Your Commuting Costs By Car Vs. Train?

grepdisc writes "Newspapers in Boston are fawning over a report by the American Public Transportation Association that taking public transportation saves money over driving. How can one possibly save $12,600 per year, when the inflated estimates of 15,000 miles per year at only 23.4 miles and $2.039 per gallon costs only $1,310, and a high parking rate of $460 per month results in under $5600. Is the discrepancy made up of tolls, repairs, the cost of buying a car and ignoring train station parking fees?" Everyone's situation is different — and it's easy to have a chip on one's shoulder while estimating prices. But for those of you with the option, what kind of savings do you find (or would you expect) from taking one form of transport to work over another?

Driving is much better...

[strangeattraction]

Muni cost $40 dollars per month pre-tax money. Car $9 per day parking + aggravation + gas + maintenance. Let me see. If I could only do math... Of course driving is better because I get to cut other drivers off, flip them the bird and bang on my steering wheel. What more could you want from life?

Re:What about time?

[Swizec]

Exactly: time is money. My commute is 25-30 minutes each way, every day (about 25 miles). But by bus, I'm probably looking at 2-4 hours each way. No matter how much I make, a bus ride is really out of the question.

That's very interesting, my daily commute is 10 minutes by foot, whereas by car it's 10 minutes+10 minutes for finding a place to park. Guess the difference is I live in the city and you're suburbia?

Re:depends

[Bandman]

I believe it. My coworkers in NYC don't own cars, because monthly parking and insurance is equal to the cost of the payment. They all rent cars if they have to go somewhere.

I actually have coworkers who still have valid licenses but haven't actually driven a car for 10 years. It's a load of fun when they come to our NJ office ;-)

Re:Not everyone has access to transit

[iroll]

Exactly! I'm a bush pilot in Alaska, and I think this article is just silly! Sure, ON PAPER public transit in NYC may seem to be cheaper than my float-equipped Cessna, but they're making all sorts of false assumptions! For example, I do my own maintenance--where's THAT in their spreadsheet?

OH WAIT--THIS ARTICLE IS NOT ABOUT RURAL TRANSPORTATION, WHICH EVERYBODY KNOWS IS DIFFERENT THAN COMMUTING IN MAJOR URBAN AREAS.

Re:Big savings are when you need fewer cars

[p!ngu]

I can't understand how people think they have the right to enforce their own judgement over other people's judgement. ohhhhh shiiiiiiiiii

Re:depends

[g-to-the-o-to-the-g]

Well, since everyone here thinks I'm full of crap, I decided to take a picture of my old insurance policy. Here's the first [omploader.org], and second [omploader.org] picture. Note that the highlighted value is the annual cost (so the monthly payment was $489.67).

And for the record, I have a nearly perfect driving record (other than a couple speeding tickets when I was 16).

Re:depends

[Anonymous Coward]

He worked at a bicycle factory.

Re:depends

[lymond01]

Because I'm just a dumb animal and given the choice between expending more energy by biking to the store or expending less (of my own) energy by driving to the store, I'll just fall back on my survival instincts and drive. I may need that energy later to fend off a wild rabbit attack or something.