(file photo) With the rising cost of gasoline Bethesda motorists are considering public transportation as an alternative for their daily commute.

Monday, the cheapest price for a gallon of gas in Montgomery County was $3.50, steering many Bethesda staff members away from their cars and into public transportation.

Tim Bonds, owner of a Montgomery County gas station, said the rising fuel costs affect him the same way they affect everyone else. He said in order to attract customers he has to keep prices competitive with other area gas stations. The problem, he said, is paying the high prices to ‘‘keep his tanks full.”

He said federal law regulates gas prices for consumers, but not for distributors.

‘‘When the price goes up, I have to pay out of pocket to cover the difference and that’s just to put it in the ground,” Bonds said.

Andre Manly, Transportation Department supervisor at the National Naval Medical Center, said he understands public transportation is not a solution to everyone’s problems. However, if people are forced to drive, he said, they should consider doing so during off-peak traffic hours. Stop-and-go traffic burns more fuel, which in turn, ‘‘burns” more money, he said.

‘‘The Metro doesn’t run at the time when I come to work so I have to drive,” Manly said. ‘‘When I don’t have to deal with a lot of stop-and-go [traffic] I am able to save more fuel.”

Manly said Bethesda’s Transportation Department has ordered new vehicles that use alternative fuel sources in an attempt to become more fuel efficient.

‘‘Our newer vehicles coming in are Flex Fuel vehicles which allow them to run on more efficient types of fuel, such as [ethanol] and bio-diesel,” Manly said.

Jeffrey Miller, Bethesda’s Transportation Program Manager, said at the recent Admiral’s Calls, National Naval Medical Center Commander Rear Adm. Richard Jeffries emphasized the importance of using mass transportation during the scheduled construction periods coming to Bethesda.

‘‘As fuel continues to increase in price I can only hope [staff members] give more thought to mass transit options,” Miller said. ‘‘Ways to plan and make life a little easier using mass transit are available through the [Bethesda’s] Intranet. As we start to receive more questions on these issues, we will post them so everyone has one frame of reference.”

Miller said parking and commuting will be an issue for staff members at Bethesda until completion of the Base Realignment and Closure process. Through the various phases of construction, parking situations will shift, he said. Reserved parking spaces will be adjusted to keep as much parking open as possible.

‘‘The construction process will have various phases, each affecting the amount of parking available,” Miller said. ‘‘Our main push is to open up the parking we will have, once construction begins.”

With the help of base police, government vehicles around the campus will be relocated to create more parking, Miller said. Also, storage containers currently sitting in various parking lots around the base ill be moved.

Miller said there are currently 83 spaces reserved in the staff garage for carpoolers. The command is open to the idea of increasing that number as parking around the base, he said.