Exploding gasoline prices have caused a big jump in ridership on the GRTC Transit System's commuter bus routes, the system's chief says.

From April 2007 to last month, the biggest jump in riders was on the two express routes serving Chesterfield County, which saw ridership grow 80 percent -- from 5,018 to 9,050.

Riders using express routes from Henrico County to downtown Richmond increased 9.5 percent to 22,252 last month and riders using GRTC's Virginia Commonwealth University commuter service jumped 25 percent to 104,062.

GRTC CEO John Lewis Jr. said the ridership increase can be attributed to higher gas prices, as year-over-year ridership numbers were essentially flat in the winter, before the gas-price run-up.

AAA Mid-Atlantic reported yesterday that the average price of a gallon of gas in Richmond jumped 6 cents during the weekend to a new high of $3.66 per gallon. During the April 18-21 weekend, prices jumped 9 cents to $3.48 per gallon.

National and Virginia records for regular gas were set yesterday as well, at $3.72 and $3.64 respectively.