Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Jeanine Hall recently started taking the smart bus from Christiansburg because of rising gas prices.

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Cycling buffs are gearing up for a big stop-driving event, with the aim of Western Virginians pedaling to work one Friday in May instead of burning expensive gasoline.

J.D. Ritchie of Roanoke, a volunteer with the Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, said there's talk of staging a competition to find the employer with the greatest percentage of bike-bound employees on the special day -- all with the idea of raising the visibility of cycling.

"It's a very green thing to do," Ritchie said.

It might be easy to dismiss the event as an idealistic stunt, the kind of thing that makes everyone feel good for a day before we return to commuting in gasoline-fired, single-occupant vehicles.

How, after all, could even a small fraction of the 160,000 workers in the Roanoke Valley and nearby communities begin to fit on the few bike paths and bike routes in these parts?

But if you look at the 84-cent rise in gasoline during the past year and subtle shifts in transportation patterns occurring at the same time, it might suggest the beginning of a small but bona fide gasoline protest.

At the Park and Ride lot at Interstate 81 and Virginia 311, people often park on the grass. The designated parking area is full.

Registrations are up from would-be car poolers who want to be matched by Roanoke-based Ride Solutions with people going their way.

Biking is booming. In addition to bike-to-work day, set for May 16, a group of cycling enthusiasts will meet this week to paint a selection of two-wheelers to be scattered about the valley later this spring for public use.

Ten percent more people rode Valley Metro, the Roanoke Valley's bus system, during the first seven months of this fiscal year than during the same period last year. Ferrying riders between the Roanoke and New River valleys, the Smart Way bus saw a 21 percent increase in ridership.

"People are feeling the impact of the higher prices of fuel and started looking for an alternative," said Valley Metro General Manager Dave Morgan. "We're getting new customers, and we're getting our regular customers using us more on a regular basis."

It's really a no-brainer economically, said Jeanine Hall, 43, of Montgomery County, who works as a legal secretary in a downtown Roanoke law office.

About a year ago, with gas still high but below $2.50, she switched to commuting by the Smart Way bus most of the time.

"I'm saving $60 a week in gas alone," she said.

Although she's out $6 a day in bus tickets, she is saving on vehicle maintenance and judges she is about $40 ahead overall. Plus, the bus ride is de-stressing, she said.

Gasoline is nearly in record territory in the Roanoke Valley. The average price of regular unleaded gasoline pulled within 5 cents Thursday of the highest retail price recorded for the valley of $3.13, AAA Mid-Atlantic said.

Diesel fuel set a valley record Wednesday at $3.51, and there are several reasons gasoline might follow suit. Gasoline prices cycle upward in the spring because of annual reformulation steps and during summer because of higher demand. That means already high prices will go higher, unless historical patterns somehow reverse.

"It's unlikely that prices would reach $4 in Virginia, but continued higher gas prices are likely," said AAA Mid-Atlantic spokeswoman Martha Meade.

Jeremy Holmes, an alternative transportation advocate with Ride Solutions in Roanoke, said the recent fuel-saving signs are encouraging. He noted that he spotted a Smart car the other day on a valley street.

The pint-sized vehicles, available for years in Europe but still scarce in the United States, are designed to get 41 miles a gallon or more on the highway. A Yaris, the new Toyota fuel-efficient model, was another interesting encounter in traffic, he said.

"There seems to be a movement back towards smaller cars," said Holmes, who is documenting aspects of the alternative-movement trend in the area with a new blog, NewVA Moves (www.rvarc.org/region/blogs/newvamoves).