Six days to go until the Transportation Priorities Public Meeting. If you can, please plan to use one of the bike routes we’ve organized, or the special Metro bus we’ve arranged for the night of the meeting.
Everyone likes to save money. Did you know, you can save a lot of money by simply changing the way you get around? Transportation is expensive, accounting for up to 19% of a household budget. In these economically uncertain times, we can all stand to save a little, put some more thought into how we are spending out money. According to the American Public Transportation Association the average annual savings realized by using mass transit is over $9,000.
Graphic courtesy of Tony Montgomery and Mike Houston
In Omaha, using transit has a fixed cost. A 30-day pass is $50, for a $600 annual cost. Compare that against how much the average person spends on a car and you can see the huge savings available by choosing transit. But that’s only if you exclusively use mass transit. What if you still want to own a car — which is true for most Americans in most cities, including Omaha. Is adding modes of transportation just adding more and more costs? Turns out, no. Living in communities that have options for varying your modes of transportation, you can offer households an annual savings of up to $3,000. Something to think about when it comes to your family or personal budget. To realize these savings, we must have the option to utilize alternatives. By expanding options, and making non-automotive transportation a more realistic option for Omaha, we give our residents and visitors the chance to make a choice — and maybe save some money.
I agree; using mass transit is a good way to save money. In addition you will also bypass the stress of dealing with traffic and hunting down parking spots.