Lundberg Survey Amends Its Report of Fewer Gas Stations

The Lundberg Survey said Tuesday that the number of service stations in Southern California declined 2.9% in 1989, not 5.33% as it said earlier this month in a preliminary report that contained computational errors.

According to the results of a September census--first reported in The Times last week--the number of service stations in a four-county area declined to 4,614 in 1989 from 4,751 in June, 1988. Lundberg had erroneously reported that the number had fallen to 4,972 from 5,262.

Lundberg also corrected its calculations of the number of gasoline nozzles in Southern California: 66,300 in 1989, compared to 61,286 in 1988. That works out to 14.4 per station this year, compared to 12.9 per station in 1988.

And Lundberg amended its estimate of the total number of service bays: 6,594 in 1989, compared to 6,958 in 1988. That’s a decline of only 5.2%, not 24.46% as it originally reported.

Overall, the new Lundberg figures continued to support the conclusion that Southern California motorists are seeing fewer, but bigger, service stations in the area that includes Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. That is in keeping with national trends toward higher volume, lower-service stations in fewer places.

The trend is even more dramatic given the growth in the vehicle population of Southern California, to 9.17 million vehicles in 1989 from 8.97 million in 1988, according to the new edition of the Lundberg Letter due this week.

“While the gasoline station population fell by 2.9%, the vehicle population swelled by 2.3%,” the letter said.

The Lundberg Survey is a widely consulted gasoline market research firm based in North Hollywood.