By Maggie Shiels in Oceanside, San Diego

American senators have been told last year's increases in the price of petrol helped push the US economy into recession, and that this year's increases are threatening recovery.

The analysis came during a grilling of top officials from five big oil companies.

They appeared before senators investigating whether or not deliberate shortages were the cause of big jumps in petrol prices, which tipped above $2 a gallon last spring and summer.

The steady rise in prices at the pump this year has caused consternation throughout the US.

Nowhere more so than in San Diego which has officially been listed as having the dearest gasoline prices in the nation.

Seeking alternatives

For the last couple of months passenger numbers on Oceanside's local train service, the Coaster, has shot up - no mean feat in a part of the world where people are wedded to their cars.

Tom Kelleher from the North County Transit District says the service appears to be carrying 6-8,000 more commuters each month compared with a year ago.

"With this recent spike in gas prices it just seems as though our stations and our parking areas are a little busier," he says.

Indeed, passengers say the cost of petrol or gas is one of the main reasons they have decided to let the train take the strain.

"I was kind of shocked when I saw how high the prices were and I didn't understand why," one Coaster regular says.

"I have been taking the train because of the high price of the gas.

"It ends up saving me quite a bit of money plus I'm not putting the miles on my car so that is good."

Price worth paying?

According to the respected Lundberg survey, which charts petrol prices, San Diego has the highest prices in the US, averaging around $1.66 a gallon, compared with the national average of $1.39 a gallon.

While these prices are far lower than paid by Europeans, just three months ago petrol was selling in San Diego for less than $1 a gallon.

"I like the independence and freedom of having your own car even though it is really kind of insane to crowd the roads and smog the skies."

San Diego driver

Dan McSwain, energy correspondent for the North County Times newspaper says that oil companies, led by Arco, have found through years of experience that when they raise prices here, people continue to pay them.

"The essence of the problem here is that people say well it is only 10 or 20 cents a gallon and furthermore I have just spent $40,000 for my brand new Lexus," he says.

Addiction?

Regular train travellers at Oceanside admit that when it comes to paying premium prices they do not put up much of a fight.

"Well actually we just have to accept it don't we," one passenger says.

"We don't have much control over it.

"I guess it is like cigarettes. I don't smoke anymore, but if you need it and you want it, you pay higher and higher and higher and I guess the oil people know that."

The Utility Consumers' Action Network has long criticised what San Diegans pay at the pump while also trying to encourage commuters to use their car less.

"Californians as you know love their cars, they are not going to leave it - what can I tell you?"

San Diego driver

The organisation's chief executive director, Michael Shames, says that Southern California in general, and San Diego specifically, is addicted to the car.

"Because the pushers, in this case the oil companies, are pushing the prices higher and higher we can't do much about it unless we kick that addiction," Mr Shames says.

"And that could take decades to do because the California infrastructure is so wedded to the car."

California on its own is the third largest oil market after the former Soviet Union and US so, given the lucrative profits that oil companies can make here, critics say there is little chance that petrol prices will fall in the golden state anytime soon.