perfect, and that it might give you a few stations further away before it gives you stations that are actually closer.
From there you can click on a station to view details. This includes the prices, how long ago they were noted, and who noted them. It also includes lists of amenities, such as restrooms, convenience store, and payment style. Once you’ve checked out the details of various stations, you can then enter into Google Maps to view them. That should help determine which ones are actually closer.
The app works best with all users participating. You might notice that some stations don’t have any prices, and some don’t have pricing beyond regular. You can input these values and submit them. That will only make the app work better. You can also snap a picture and upload it if you’re kind enough. I’m not sure that feature will get a ton of use.
Not only is GasBuddy useful, it’s also free. You can get it at the market by scanning the QR code.
Via Talk Android.
