County Gas Prices Soar to a Record : Transportation: August’s Kuwaiti invasion is blamed. Officials say bus ridership has also increased by 40,000 over a year ago.

Gasoline prices in Ventura County are at record highs, with prices of premium grades soaring to within pennies of the $2-per-gallon mark at some stations.

Price increases imposed by major oil companies since Iraq invaded Kuwait also have been blamed for the shutdown of at least one county gas station, and more dealers expect to mothball pumps in coming weeks because of trench-war competition at the retail level.

“I made a good living in this business eight to 10 years ago, but today I’m on the verge of bankruptcy,” said Tony DaCosta, the owner of a Ventura Union 76 outlet who recently closed a Texaco station he operated for nearly seven years. “I put my entire savings into this business yesterday to keep it alive.”

He had to close the Texaco station, he said, because the wholesale price charged by Texaco was higher than some other stations’ retail prices.

A random survey of 60 Ventura County stations Thursday found self-serve prices for 87-octane unleaded--the most popular grade of gas--ranging from $1.319 per gallon at a Quality Gas station in Simi Valley to $1.559 a gallon at a Ventura Union 76. The price of full-serve premium unleaded exceeded $1.90 at several outlets.

The soaring cost of keeping car engines running has led many motorists to use mass transit. Ridership in the South Coast Transit District rose by 40,000 passengers in October from the same month a year ago, and district officials estimate that half of the new riders boarded buses in response to gas prices.

“People aren’t locking up their cars and throwing away the keys, but they are realizing there’s times when they don’t need to use their car,” said Maureen Lopez, the transit district’s director of planning and marketing.

Those who are still driving are turning more and more to credit cards for gas purchases and racking up debt for what used to be an out-of-pocket expense. Don Gurke, owner of an Oxnard Unocal 76, said credit card sales account for nearly 70% of his business, compared with about 50% before August’s invasion of Kuwait.

Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Letter, which monitors fuel prices nationwide, said retail gas prices throughout Southern California have topped their previous high set during the 1979 oil shortage. However, today’s prices are pinching consumers less when inflation is taken into account, she said.

Off-brand outlets, particularly several Quality and USA Petroleum stations, offered some of the lowest pump prices in Ventura County on Thursday. Among major producers, Arco on the average continues to offer the cheapest prices, while Unocal stations on the whole ranked as the most expensive.

Self-serve leaded gas at the surveyed stations ranged from $1.299 to $1.449 per gallon and self-serve premium unleaded from $1.459 to $1.739. Full-serve per-gallon prices ranged from $1.329 to $1.749 for leaded, from $1.499 to $1.849 for regular unleaded and from $1.599 to $1.949 for premium unleaded.

“A lot of people are being slapped in the face seeing prices go up, but at least this isn’t the European marketplace,” said Chad Hargett, a Ventura Chevron station owner. “People have a real love here for their automobiles, and now they’re paying for it.”