Comments on: Car v.s. Public Transportation: Which Is More Cost Effective?

By: Loren

Loren — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:38:14 +0000

It seems like this article did not consider the externalities of the two options (personal car vs. public transit). Maybe that’s college economics, not high-school?

We should consider the costs of using lots of foreign oil, in terms of pollution, climate change, military expenses to ensure continued access to foreign oil, etc.

By: Derek

Derek — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:56:00 +0000

Parking by my office in the Chicago Loop is $28/day. If I look around and walk a bit I can get it for as cheap as $10/day . . . On the other side of I-94 I’ve seen it down to $6 though I have to walk more than if I just took public transit. Worth noting Street parking all around the city is also going way up in price since they decided to privatize the parking meters.

At $86/mo pretax for unlimited use of Chicago busses and El trains and Google Maps’ new ability to route you to your destination using the available public transportation options I rarely feel a need for my car . . . Except those times where I’m going from one Chicago neighborhood to another and a 20 minute drive with free parking at both ends (assuming the place has it which is becoming more scarse as time goes on in the hipper neighborhoods) becomes an hour transit ride. Of course there are taxi cabs for those situations as well.

By: tom sherman

tom sherman — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:16:37 +0000

dear tim: as to public transit being subsidized that is true here in milwaukee our tickets covers only 1/3 the true cost of the bus service.. and busses do need roads but per passenger much less. ditto they pollute much less. it could be anywhere from 10 to 40 times less.

cars slow down buses by congesting the roads. if buses were allowed express roads & to trip lights against cars they would be much faster. as to time lost you cannot read in a car or do other things in a bus u scan. in milwaukee we have bike racks on busses providing access from home to bus to destination allowing me to access any place i want.

in appendix c of “growth & technology the price we pay” by mishan he posits that everyone starts out in a bus. in stage 2 he posits it would be advantageous for one of the passengers to take his car since the road is uncongested. in stage 3 he posits everyone will then do this and the roads will congest to a stop. he concludes this is a catch 22 as eveyone would be better off staying in the bus in the first place. put another way if everyone who drives cars today agreed to take the bus they would
have transportation many times cheaper and faster than they now have with their car. with far less pollution etc.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 03:36:50 +0000

you also forgot that, through your taxes, you are already subsidizing public transportation, so not to use it means you are paying for something that you don’t use. this should be included into the cost of using private transportation when comparing public v. private.

then, of course, there is the opportunity costs associated with public transportation as mentioned. It takes me over 1 hr to commute by public transpo, whereas public transpo it takes 30 minutes one way, which means I lose 1 hr by taking public transpo every day. if i relied solely on public transpo, it would cost much more in terms of time, b/c the places I want to go aren’t public transpo accessible, and you are at the whim of where the public transpo goes for your activities. if you live in a city, then that is fine, but if you do not and you choose to do things outside the city, then it limits your lifestyle. so i agree it is not always by the simple math equation.

By: tom sherman

tom sherman — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:43:14 +0000

u r just talking of private costs what about government subsidies to the car or tax costs. it at least approximates ones private costs of 7K.
in other words u r paying about 14k per year to use your car. i believe that totals to government subsidies of $2 trillion per year. actually the costs of the car are infinite is it cannot meet its environmental costs for one. the real costs of the car is the life of every living thing on earth.

c ezra mishan’s book “growth & te8hnology the price we pay” appendix c.

By: itakethebus

itakethebus — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:02:18 +0000

I will admit Public Transportation can have its hassles. I live in DC so between metro and metrobusses, this city is pretty easy to live in without a car. I ditched mine over a year ago, and will never look back! Yes, I have to wait 15 min for a bus, or 10 min for the train. But while I’m waiting, I’m listening to music, reading a book, playing a game on my iphone, or just spacing out. While public transportation isn’t perfect in the country (yet) I would encourage people to give it a chance. The more people who use it, the more funding might be allocated for improvements, and at same time helping take more cars off the road, (making it easier for those who actually NEED to drive, vs WANT to drive)

By: fashionistic

fashionistic — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:46:14 +0000

Public transport in my place is the most cheapest way of traveling mode. It is no doubt the clear winner, but it is not made available in every place. Besides, to travel with public transport will need to travel earlier to avoid any unforeseen issues which could lead to late arrival at the destination. I would say it would need more time in replacement of cost which in a way, sacrificing one for another.

By: Plasterers bristol

Plasterers bristol — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:10:41 +0000

I would defintely say car, depending if you get free parking or not, over here in uk it’s like £5 a day to get in the central town, plus you would need to leave an hour earlier……Simon

By: Roger L. Cauvin

Roger L. Cauvin — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:31:08 +0000

When considering the opportunity and other non-monetary costs, don’t forget that your time can be productive on transit. It is usually a complete waste while you are driving a car. When I am riding public transportation, I usually am working on my laptop – reading/writing e-mail, composing Powerpoint slides, or writing a blog entry or word processing document. I wouldn’t be doing those productive things while driving.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:07:11 +0000

When I compared the various options of driving myself, carpooling, and public transportation, carpooling won hands down. Public transportation for me can turn a 15 minute (one-way) commute into a 1 hour one. By setting up a carpool with 2 other people that live nearby, I have cut my gas cost to approximately 1/3 of what it was driving when myself and my commute time has only increased by 5-10 minutes. One has the benefits of public transportation and none of the drawbacks (unless you don’t like your co-workers ;->).