According to this American Public Trasportation Association study. The APTA is the most active nation-wide transit advocacy organization. The study calculates the cost of gas compared to transit costs for a person who drives 15,000 miles a year, pays $3.909 per gallon and gets 23.3 miles per gallon. How the transit pass is calculated is not mentioned in the post.
Seattle comes in fourth on the list with $8413 in savings per year, behind only Honolulu, Las Vegas and San Francisco. But of course, we shouldn’t build light rail because that would just let more people save $8413 per year.
It would be nice if this report would tell you up front that it assumes that a two vehicle household gets rid of one of its cars.
That said, the APTA site does have some great information. There is a calculator for what you could save without getting rid of a vehicle. And some reports on ridership numbers for transit agencies around the country.
I already live in a no-car household, and I calculated we saved about $5000 a year not having a car.
I didn’t count $4 gas though, gas was $2.50 back then.
Since I already have to have one car, for us the bus is more expensive then driving. Since I’m cheap if the bus was free or if the ORCA card ever allows for short trips to be cheap, I’ll bus much more often.
Luckily I have a free bus pass from work, but for a lot of trips around Seattle the bus makes sense because you don’t have to pay for parking or spend twenty minutes looking for it.
I hear this argument a lot, and for some people it is probably valid. But I’m guessing most people don’t factor in wear-and-tear on their car when figuring out costs. How about the need for more frequent oil changes? Additives? Car washes? Tires? There are a lot more variable costs than just gas to consider.