  Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 1405 Registered: 04-2006 |
America's Most Expensive Commutes Matt Woolsey, 08.08.07, 11:45 AM ET It's often said that the trip to work can kill you. But if you live in Houston, what really takes a beating is your wallet. There, the average commuter spends 20.9% of his annual household costs on getting to work. He's not alone. Cleveland, Detroit, Tampa, Fla., Kansas City, Mo., and Cincinnati also landed on our list of the country's biggest cities where transportation eats up a fifth or more of household costs, according to a study by the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership (STPP), a nonprofit research firm, which draws on 2003 Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the most recent available. The study looked at annual transit costs such as gas and tolls, and public transit fare, as well as money spent on car payments and maintenance. Read the rest here: http://www.forbes.com/realesta te/2007/08/07/commute-housing- expensive-forbeslife-cx_mw_080 7realestate.html | ||
Michmeister Member Username: Michmeister Post Number: 223 Registered: 10-2006 |
My brother commutes from the D all the way to the DC area,do the math. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 1406 Registered: 04-2006 |
Daily? | ||
3rdworldcity Member Username: 3rdworldcity Post Number: 893 Registered: 01-2005 |
They don't include the largest cost - time. Time spent (wasted) as a result of mostly unnecessary construction and the failure to build roads right the first time. How many millions of wasted man-hours have resulted from the Lodge reconstruction? (I know, discussed ad nauseum on other threads.) | ||
Michmeister Member Username: Michmeister Post Number: 224 Registered: 10-2006 |
Nah, iheartthed, just every other weekend. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 1407 Registered: 04-2006 |
They don't include the largest cost - time. Discussed here: http://realestate.msn.com/Buying/Article_forbes.aspx?cp-documentid=5289041>1=10341  | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 1408 Registered: 04-2006 |
I thought this was worthy of highlighting: That's what's happening in Dallas. It and Houston have 15% of the country's fastest-growing suburbs between them. Dallas is investing $4.86 billion to expand its commuter rail system, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), which services area suburbs and neighboring Fort Worth. The job is expected to be completed in 2013, and local economists say the city should reap $8.1 billion in increased economic activity over the life of the project. Houston, on the other hand, mainly has focused on road construction and expansion, which isn't expected to pay off as well. "To say DART Rail's impact has been substantial for the Dallas region's economy would be an understatement," says Bernard Weinstein, an economist at the University of North Texas Center for Economic Development. "It's a trend that's impossible to miss; the local business community certainly hasn't." | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 3052 Registered: 10-2003 |
^^^And to think the Speedlink BRT system for Detroit was shot down as "too expensive" at $2 billion! Although, in reality, bus service doesn't prompt the development (and ROI) that rail service does. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1277 Registered: 07-2004 |
Awww, Speedlink BRT. If there ever was a transit stalking horse, it was that ill-conceived, ill-fated proposal. | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 60 Registered: 07-2007 |
Don't tell Brooks Patterson. He has his heart on spending billions to widen I-75. Maybe if we let him wear the engineer's hat and blow the whistle, he might be on board with rail service (he already knows how to find the tracks in his car). | ||
Miketoronto Member Username: Miketoronto Post Number: 626 Registered: 07-2004 |
For mass transit to fully work you have to get people working back downtown. All these LRT lines in places like Dallas are great. But look at how few people use them? And thats because hardly anyone works downtown. Even in transit cities like NYC and Toronto for example, the number of people who use transit to commute to workplaces not downtown, is very low. My commute is pretty expensive  My monthly transit pass costs me $99.75 | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1285 Registered: 07-2004 |
That's less than two fill-ups around here, unless you drive a little thing. (Message edited by detroitnerd on August 20, 2007) | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 2990 Registered: 12-2005 |
I worked with a guy who commuted between Phoenix and San Francisco every weekend and a couple others who flew their own planes between Phoenix and Sedona daily (80 miles). You wouldn't catch me doing that! | ||
Parkguy Member Username: Parkguy Post Number: 92 Registered: 04-2007 |
Miketoronto said: "My commute is pretty expensive My monthly transit pass costs me $99.75" It costs the average US family something like $8500 per year to operate one automobile. A hundred bucks a month (or 100 loonies a month) is one heck of a lot cheaper. | ||
Buzzman0077 Member Username: Buzzman0077 Post Number: 95 Registered: 11-2006 |
Why do we always have to listen to the argument that we don't have the density to support light rail. There are a couple of lines that wood do very well starting with the Woodward corridor. Secondly, every time I read about the implementation of light rail in other cities I read about how density is created around the stops because there is a demand for a car-free lifestyle. The other argument that always makes me angry is that it is too expensive. Yet we continue to support billion dollar highways all across the state. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 655 Registered: 12-2006 |
Buzz, We don't have to listen to it; it is nonsense. You are right on all counts. Yet we continue to elect the "leaders" we have. Change starts with a few people realizing things can be done differently. Scott | ||
