A far more accurate car vs. transit comparison in Denver, CO (with my actual information)
Posted Aug 17, 2022, 4:06 PM UTC
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Cheers for doing math in your situation! I think this is a really good demonstration of how car-centric city design can force inhabitants to need to pay more to be able to live comfortably.
Also, props for doing math with monthly car payments; I believe using the full purchase price of a car isn't really the most fair comparison because it adds an element to the calculation which doesn't apply to transit: the full ownership of an asset (kinda like comparing a house price with rent and arguing that buying a house was always too expensive when mortgage payments would be the better comparison for cost of living).
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there seems to be an error in your maintenance cost calculation: column says you'recalculating monthly cost, but the comment states the cost per year - which would put maintenance costs closer to $40/month
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Ah! You are absolutely right, good catch.
So if car maintenance is 40/month instead of 480 a month, total montly car cost is more like ~400/month over the lifespan. This actually just furthers the argument that because denver's transit is so bad/not comprehensive, that it's far more worth it for me to take my car, since an extra 200/month saves me 60 hours a month of transit time.
We have some good transit improvements in the works but I fear it'll never be truly GOOD. This city is too sprawled out (thanks, cars)
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cities are always undergoing change, and most sprawling american cities used to be quite dense before car-centric infrastructure; regaining that density is a crucial part of addressing many social issues, including hugely beneficial to public transport.
fortunately cities and city planners are starting to realize the cost of car-sprawl and are starting to consider policy change, hopefully it won't be too little and too late
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It’s worth noting that lots of companies/universities have free RTD passes for employees and students. I never used my car during undergrad in Boulder. Bike/bus was just better.
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What about parking costs? Both out of pocket and time spent finding a spot?
The time comparison is only going to be valid if it's door to door and that goes both ways. In example, transit should also include walking to the bus stop early to make sure you don't miss it.
It's great that you took the time to do such an analysis. It definitely highlights the typical issues with lack of public transit options and urban sprawl (18 miles is getting pretty far from the city center).
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This post/analysis is for my specific situation, in my specific location. I tried to spell out the math as necessary - please allow for variation from YOUR commute and local costs.
OBVIOUSLY the answer is more, and better transit.
OBVIOUSLY I would choose transit if it were even just 75% as convenient as my car. But this analysis shows how/why people drive. We need better infrastructure to afford people a reasonable path to transportation that's not private car.
I feel forced to drive at this point, as I have to bus East into downtown 6 miles away to catch a light rail North that gets me within 4 miles of work. So that's 3 modes of transit vs. my car which is 1. Also compare 95 hours a month of transit time vs. 25 hours car time. Yes, you can multitask and relax on lightrail/bus. But I'll gladly sink 50 minutes a day dedicated time vs. 190 minutes of semi-free time. This is all, of course, not to mention that this is Denver where summers are frequently high 90 degrees, and winters are 5-30 degrees with frequent snow storms making the biking portion a challenge.