A gallon of diesel or gasoline cost school bus fleets less over the past week on average, ending the month on another decline, except in the West Coast region, where gasoline jumped about 6 cents.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that gasoline runs about $3.34 per gallon on average across the nation. The average price of diesel fell from $4.38 to $4.29.

Current average fuel prices by region (gasoline/diesel):

• East Coast: $3.24/$4.47

• Midwest: $3.17/$4.12

• Gulf Coast: $2.91/$4.03

• Rocky Mountain: $3.78/$4.56

• West Coast: $4.25/$4.93

The average cost per gallon of gasoline is down more than 17 cents compared to last month. Diesel prices, although they continue to drop on average, remain about 19 cents higher than this time last year.

“Some nine out of 10 states saw declines over the last week, so the drops are showing up for most across the country, with the exception of the West Coast as the transition to summer blends continues, and in the Great Lakes, where prices cycled last week but have now resumed declining,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “For the weeks ahead, tradition tells us to expect prices to move up eventually, but that could be at least partially offset by inflationary data that continues to be hotter than expected, leading to anxiety that the Fed will boost interest rates and cooling the economy and oil demand considerably.”

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