Skyrocketing gas prices demand that public officials do everything in their power to help people reduce their need for fuel.

As carpooling and public transportation become more necessary, more needs to be done to help facilitate them.

For one, the state Department of Transportation needs to step up its public information campaign and make more commuters aware of the availability of its park-and-ride lots along the state Thruway, where several travelers can meet and take only one car to their destination.

Centro, which recently saw an 11 percent increase in riders, needs to continue to add routes to make taking the bus more useful for more people.

And a fledgling study on the possibility of a passenger train between Auburn and Syracuse must be revived.

Finger Lakes Railway says it's open to the possibility of adding passenger service, though extensive infrastructure upgrades, among other things, stand in the way.

For one thing, the railway makes its money moving freight, so additional track would need to be put down so that passenger and freight service could run simultaneously, and state and federal funding would be crucial for an undertaking of that magnitude.

We don't know if a commuter rail linking Auburn and Syracuse can become financially viable or not, and nobody wants to see tax dollars pumped into a venture destined for failure, but exploring the idea is the right thing to do.

U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri has said that rail expansion is one of his top priorities, so perhaps he should be the one to lead the charge.

Consumers are just about at the breaking point as the cost of gas continues to rise, and government needs to be proactive in exploring ways to reduce the country's dependency on oil.

Carpooling and taking a bus have obvious benefits.

Maybe the local railroad could also become part of the equation.