The Numbers Are In

Calculating costs between methods of transit is not necessarily comparing apples to apples. A car ride to work, while the same destination by bus, occurs over less miles because a car takes a more direct route. Cost per mile becomes skewed. We’ll have to look at this, for comparative reasons, by “trips”.

Here’s the breakdown.
Total bus trips taken: 39
Total car trips taken: 18
A total of 57 trips taken in a motorized vehicle. Trips on foot, of which there were many, are not taken into account.

Over the course of January, I put $30 of gas in the car. Roughly 10.25 gallons. I also bought a $45 COTA pass. A total cost of $75 for transportation. Based on this number, the average cost per trip (of which there were 57) would be $1.32 per trip.

Using COTA 39 times for my transit needs gives me an average cost per bus trip of $1.15 (based upon the $45 monthly pass).

Using the car 18 times gives me an average cost per car trip of $1.66.
The difference here, with these simple statistics is minimal. But we have to look a bit deeper, because the cost of using a car is more than just the cost of fuel.

Here’s an estimate of my annual car costs.
$3720 for payments
$1080 for gas
$800 for insurance
$300 for maintenance
$5900 in total annual costs or $492 per month.

With this number, my 18 car trips now cost $27 each
If I had taken all 57 trips by car, each would have cost $8.63.
If I had taken all 57 trips by bus, each would have cost 80 cents.

If the car were paid for, the cost per month would drop to $182, bringing the cost of 57 trips to $3.19 each. Still, thats almost four times more expensive than using public transportation.

These are the most transparent numbers, but there are more that are not so transparent and I really have no way to calculate them. There’s the taxes I pay for roads that both cars and buses use. There is the cost to the environment. There are associated costs with stress and healthcare. Costs for storing billions of used tires. Costs for disposing of dirty oil. Likely these costs would add more to my annual car costs, and still to my use of public transit. However, putting more people in one vehicle dramatically reduces the cost per individual.

One of the benefits for me by moving to the added use of public transportation has been the “me” time. During my bus time in January, I read two books, listened to two audio books, and multiple pod casts I ran into a few neighbors that I don’t see very often and I got in added walking time, both to and from the bus, as well as during times when a quick trip around didn’t require a combustion engine.

Despite the hours spent on the bus, I find that I’m more relaxed, less stressed, and overall, my thoughts are clearer. I feel as if I’ve accomplished more for myself than during the months when I only used the car. The world has slowed down a bit and I find that I like that.