>From the listserv of the Surface Transportation Policy Project. To see more of their good work, go to www.transact.org
>Congrats STPP for getting this message out effectively! > >Preston Schiller > >=========Subj: New York Times magazine 4/28/02 > >April 28, 2002 > >ECONOMICS OF TRANSPORTATION >The Price of Going the Distance >By STEPHANIE MENCIMER > >In some parts of the country, getting to and from your house now costs >more >than the house itself. But it isn't because of the gas. > > Gas prices jumped 23 cents a gallon in March, the biggest >one-month >jump in a decade or more, and the Bush administration is nervous. After >all, >Americans are famously crotchety when it comes to paying another few >cents a >gallon. But this oversensitivity to gas prices seems misplaced. In fact, >gas >prices have remained remarkably low over the past 20 years, even with >the >recent spike. Had they kept pace with inflation since 1982, the price of >a >gallon of gas today would be about $2.45 -- about a dollar more than >consumers now pay. > >But despite bargain-basement gas prices, transportation costs have shot >up >more than 50 percent in some parts of the country over the past decade. >According to a report by the Surface Transportation Policy Project, in a >single year, Americans spend five times as much on transportation as the >federal government spends on all road building and public transit. And >in >most parts of the country, people now spend more on transportation than >on >medical care, education, clothing and entertainment -- combined. In >fact, in >at least seven American metro areas, residents spend more on >transportation >than they do on housing, and the rest of the country is close behind. >Take >Houston, for instance, where the average resident drives 38 miles per >day and >devotes 21 percent of his household expenditures -- $9,722 annually -- >to >transportation. That's 32 percent more than he pays for shelter. And >that's >not because Houston's housing is cheap. It isn't; Houston residents >spend 3 >percent more than the national average on shelter. > >Oddly enough, gasoline accounts for a mere 17 percent of these expenses. >All >the rest comes from the car itself: repairs, insurance, financing and so >on. >The average new car today has a price tag of $26,000. But the real >culprit >behind skyrocketing transportation costs is Americans' quest for cheaper >housing. New suburban houses may look cheap on paper, but getting to >them is >not. A car is the price of admission to suburban life, which tends to >offer >few public-transit options. Teenagers with busy schedules can turn the >driveway of a family of four into a facsimile of a Honda dealership. > >Cars are proliferating so quickly in the suburbs that they now threaten >the >very lawns that make those areas so desirable. In places like Fairfax, >Va., >where both public transportation and affordable housing are nearly >nonexistent, immigrant families have recently taken to paving over most >of >their yards to accommodate seven or eight vehicles. It's no wonder that >when >the cost of living gets to be too much, people talk about abandoning the >house to take up residence in the backs of their station wagons. Without >the >car, there can be no house. Still, rarely do you catch people >complaining >about car payments. Instead, Americans are content to gripe about the >only >part of commuting that's still cheap: the gas. _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
