$10,000/Year — Available to You

OK, it would only be about $10,000 ($9,797) a year if you are an average American living in a city or county with local transit available and are not yet using transit. It could be less, or more, depending on your unique situation. So,.. take a look at your expenditures and options and see what you would actually save.

Where am I getting the number above? It’s from the American Public Transportation Association’s latest Transit Savings Report. The average monthly savings for switching to transit would have been $816 in November, when the report was created. The assumptions were:

• average national gas price = $3.38 per gallon (as reported by AAA), about 50 cents higher than at this time last year;
• national average for monthly, unreserved parking space in a downtown business district = $155.22… or $1,863 per yer (according to 2011 Colliers International Parking Rate Study)
• average mileage of a mid-size auto = 23.4 miles per gallon
• average miles driven per year = 15,000
• average monthly transit pass of local public transit agencies across the country not reported

APTA also delves into the average savings for 20 of the country’s largest cities (table below). And, I’ll just note that while these savings are pretty tremendous, you can save even more by choosing to bicycle for your transportation purposes. And, one more thing, walking more (which you generally do when you use transit) and bicycling can imrpove your health significantly, further saving you money (and improving your quality of life in most cases). Something to think about. Anyway, here’s the city-by-city data (CLICK TO ENLARGE IT):

Note: I’ve been car-free for about 7 and a half years now and lovin’ it!