GasBuddy tops Apple App store amid Colonial Pipeline gas shutdown

A driver appears at a closed gas pump as stations from Florida to Virginia started jogging dry and charges at the pump rose, as the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline by hackers sparked acquiring worry by motorists, in Falls Church, Virginia, U.S., May perhaps 12, 2021.

Kevin Lemarque | Reuters

GasBuddy, an app that can help consumers locate and help save cash on gas, topped the Apple Application Keep on Wednesday, as some people across the East Coastline keep on to struggle to obtain fuel just after a cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline.

The firm’s pipeline has served as a essential link among the Gulf Coast refiners and the Japanese Seaboard, but the firm experienced to just take its complete system offline Friday right after it fell victim to a ransomware attack. Substantially of the program is even now offline.

Now, people are flocking to get gas before tanks run out. Sixty-5 % of stations in North Carolina are out of fuel, in accordance to facts from GasBuddy. In South Carolina and Ga, 43% of stations are without gas, and 44% of stations are dry in Virginia, in accordance to AAA.

Fuel rates have also surged since of the offer challenges and anxiety of shortages. On normal, Us citizens are paying $3.008 for a gallon of fuel, up from $2.985 on Tuesday and $2.927 a person week back, AAA said before this 7 days.

This has all led consumers to seek out gasoline stations that have offer and most likely more affordable costs. That is where by GasBuddy comes in.

Typically, social media and entertainment giants this sort of as TikTok, Fb and YouTube prime the Application Store’s free apps charts. The rankings reflect the momentum in downloads of a certain app, not always the total cumulative downloads.

— CNBC’s Pippa Stevens contributed to this report.

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