NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — US gasoline demand fell 3.8 percent last week, a sign record pump prices are prompting drivers to spend less time on the road, MasterCard Inc. said.

Consumers purchased an average 9.086 million barrels of gasoline a day in the week ended June 6, down from 9.443 million a year earlier, MasterCard, the second-biggest credit-card company, said in its weekly SpendingPulse report. This was the seventh consecutive week of year-over-year declines in weekly demand.

Demand for the motor fuel rose 0.5 percent from the previous week.

The national average pump price for regular gasoline rose 3 cents from the previous week to $3.97 a gallon, up 27 percent from a year earlier and the highest in data going back to October 2006, the report showed.

AAA, the country's largest motoring club, said yesterday on its website the average US pump price for regular gasoline rose 2 cents to a record $4.043 a gallon. The price rose above $4 a gallon for the first time over the weekend.

MasterCard said prices on the West Coast rose 16 cents to an average $4.24 a gallon last week.

The report from Purchase, New York-based MasterCard was assembled by MasterCard Advisors, the company's consulting arm, and is based on credit card swipes and cash and check payments at about 140,000 US gasoline stations.

The Energy Department estimated demand of 9.13 million barrels a day for the week ended May 30. MasterCard said demand was 9.04 million barrels a day for the same period. The government's next petroleum report is set for release today.

Visa Inc. is the biggest credit card company by transactions processed.