Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It's very expensive if your communting from Addison Road to Shady Grove.
You didn't answer the question. You made a claim that it is more expensive to ride Metro than to commute by car. Accounting for all expenses for both modes, please cite your source for making this claim. I'm interested to see the numbers. Thank you.
You didn't answer the question. You made a claim that it is more expensive to ride Metro than to commute by car. Accounting for all expenses for both modes, please cite your source for making this claim. I'm interested to see the numbers. Thank you.
Not a problem.
It costs $5 one way to go from Addison Raod to Shady Grove.
That's $10 a day, $3000/year excluding weekends. (but they will be going places ont eh weekends too, so it's really more)
It costs $800/year for auto insurance, $1000/year in gas, $700/year in cost of car purchase, $200/year maintenance.
You didn't answer the question. You made a claim that it is more expensive to ride Metro than to commute by car. Accounting for all expenses for both modes, please cite your source for making this claim. I'm interested to see the numbers. Thank you.
I know you weren't asking me, but I'll post my thoughts again, if you think I'm wrong in my thought process somehow, please feel free to correct me - (I'm not looking to argue, im interested in figuring out the right answer for my own benefit)
In my case, DC website said I'd have to pay $4.30 each way to use the train, or $8.60. Alternative is 9 miles by car each way (18 total). Assuming I buy those 7-day discounted passes, I could swing it for about $6.80 a day.
In my case however, I cant ditch my car completely - I need it for various reasons - thus the relevant comparison can't include insurance, parking stickers, tags, and other items as well - (besides largely being sunk costs at this point anyway, even if not sunk I'd still incur) and thus I think it most appropriate to compare on the margin. My rough math is that with gas at about $4, and my car netting roughly 20 mpg city (technically more, but i figure knock it back a bit to be conservative), plus depreciation (assuming a meaningful life of approximately 100k miles and salvage value of $5,000 or so on a $25K car).Thus, on a per mile basis, accounting for depreciation and gas, im paying approximately 40 cents/mile, or about $7.20 per day. While that's slightly more than the $6.80, it very much feels like a wash. Its worth noting I don't pay for parking on either end. Factor in the added hassles of taking the train everyday, likelihood of delays, etc and the extra $2 a week seems worth it.
Like I said, if you think I've missed something big here, feel free to set me right. I'm not opposed to saving money.
You live in the Shaw, your Metro ticket is going to cost a lot less than someone coming from the outer burbs.
Uh, clearly. That is precisely my point; it wouldn't be cheaper for me to move to the suburbs and buy a car. Do you see how that reality disagrees with your blanket statement?
It's a variable rate fare system; some commutes are going to be more expensive than others. I can get to 25 stations, including to work, for the minimum fare and my ~$1,000/yr on smart trip costs is a lot better than $3,120 in monthly parking passes alone. AAA calculator puts my composite car ownership costs at $5k/yr for a small sedan and low mileage.
Metro does not make sense for something like suburb-to-suburb cross-line commuting, like your example. Although driving 18,000 miles a year circumnavigating the city twice a day, again like your example, doesn't make much sense either.
If I pretended the composite costs of a car was less than it is, didn't have to consider parking, had to pay the max fare, calculated the multiple off of 300 weekdays a year instead of the actual 260 and had a relatively short drive I probably would drive too.
We save a boatload of money using Metro (Shady Grove - Courthouse) instead of driving. We drive often because it's quicker, but it costs us a lot more.
I know you weren't asking me, but I'll post my thoughts again, if you think I'm wrong in my thought process somehow, please feel free to correct me - (I'm not looking to argue, im interested in figuring out the right answer for my own benefit)
In my case, DC website said I'd have to pay $4.30 each way to use the train, or $8.60. Alternative is 9 miles by car each way (18 total). Assuming I buy those 7-day discounted passes, I could swing it for about $6.80 a day.
In my case however, I cant ditch my car completely - I need it for various reasons - thus the relevant comparison can't include insurance, parking stickers, tags, and other items as well - (besides largely being sunk costs at this point anyway, even if not sunk I'd still incur) and thus I think it most appropriate to compare on the margin. My rough math is that with gas at about $4, and my car netting roughly 20 mpg city (technically more, but i figure knock it back a bit to be conservative), plus depreciation (assuming a meaningful life of approximately 100k miles and salvage value of $5,000 or so on a $25K car).Thus, on a per mile basis, accounting for depreciation and gas, im paying approximately 40 cents/mile, or about $7.20 per day. While that's slightly more than the $6.80, it very much feels like a wash. Its worth noting I don't pay for parking on either end. Factor in the added hassles of taking the train everyday, likelihood of delays, etc and the extra $2 a week seems worth it.
Like I said, if you think I've missed something big here, feel free to set me right. I'm not opposed to saving money.
I crunched the numbers in another post using average values and it came out to less than $2000 a year to commute on the Metro. Obviously, that's far cheaper thanj anything by car.
If one can afford a car or relies on one in addition to that, then the costs of usage and insurance based on how much or little it is used would have to be calculated. I hardly pay anything for insurance and my vehicles last a long time because they are infrequently used.
I'm suspicious of your claim that the highway is more reliable than trains. I don't think a day's gone by without traffic reports of accidents or breakdowns causing major delays in multiple parts of the city. In emergency evacuations, roads have proven useless. I suspect there's far more consistent reliability using the Metro than the car.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
