Oil industry analysts are predicting drivers possibly could be paying as much as $5 per gallon by summer.

According to Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.com, as the weather warms up, gas prices will follow.

He said those price increases will begin to accelerate around late March, reaching toward the $5 mark sometime after Memorial Day.

Myra Alvarado said she is worried about the predicted increases. She already is doing everything she can to cope with the current gas prices, including driving two different vehicles.

“I use the little one to do all my small errands,” she said, “and the big one for trips to Houston.”

Alvarado said $5 prices at the gas station could have her pumping pedals instead of gasoline.

“I don’t know, I’m probably going to have to use my bicycle,” Alvarado said. 

For drivers like her, the recent increases, alone, have been tough to bear.

The current average price of unleaded gas in San Antonio is $3.45 — up almost a quarter from a month ago and nearly 50 cents compared to this time last year.

“It's expensive. Unbelievable,” said George Pines. “I'm trying to figure out the reason why because there is no shortage.”

Pines said he blames the increase on speculators who are unnaturally driving up the price of gas.

If things get much worse, gas station owner Hasam Ali said he may have to rethink his business plan.

At $3.39 per gallon, he said the gas at his Fine Food Mart on West Avenue is among the least expensive in the city. 

But while his customers save money, it’s costing him a pretty penny, particularly when they pay with credit cards.

“We have to pay the cost,” Ali said. “They think that we are making money but obviously we are not even making money. We are losing money on the gas."

Ali said he is also selling less gas because of the price increase.  He said more people, lately, seem to be using alternate forms of transportation or carpooling.