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For the past two and a half years, John has been commuting back and forth from Washington DC to Baltimore, a 100 mile round trip. Until one day home, John got into a car accident. (Don’t worry he was not hurt.)

After the accident, he was trying to figure out how much he would save by just taking public transportation, a much cleaner alternative than driving.
So one day he drafted the following questions along with his responses to analyze the cost of public transportation vs driving. The follow is his analysis:

1.) What time does my job start and end?

John’s response: 8am to 4:30 pm.

2.) Are there bus routes, rail, or combo-metro routes leading from my home to work?

John’s response: Yes. I can take the DC metro, bus F4, from Prince George’s Plaza Station to New Carrollton Station (MD). Then from New Carrollton, I can take the Marc Train to Baltimore Penn Station.

3.) Is the cost of driving a new car effective anyway?

Cost of Driving:

1. Cost of comprehensive insurance per month: $200.00 (before the accident)
2. Cost of fuel per week given 100/mile day commute: $40.00
3. Cost of monthly parking pass: $110.00
4. Other factors for John to consider:

• Purchase a minimal, new reliable car: $vary
• Maintenance and service on new car: $vary

Total monthly cost to work by car, not including vehicle purchase or M/S: $390.00

Cost of Public Transportation:

1. Monthly transit pass (Bus + Rail + Marc included): $250.00
2. Other factors to consider:

• ZipCar: Rental for $7.00 an hour for after work activities.

Total monthly cost for John to take public transportation to work: $250.00

This is a difference of $140.00 that John would save if he rode public transportation.

Have you carefully looked at your own commute from a financial perspective? How much would you be saving or spending?

Tags: DC Metro, MARC, New Carrollton, Prince George's Plaza, SmartTrip, ZipCar

This entry was posted on Friday, December 31st, 2010 at 1:14 am and is filed under Environment, Featured Content. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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people need to do the math to see if it's worth the convenience...

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