Station Offers Customers
Self-Service Option
By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
12/1/11

More than three years ago, Town Meeting lifted a 30-year-old ban on self-service gas stations. And now, drivers can finally pump their own gas in Milton.

Milton Fuel, located at 352 Granite Ave., became the first gas station in town to go self-service when it made the switch two weeks ago.

Jason Audi, the station’s owner, said it took months to get the station equipped to handle self-service business. He said the work included installing a new canopy, pumps, tanks and a fire-suppression system.

“You can’t do it overnight. I’ve been doing a lot of work,” Audi said. “But it’s a good move. This is the only way to get the volume up. So far, people are jumping out and going to the pump. We also dropped the prices very much.”

Audi said the town contacted him in 2008 before Town Meeting voted to lift the self-service ban to see if he’d be interested in making the switch. He said his answer was, “Why not?”

Audi, who also owns the Shell Service Station on Bryant Avenue, said he plans to maintain that as a full-service station “for now.”

“In the future, who knows? If the potential is there, I may go self-service there as well,” he said.

Town Meeting voted the original ban on self-service stations in 1976. A group of residents brought the proposal forward in order to keep the old Jenny Gas Station in Milton Village as a full-service operation.

The fuel company at the time was proposing a switch to self-service, which would have eliminated the station’s popular car-maintenance service. The proprietor of the station sided with the neighbors in opposing the move to self-service.