Jiscodazz Member Username: Jiscodazz Post Number: 42 Registered: 02-2007 |
Houston sucks. From The Onion Sept 7th, 2005: Refugees Moved From Sewage-Contaminated Superdome To Hellhole Of Houston HOUSTON—Evacuees from the overheated, filth-encrusted wreckage of the New Orleans Superdome were bussed to the humid, 110-degree August heat and polluted air of Houston last week, in a move that many are resisting. "Please, God, not Houston. Anyplace but Houston," said one woman, taking shelter under an overpass. "The food there is awful, and the weather is miserable. And the traffic—it's like some engineer was making a sick joke." Authorities apologized for transporting survivors to a city "barely better in any respect," but said the blistering-hot, oil-soaked Texas city was in fact slightly better, and that casualties due to gunfire would be no worse. | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 250 Registered: 02-2007 |
re: $8500 per year to operate a vehicle vs. $100 per month for a commuter pass... Sounds like a great trade, but... *what about convenience? can light rail quickly get me back and forth for unexpected emergencies (groceries, more ice, medicine)? *is it possible for one to get rid of the car and still travel to places off-the-beaten path? Personal vehicles may be very expensive, but I wager that most posters here would find car-free life unbearable. I've lived that life (east & west Europe)and found that one travels where the rail authority allows, when the rail authority allows. It is like living your life forever in the third grade. | ||
Oakmangirl Member Username: Oakmangirl Post Number: 131 Registered: 08-2007 |
"Why do we always have to listen to the argument that we don't have the density to support light rail." Buzzman, you're right. Density doesn't have to exist for us to have light rail. We can certainly build commuter parking lots at the stops or near them like any other city with suburban transit. AA has several lots: some near the e-way for carpooling others for the local bus transit. We also need bus service or private shuttle vans to complement the rail. There could be a tax incentive for businesses to offer shuttles. "...what about convenience? can light rail quickly get me back and forth for unexpected emergencies (groceries, more ice, medicine)?" Craig, we're going to always need cars in this region unless serious ass bus service is developed everywhere. Of course it doesn't help that people feel the need to "express" themselves through what they drive or have attached to their ear; we really haven't evolved much beyond cave art self-expression. At least with rail and shuttle services, we can cut back on the long car commutes and subsequent clogged roads and lungs. God, imagine the luxury of reading a book while traveling to work.... | ||
Novine Member Username: Novine Post Number: 64 Registered: 07-2007 |
""Personal vehicles may be very expensive, but I wager that most posters here would find car-free life unbearable." If SE Michigan could get to a one-car household, it would be a huge improvement over the current multi-car household most people are supporting. As someone else pointed out, the cost of owning a car is tremendous. We often hear about NYC housing costs and can't imagine how anyone can afford that. But most New Yorkers don't own a car and don't need a car and can use the money that would otherwise be spent on owning a car to pay for housing. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 1421 Registered: 04-2006 |
Sounds like a great trade, but... *what about convenience? can light rail quickly get me back and forth for unexpected emergencies (groceries, more ice, medicine)? *is it possible for one to get rid of the car and still travel to places off-the-beaten path? I probably spend less time on my commute than the average metro Detroiter does on his/hers. My commute to work is entirely on the subway. As shown in that chart above, Detroit not only has an expensive commute monetary wise, but also time wise. Right now, just about everywhere in s/e Michigan is "off the beaten path"... which is what makes it very inefficient and unattractive. By offering all the options a car can give, Detroit has effectively limited the options of the population because you can't do anything without a car, even if you wanted to. Also, just because transit alternatives are available doesn't mean you'll be forced to go out and sell your car. | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 253 Registered: 02-2007 |
I hear you, guys, but I found the "train life" to be too constrictive. I'm probably revealing my deep provincial roots when I say that I want to be able to do my grocery shopping and bring home a load of wood (amateur carpenter)all at once vs. struggling with armloads on a train every day of the week. Iheart - are you in NYC? How would you, sans car, load up friends and backpacks and on the spur of the moment head to your "up north" for a weekend's hike? My guess is that you can get out, but the "spur of the moment" is not an option. It's hard to imagine giving up my free-ranging lifestyle via my tiny (40 MPG) Saturn. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 1428 Registered: 04-2006 |
^Yes, I am in NYC. I would either rent a car or ride with someone else. It's not impossible to own a car here... I actually did at one time but I was only using it maybe once every two weeks. Even when I did use it, I really didn't do it because I had to, so the car wasn't worth keeping. I haven't missed it at all. IMO, the suburbs are a great place for someone who wants the car lifestyle. There are many places in New York metro that are just as car oriented as Detroit. The problem with Detroit is that there is no other alternative but the car lifestyle. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 1999 Registered: 10-2003 |
A nice thing about a transit situation like that, is that instead of a family having two cars, you could have just one. Less car payments, less insurance payments, less gas, but you would still have one car for the type of things Craig is describing. |
