Driving is Expensive.
Posted by: ScottJan 16 2007, 11:35 am
As part of Metro’s update to their Regional Transportation Plan, the consulting firm ECONorthwest conducted a preliminary financial analysis of the metro area transportation system through 2035.
“Driving is expensive�, the report states. In 2005 the Bureau of Transportation Statistics estimated that the average annual cost of owning and operating a car driven 15,000 miles a year was about $7,800 or 52 cents per mile.�
In addition to ownership and operation costs, the report finds that parking is expensive. “The total cost of providing parking probably exceeds the total cost of providing (public) travel lanes. But most of these costs are paid indirectly through higher prices paid for housing, retail products, or lower wages.�
Interestingly, “Construction and maintenance of roads by the public sector is about 1/7 of the total monetary cost of the highway and road system.� This means that 87 percent of the cost of driving is not related to building roads, gas taxes, etc., rather these costs are carried by individuals through direct ownership and operation payments and increased costs in the marketplace.
Finally, but most important to policy makers, is that the region has a significant funding gap to build and maintain public roads and transit. Currently the regional and local governments want to fund a series of mega projects, such as a new bridge of the Columbia River and a new I-5/99W Connector highway. This report finds that after system operations and maintenance are paid for, these “five [mega] projects have costs that are on the order of 50% to 80% of the total reasonably available revenues for modernization (new capacity) for the (35 year) planning period.�
I believe that a more localized approach is financially prudent. Scrapping or seriously scaling back the five mega-projects would free up financial resources for local multi-modal street projects, transit operating funds, and supporting in-fill development. This strategy could have a specific goal of reducing the amount of money that households spend on transportation by reducing the numbers of cars needed by residents and by targeting construction projects that leverage much larger private sector investments.
I also believe that bicycling is the lease expensive and economical travel form available. We know it is the most energy efficient transportation mode, and we should make similar economic analyses on the district level, that would stack a targeted and robust bicycle strategy against an auto-oriented strategy. I believe the bicycle would emerge as the clear choice, the financially prudent investment for urban transportation circulation, for families, and businesses.
I'm a major proponent too of tolls, and charges on use. i.e. if someone uses a road they should pay for it.
In all seriousness if someone adds the 20-80 cents per mile road costs via a toll, imagine how many people would then "choose" not to drive. Instead of coercing them, just make them pay for what they want, then let them decide if they REALLY want it.
Jan 16 2007 at 8:14 pmYes, driving is expensive. And many of the expenses–including pollution clean-up (like the Big Pipe), parking, road work (like Washington County's Major Streets Transportation Investment Plan) and oil defense–are shoved on to the society as a whole.
Also, as much as I like transit, I will admit that bicycles are less costly to use (less road damage and pollution) and provide more benefits (like exercise).
Jan 16 2007 at 8:56 pmDon't forget there's a function for every machine. If I have to go to the mountain, I use a car. If I have to go to the store, I use the oldest method we know: walk. Bikes are great, but we can't throw out cars as a good device for certain functions.
It's naïve to think you can force people to change over. That's totalitarian and wrong.
We can certainly dream, though.
Jan 17 2007 at 1:22 amYes, the "little people" should use transit. I am in middle management and my employer pays for my parking and I make much more than enough to pay for the cost of driving downtown. There will always be individuals such as myself, and we will drive to work. Losers take the bus.
Jan 17 2007 at 2:09 am***TWEET***
Technical foul: over-obvious trolling. Five yard penalty.
Jan 17 2007 at 6:24 pmThat number assumes everyone buys new cars as soon as the old one is paid off - it is a highball number. The real cost of real cars in the real world USA is found at http://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=25
It is closer to .30/mile.
That is ½ the cost of Portland’s tranist system:
Trimet passenger-miles = 406,289,280
Trimet system operating expense=$271,135,288
cost per passenger-mile: $0.67
Data from Trimet’s busmaxstat.pdf found on trimet’s web site:
click about Trimet
click Ridership Statistics (40KB PDF)
Thanks
Jan 17 2007 at 8:38 pmJK
The costs do vary per person, many people buy or lease new cars after 5 years. There are other costs that the Metro study discusses. Parking costs more that building and maintaining roads but it's transfered into the cost of goods. I don't want to pay that cost.
The cost of biking is a lot less than $.30 per mile.
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