Gasoline is now at $3 a gallon in Maine, and higher in some areas.

The end to the increases is nowhere in sight, and apparently Mainers are changing their driving habits to adjust to the meteoric rise in prices.

Customer attendance at the big-box stores is trending way down. People are looking for more and better ways to conserve gas and preserve already stressed family budgets.

Maine, as a rural, expansive state, is dependent on gasoline and the private automobile. Other options for public travel, such as trains and buses, are limited, and subways and monorails are nonexistent.

Some cities offer city buses, which can be cost effective in some situations. Weekend and evening bus hours, however, are spotty at best. When taking the bus, gasoline and vehicle wear and tear are avoided and riders save the cost of paying for parking. That could save $30 to $60 a month or $360 to $720 per year.

In some areas, city buses have an image problem, which becomes a barrier to its use. Some schoolchildren turn up their noses at the service, using derisive names like “welfare wagon” and “loser cruiser.”

But for most folks, this service is about saving money, not image. In Bangor, for a monthly bus pass of $34, or roughly the equivalent of 11 gallons of gasoline, one can ride the BAT to the full extent that the bus schedule permits. With increased ridership and an anticipated 700,000 individual trips in 2006, many locals are saving serious money on the red and black city chariots.

For many citizens, however, the only real choice is the car, pickup or SUV parked in the dooryard.

Squeezing as many miles per gallon as possible, planning trips more carefully, and other strategies are in play.

While not rocket science, there are literally hundreds of gas saving suggestions that run the gamut from good, bad, and ugly. A quick Google search of the Internet will identify hundreds of gas savings sites each with a number of tips to save gas.

Here are a few categories under which most efficiency tips fall:

. Driving more efficiently.

. Keeping your car maintained at peak efficiency.

. Planning and combining or eliminating trips.

. Choosing a more fuel efficient vehicle.

The old management axiom – “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” surely rings true for maintenance and operation of your private vehicle.

Keeping accurate records and maintenance details can add money to your pocket that won’t go out the tailpipe of your car.

The simple practice of reviewing the weight of every optional item that goes into your car, from the glove compartment to the trunk, and carrying only what is essential will save you gasoline.

Steel-chain tow chains in the trunk or other weights used to help control the car on ice or snow should be evaluated and hard choices made. There are many road warriors who choose not to carry a spare tire at all, but do carry lighter aerosol cans to inflate a tire in the remote possibility of a flat tire on the road.

Gas shortages are not new.

Many still remember the gas rationing of World War II and the windshield stickers of that time, the oil crisis in 1973 with the long lines at the pump.

If you don’t have a locking gas cap, maybe now is the time to get one.

Mainers who keep their powder dry and implement a few, new additional conservation measures can reap the benefit of maximizing the use of their private vehicles and saving money.

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast Contact for Better Business Inc., Maine’s membership-funded, nonprofit organization and America’s oldest consumer advocacy agency of its kind, established in 1972. For help, write to Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1339, or email consumerhelp@bangordailynews.net.