This year the gas prices are increasing — again. It shouldn’t be a surprise to any of us by now. When I stood there and filled up my car with gas in January and saw that it was more than $3 a gallon — in January — I knew it would be more than $4 by the Fourth of July.

The gas price increase has noticeable effects. People will start riding public transit more. People will carpool more. People will telecommute more. And in places that accomodate it, people will use alternative means of travel — biking, walking — to get where they need to go.

People will also complain about the gas prices. They will rail on TV and radio that the government needs to do something about it. And they will inevitably pay to get the gas they need.

These are all things we know will happen as gas prices increase. One thing I didn’t expect this year was watching the numbers at various transit industry shows drop just as noticeably. Sure, we can point to EXPO as the reason for this, but I can’t lay blame solely on that show as the reason people are not attending shows.

APTA’s Fare Collection Workshop is a great example of this. While EXPO will definitely have a fare collection component — be it suppliers, seminars or what have you — it is not a show solely dedicated to one aspect of the transit industry.

Picking EXPO over another industry show is like deciding to go to Wal-Mart to get your golf clubs rather than the local golf store. Sure you can get your clubs at Wal-Mart, but you won’t get the same amount of directed attention from experts who can answer whatever question you may have.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think EXPO is definitely a show we all should attend. And I don’t just mean transit executives. With the amount of product and content variety you will find at EXPO, maintenance workers, operators and just about anyone in your agency can (and likely will) find something they can use to benefit your agency there.