Home > Opinion > Commutants! > Archives > 2005 > November > 07 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USOn the road again, and again, and again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The CCT Express from downtown Atlanta back to Marietta is almost worth it. The one-way fare is $3. I got the 101 bus at Five Points right on time, around 5:50 p.m., and we were on I-75 northbound by 6:15 p.m. (Strange, the bus enters the highway on the far right lane and has to cut across four lanes to get to the HOV lane.)
Traffic on 75 is light. We arrive at the Marietta Transfer Center at 6:35 p.m. — almost exactly on schedule. My son, who must have been feeling guilty for driving past me this morning while I was waiting for the CCT bus on the way in, calls on the cell just as the bus is pulling into the transfer center. He picks me up there and we are home by about 6:50, about 70 minutes after I left the office on the commute home. (Had I stayed with CCT the rest of the way home, and walked the last 1.6 miles to my house, that would have added at least another 40 minutes or so.)
Bottom line for the day: $4.25 in fares; 3 hours and 30 minutes in commuting time (counting walking, waiting, buses and trains.) It’s 20 miles from my door to the newspaper, which happens to be about the same number of miles per gallon I get on my small SUV. I can drive it in about 35 minutes one way. At $2.50 cents a gallon that amounts to about $5 a day in gas costs for just the commute. (Not counting when I carpool.) You do the math: $4.15 for a 3.5-hour round-trip commute using public transit, or $5 for a 70-minute round-trip in the car.
Not even close. A better alternative is working closer to home. We’ll look into that later in the week.
(Posted Monday night after Monday’s commute.)
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Mike King
Comments
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By Jennifer
November 7, 2005 09:16 PM | Link to this
How did you feel not having to sit in traffic? I know a few people who although they spend more time using public transit, are happier simply because they don’t have to put up with the morons on the roads. They are able to relax on their way home versus being uptight because they are constantly being cutoff by some jackass in an SUV who thinks they own the road. Or the woman who knits while driving to and from work. Yes, I said knits.
By Natasha
November 8, 2005 06:24 AM | Link to this
So what you’re telling us is that the total savings to you per day is only $.75??
You can pretty much cut out one cup of coffee from Starbucks per week to make up the difference between what you are saving vs. what you are giving up.
I think I’d rather just keep on with our current financial plan of cutting back on non-essential discretionary spending and save myself the hassle of doubling or tripling my commute time.
By West Side
November 8, 2005 10:45 AM | Link to this
How long was your commute without the walking? Much shorter I suspect. Try driving to the station next time & save lots of time. What will you do when the weather is bad.
By Louis
November 8, 2005 01:48 PM | Link to this
You missed a few costs. The parking that you get for free at work probably costs your company $5 a day. Secondly, if you did not have to drive to work, maybe your family could have just 1 car, and save about $300 a month. You would also save on car insurance. My calculation is the real savings would be about $5,000 a year.
By Natasha
November 8, 2005 03:12 PM | Link to this
Louis,
Thanks for pointing out those extra costs and if we had those expenses you would be absolutely right.
But, alas, we ARE a one car family. Both my husband and I work downtown and I am fortunate enough to have a (pricey but good) daycare option at work. So all three of us are making the trek in every day together in our Ford Focus.
As for the parking at work, it would be wonderful if I didn’t have to pay to park. Unfortunately, my employer isn’t that enlightened and I’m paying $55/month via payroll deduction for my parking space.
If you can think of anything else, though, that I overlooked please post it so I can take a look and see where I can cut down our transportation expenses as I’m a notorious tightwad and hate wasting perfectly good money I could be putting into my 403(b) or my daughter’s 529.