Thanks to loads of free parking and comparibly inexpensive gas, Atlanta transit riders see some of the smallest transit-to-car savings nationwide, according to a study conducted by the APTA back in March. That said, Atlanta transit riders still save an average of $8,000 a year over drivers.
Daydreamer
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Rick Julian
smalltowngal
The Walrus
Kimberly Rhodes
Sharron
DEM
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At Home in Decatur
Mic
Decatur Metro
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Vegas has transit? Apparantly so, and it’s better than Atlanta’s. As H. Ross Perot would say: “I think that’s just sad.”
We need a parking nazi. And I mean that in the good way.
Vegas has a highly regarded Bus Rapid Transit line
Is the Vegas monorail included? That covers the tourists pretty well. It’s very useful once you figure out how to access it without walking through all the gaming pits.
No good way to and from the airport though.
From what I understand the “savings” in this ranker is determined from three things: cost of public transit, cost of parking, and cost of gas. All other metrics (wear-and-tear, insurance, etc…) are assumed to be relatively the same across the nation.
So, I think the only reason why Vegas ranks above Atlanta is because gas is about 15 cents more expensive out there. I can’t believe that Atlanta has more free parking…though maybe I can.
I wonder why the other metrics are assumed to be the same.
When the insurance on our car went from IL to GA, we paid 50% less. Same difference for when I had a car in OH and brought it to GA. Wear and tear I’m sure is a little harder to measure, but there’s certainly a lot less rust down here.
Honestly I think it just made the comparison easier to compile. There certainly are other factors, some of which you mentioned, but I think they just didn’t have the time or money to get that detailed.
What about transit times? It might take me 15 minutes to get to work in the car, or 45 minutes if I took MARTA. Do they factor in the cost of that 30 minutes I could be at work making money or the value of leisure time?
To me an $8033 annual saving is worth some inconvenience! I do commute on MARTA, and that commute takes about 55 minutes each way (versus about 35 when I drove).
I read a fact somewhere that the population of North America represents about 5% of the global population, but we use around 25% of the earth’s resources, so maybe that might also be a good thing to consider in the equation
For me working downtown, MARTA is QUICKER! Walking to the Decatur station is an efficient way to get in my daily exercise. But if I need to be downtown quickly, I drive 6 minutes to East Lake, park and get to the platform in 2 minutes, and then catch an 11 minute ride to downtown. If I had to wind my way around a parking deck and then walk several blocks to my work, I’d add 15-20 minutes to my commute plus parking costs. Since I have to be “on-call” for any calls from school for sick kids or weather closures, I need the method of transportation that will get me back to Decatur as quick as possible…and its MARTA. Delays and shutdowns on MARTA have been rare on the East-West line in the four years I’ve done this. But I go in real early and leave early. Maybe peak commuting in the evening is different. I also hear that the North-South line is less reliable.
Flaka,
Another way to look at it is like this: If China alone used the same amount of resources as we currently use, it would require two earths to support it. Something’s gotta give eventually; in the future, complaining about long commutes may be a laughably minor problem.