Dahon.Steve

Here's an article that states rising gas prices is giving Public Transit Users the highest savings in two years! Holy cow! I didn't know the price of gas was hitting the motorist that hard. No wonder the economy isn't going to recover this summer when we pass 4 dollars a gallon.

Unfortunately, a lot states cut back or completely defunded their public transit systems.

https://www.apta.com/mediacenter/pres...itSavings.aspx

dingster1

I was saying this to my girlfriend who drives a Ford Explorer. It broke down just as gas was going up. She rides the bus to work now till she can fix it. She says she is saving a ton of money now. Luckily she is a GS employee enrolled in the metro check program

Titmawz

It takes about a hundred bucks to fill up some of the cars that my friends have and all I say is lol =P

wahoonc

My company car is a Honda Accord, average fill price is around $54...glad I am not driving my 60 gallon tanked dually diesel anymore

It is going to hurt the recovery, but that is what happens when you base an economy on consumerism rather than production of durable goods that people need.

Aaron

cycleobsidian

+1

Ekdog

Wow! A few fill-ups would pay for a nice bike.

wahoonc

Yup...that is my theory anyway, also once you burn through that gas it is gone. Sadly something like 65% of the money spent on gas leaves the country never to be seen again.

Aaron

dynodonn 

Higher gas prices are starting to hurt some of my family members with tight spending budgets, so far there has been no mention of using mass transit, though carpooling or finding employment with shorter commutes have been mulled.

Dahon.Steve

I keep hearing this $100.00 to fill up the tank a week bill people are now paying is insane. Public transit less than 30 miles is about a quarter of this or about $125.00 dollars a month. The only people I know of who are spending $400.00 dollars a month or more on public transit are those living over 60 miles from work or further. Contrary to popular believe public transit is not always cheap and those living taking commuter trains or express coaches are spending almost as much as the motorist.

I believe the key is living within 30 miles of your place or work and then public transit pays for itself.

Dahon.Steve

It's incredible how much the cost of gas has increased. It's the speculators on Wall Street who are creating this increase because there is plenty of supply on the market. In fact, demand has been kept in check because of the recession but we are being taken advantage of.

contango 

It costs the equivalent of over $100 to fill a sensible family car in the UK.

Ekdog

I pay 30 euros (43 dollars) a month for my train pass, which allows me to travel to and from work (30 kms). I love it.

myrridin

The article's methodology has a significant flaw. It assumes that most of the savings it claims comes from an elimination of car costs. Since it is unlikely many of the people who would switch do away with their cars, then savings shouldn't include fixed costs for those people. Something that would drop the savings to basically the cost of gas minus the transit fees...

Further, for most folks who ride transit in the US, they drive their cars to the park and ride stations and take the transit into downtown areas. So for these people their savings would be a portion of their gas costs plus their parking costs but not any of their fixed automotive costs (depreciation, insurance, ...)

When looked at the numbers properly, there would still likely be some savings, but hardly the $1K/month this article touts...

DGozinya

Wow, where in the country is it under $4 now? Here in Chicago, it's been >$4 for months...we're edging towards $5 for premium.

Ekdog

Roody

You might be right, but I don't see where your data is any better than the figures in the article. Like the authors, you're pretty much making it all up. They make up figures to support transit use, you make up figures to make your beloved cars look better.

Specifically, how do you know that "it is unlikely many of the people who would switch do away with their cars"? And how do you figure that "for most folks who ride transit in the US, they drive their cars to the park and ride stations and take the transit into downtown areas"?

Roody

If fuel prices stay high for very long, transit companies will raise their fares. this is already happening with the airlines and interurban bus lines.

folder fanatic

In the region where I now live (Southern California), there has been a massive cuts in public transportation of any type. I am more dependent on my bikes than ever (even counting the mid 1970s).

folder fanatic

https://vimeo.com/22260080

https://vimeo.com/22290464

Or better yet, is this my future?

countersTrike

$4.00 gas is past history here. But today was an Earth Day show, and the large Sea Otter bike race was today. Those events and hordes of tourist enjoying 76 degree weather were a bumper to bumper nightmare! Bicycle use has gone up and we have 1 pedal taxi. The majorty is car use at any cost. I am sure amazed!

velocycling

That is why high gas prices are a postive thing. In 2008 when gas was high ppl did the right thing(see above) as soon as it went down, ppl went back to the old way. The smart ones did find jobs and home closer most did nothing.. Sad

myrridin

Past performance... In the past gas price spikes have resulted in increased transit ridership. When those prices stabilized, even at higher rates, people gradually switch back... Feel free to check the following data sources concerning the majority of transit users and their use of transit as one mode for a portion of the trip that begins at a park and ride station; American Community Survey, Census 2000 SF3 data (published in the form of CTTP data), National Household Travel Surveys from 1995, 2001, and 2009... Data sources I have described to you previously... All of this data is freely available online and can easily be processed with a free stat package such as R. There are a multitude of other localized studies done for those transit agencies and the FTA... which is why these agencies build and operate all of those park and ride stations...

The vast majority of transit users get to the transit stations (park and rides) via their car, hence they will be paying the fixed costs for those cars). The methodology in the article is flawed... You simply can't eliminate the fixed costs of cars when estimating savings for the vast majority of transit users. And for those who don't own cars, transit represents a cost for transportation not some savings of what another mode of transportation would theoretically cost them. The logic is like those who claim that by shopping a sale they are saving (50% off). When the fact is that they spent a certain amount. The savings only occurs if (and only if) they would have in fact spent the full amount for the same good or service. Studies of human behavior indicate otherwise. The reason such sales occur is to motivate people to purchase items that they would not otherwise have purchased...

coldfeet

I recently switched jobs, to one with a much lower pay. There were several reasons, there are many advantages to this job. if i still had a car to keep, I would not have been able to afford to take it.

Hippiebrian

If government cut subsidies, U.S. prices would be the same as Europe's. Sure, speculators are driving up the prices some, but remember, the supplies available now will not be available for the long run. We are dealing with a non-renewable resource that cannot be re-used once it's burned. Simply, someday we are going to run out, and if you look at it that way, it amazes me gas is so cheap!

Roody

I don't care what data set you use. The notion that most people on the bus used their car for part of the trip is absurd on the face of it.

Also, you choose to ignore the bigger picture that transit data shows--ridership rates have been increasing steadily in almost every market for the past 10 to 15 years. This slow but steady increase is independant of both high gas prices (which increase transit use) and recession (which decreases use).