Trains are bustling, scooter sales are booming and manual lawn-mowers are back in vogue. But charities are grimly facing up to a drop in volunteer workers while some cash-strapped families are cutting expenditure on fresh meat and vegetables.

In a myriad of ways, the effects of soaring gasoline prices are being felt directly and indirectly across America, forcing many into lifestyle changes as they rethink monthly budgets.

John Gargotta, executive director of Senior Volunteer Services, says spiralling pump prices are already biting in the non-profit sector, with the number of volunteers plummeting by 20 percent in two years.

"It's getting worse and worse," Gargotta said. "The people who used to volunteer are leaving to get jobs."

While the impact of sky-rocketing oil prices has not yet reached the levels of crises in the 1970s and 1980s, fuel costs are taking a bigger bite out of people's monthly pay-cheques, economists say.

By the end of the summer, fuel costs are expected to account for 4.2 percent of average US disposable income, according to Brian Bethum, chief US financial economist for Global Insight. That's up from 3.7 percent in the first half of the year and fast approaching the record 4.5 percent set at the peak of the OPEC oil crisis in early 1981.

Those kind of increases are leading to some dramatic shifts in consumer habits, according to a survey of people planning to buy a new car in the next year recently conducted by the auto valuation firm Kelley Blue Book.

Kelley Blue Book said that of more than 860 people surveyed, 28 percent had stopped spending money on things like coffee from Starbucks as well as DVDs and CDs. An additional 27 percent said they had stopped attending sports events, while 68 percent said they now shopped less.

Forty-four percent said they are taking shorter holidays because of rising gas prices. But for some businesses the rise in gas prices has been a godsend.

The American Lawn Mower Co., an Indiana-based firm that makes manual and electric lawnmowers, have seen sales increase by around 20-30 percent as consumers shun gasoline-powered mowers.

"We are seeing a significant increase in business," sales administrator Teri McClain told AFP. "The customers are telling retailers that they are more and more concerned about gas prices.

"It's not just affecting us at the gas station. It's affecting us at the grocery story, it's affecting us in all walks of life," McClain said.

The most striking changes have come in the transport sector, where thirsty gas-guzzling vehicles are being shunned in favor of more economical machines. For some people that has meant swapping four wheels for two.

"We are two months ahead of scooter sales compared to this time last year," said Tom Anderson, the sales manager of Motoprimo, which sells motorcycles and scooters in Lakeville, Minnesota. "We are running out of stock. New, used, big, small -- all our scooters are selling," he told the Northfield News newspaper.

Others are giving up on cars altogether and turning to trains and buses. From New York to Los Angeles, local authorities are reporting sharp increases in the numbers of people using public transport.

In Southern California the Metrolink rail service saw a record 50,000 people board its trains on June 17, a 15.6 increase over the same day last year, officials said. A spokesman for Metro Rail meanwhile said the number of people using the company's trains had increased by six percent in May year-on-year.

"There is no question that this is a result of gasoline prices," Metro spokesman Dave Sotero told AFP. "Six percent year-on-year is a substantial increase, the highest one-month increase on record."

New York officials meanwhile say that the number of passengers travelling on the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) train that links New York and New Jersey increased by 6.6 percent in the first five months of the year.

"Between gas prices and fare increases, a lot of people are choosing to ride PATH," said spokesman Steve Colman.

New Jersey Transit has reported similar spikes in passengers, with a record weekday average of 900,000 people travelling on the company's network during the first quarter of 2008.

"We are continuing to see ridership growth that we can attribute to the price of gasoline," said New Jersey Transit spokesman Joe Dee.