smart growth saves on combined costs of transportation and housing
TRANSCRIPT
Smart Growth Saveson Combined Costs of
Transportation and Housing
Our Rate of Driving Grew Three Times Faster than Population
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How Much Does it Cost to Drive?Small Sedan
Medium Sedan
Large Sedan
SUV Van
Gas & Oil 8.21¢ 10.54¢ 11.51¢ 14.39¢ 12.16¢
Maintenance 4.26¢ 4.51¢ 4.92¢ 4.94¢ 4.87¢
Tires 0.61¢ 0.87¢ 0.82¢ 0.95¢ 0.74¢
Total Operating Costs per Mile per Year
13.08¢ 15.92¢ 17.25¢ 20.28¢ 17.77¢
Insurance $948 $957 $1022 $948 $897
License & Registration $419 $572 $711 $727 $602
Depreciation (new vehicle)
$2,430 $3,401 $4,551 $4,619 $3,818
Financing (new vehicle) $553 $786 $998 $1023 $832
Ownership Costs/Year $4,350 $5,716 $7,282 $7,317 $6,149
Total for 12,500 Annual Miles $5,985 $7,706 $9,438 $9,852 $8,370
Average Cost Per Mile $0.35 $0.46 $0.58 $0.59 $0.49
American Automobile Association Vehicle Cost Estimates (2009)4
Traffic Delays Add to Transportation Costs
In 2007, the amount of time and fuel that Americans wasted in traffic was worth an estimated $87.2 billion.– 2.8 billion gallons of wasted fuel (enough to fill
370,000 18-wheeler fuel delivery trucks bumper-to-bumper from Houston to Boston to Los Angeles)
– 4.2 billion hours of wasted time (equivalent to 105 million weeks of vacation).
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Growing Distances Add to Transportation Costs
Another way to look at the impact of regional development patterns on household costs is additional commuting time resulting from a region’s lower density.
Additional hours of travel, per capita per year
Additional cost, per capita per year
New York-Newark (NY-NJ-CT ) 3 $361
Philadelphia (PA-NJ-DE-MD) 14 177
Pittsburgh (PA) 22 (27)
Baltimore (MD) 26 344
Washington (DC-VA-MD) 61 693Source: Cortwright, Joseph. “Driven Apart” September 2010
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Transportation CostsAre a Big Portion of Household
Budgets• The average household spends 51% of income on the
combined costs of housing & transportation; both costs are increasing.
• The average household spends 19% of income on transportation. – Households in auto-dependent neighborhoods spend 25%
on transportation. – Households with good transit access spend only 9%.
• This savings can be critical for low-income households: – Very-low-income households spend 55% of income or
more.
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Transportation Costs Reduce Affordability
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Transportation Costs ReduceAffordability of Suburbs
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Transportation Costs ReduceNumber of Affordable Communities“Seven out of ten communities (69%) are considered affordable under the traditional definition of housing costs at 30% of income. That shrinks, however, to just four out of ten (39%) when both housing and transportation costs are considered and a 45% affordability benchmark is applied.”Pennywise, Pound Fuelish, New Measures of Housing + Transportation Affordability, Center for Neighborhood Technology (2010)
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Transportation CostsHurt Working Families
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Smart Growth SavesTransportation Costs
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Smart Growth Saves MoneyBy Reducing Transportation Costs
• Portland, Oregon: a 4-mile reduction in VMT per capita when compared to the national average translates into an estimated $2.6 billion in regional household savings on transportation and time costs.
• Chicago: A 2.1-mile reduction in VMT when compared to the national average translates into household savings of $5.5 billion on transportation and time costs.
• If the 51 metropolitan areas in the US were to decrease their VMT per capita by just 1 mile per day, the estimated personal savings to households in fuel and maintenance alone would amount to nearly $29 billion a year.
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