Pumped up fuel prices are now wreaking havoc with Wichita's city budget. The transit system is asking for thousands of dollars to stay on the roads.

Wichita Transit buses guzzle up eight thousand gallons of gas a week. As you can imagine, with the price of fuel going up and up it makes for a rough budget ride.

Even though the city buys its fuel in bulk, prices skyrocketed to over $4.00 per gallon for diesel. That's up a quarter from before and that's why the transit system now needs an extra $210,000 to keep running.

"We're having our problems like everyone else in meeting our fuel budget and being able to keep our vehicles gassed up," says Wichita Transit Acting Director Mike Vinson.

The impact of fuel costs is also being seen quite clearly in the amount of transit passengers. In the month of April, ridership was up 22% over last year. Officials contribute that directly to people not wanting to drive themselves because of the cost of gas.

However, even those additional fairs don't cover the extra fuel cost for the city. With prices not expected to go down anytime soon, Wichita Transit is now having to plan for the long term.

"It's something we're going to have to address in real earnest to figure out a real plan for being able to fund our fuel for the near future," says Vinson.

The Wichita city council will vote on the budget transfer on Tuesday.