What is your Annual Savings by using Public Transportation?

Could you use an extra $10,000 this year? How about next year – and the year after that?
Now that gasoline prices have climbed back to an uncomfortable average of $3.47 per gallon nationwide, the American Public Transportation Association calculates that Baltimore area residents who use public transportation can save an average $829 monthly and $9,953 annually, according to a chart posted on their website. Savings for people who take public transportation haven’t been this high in two years. And from the news that’s coming out of the Middle East, it looks like prices won’t be heading downward for a while.

When you look at all the costs of owning a car – including some of the costs we don’t always think about, like insurance, parking, maintenance and the like – making the choice to use public transportation more regularly becomes an easy decision to make.

Want more evidence to make that decision easy? According to the American Automobile Association, the cost per mile to operate a car can be almost 74 cents per mile, when you consider all the factors. Their free brochure can help you calculate your costs. And an online calculator available from APTA can show you your savings from using public transportation vs. using a car to get around.

Of course, it can be a challenge to get everywhere you need to go in the Baltimore area using public transportation alone. But you might find that even just including it as one of your transportation options will save you far more than you might have thought possible.

So if you’ve decided that bringing a sandwich instead of buying lunch (which might save you up to $2400 a year) is your road to saving money, consider saving a lot more. Take a bus, take a train or some other public transportation – and start taking it a little easier on your wallet.