Having one’s own car is ridiculously expensive — and not just in terms of making payments on the car itself, or paying for insurance. Actually operating it, what with the cost of gas fluctuating all over and parking fees in major metropolitan areas (among other things), can be kind of a dealbreaker.
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has published the October transit savings report, in which you can see exactly how much cheaper public transportation is (not counting the potential peace of mind from not being stuck in endless traffic jams):
The national average for a monthly unreserved parking space in a downtown business district is $166.26, according to the 2012 Colliers International Parking Rate Study. Over the course of a year, parking costs for a vehicle can amount to an average of $1,995. The cost of the daily downtown daily parking rates increased in 2012 by an average of 1.6 percent or an extra $132 per year compared to the rates in 2011.
And that’s just parking!
All in all, the average American who chooses public transit instead of driving saves about $828 this month, and $9,934 annually. Here’s a list of the top US cities for average transit savings:
| City | Monthly | Annual | |
| 1 | New York | $1,226 | $14,714 |
| 2 | San Francisco | $1,093 | $13,120 |
| 3 | Boston | $1,069 | $12,834 |
| 4 | Philadelphia | $984 | $11,814 |
| 5 | Seattle | $968 | $11,622 |
| 6 | Chicago | $966 | $11,588 |
| 7 | Honolulu | $953 | $11,441 |
| 8 | Los Angeles | $937 | $11,238 |
| 9 | San Diego | $888 | $10,657 |
| 10 | Portland | $870 | $10,435 |
| 11 | Minneapolis | $851 | $10,216 |
| 12 | Denver | $844 | $10,125 |
| 13 | Baltimore | $839 | $10,072 |
| 14 | Washington, DC | $821 | $9,847 |
| 15 | Pittsburgh | $805 | $9,654 |
| 16 | Cleveland | $789 | $9,464 |
| 17 | Miami | $774 | $9,283 |
| 18 | Atlanta | $766 | $9,187 |
| 19 | Las Vegas | $755 | $9,061 |
| 20 | Dallas | $754 | $9,047 |
Head on over to the APTA website for the full story.
Source: APTA
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
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