Ride out the recession on public transit and save serious $$$
SEATTLE -- We all heard the nudging before: ride the bus or take the train.
Certainly a good idea, but you might be surprised at the savings some local commuters are pocketing.
The daily commute can be a nightmare for drivers.
"It's very stressful," said commuter LaTonya Brown.
Tired of it all Brown now rides the bus from Renton to Seattle, which saves her $4,700 a year. Sound Transit wants you to jump on this bandwagon and ride out the recession with it.
The family budget prompted Andrew Smith to start riding the bus from Seattle out to Redmond.
"When my daughter was born, I had to save some money because my wife now is not working, taking care of the baby," he said.
So far he's saving $880 a month, and putting it toward his daughter's college fund.
"I figure within six years, I should be able to save for the entire four years of at least UW," he said.
Sound Transit and the American Public Transportation Association did the math on average savings. Adding up car costs, gas prices and parking fees, the average Seattle commuter can save more than $10,000 a year.
Barbara Clemons has to get to Seattle everyday from Tacoma. Because the buses run so frequently in the mornings, she uses the bus. But in the evenings, she prefers the train.
"Through the pastoral regions of King and Pierce County is just more relaxing than bombing down I-5 on a bus," she said.
Parking her car the past three years, saved her about $6,200 a year. She cleverly used that cache to go to China with her son! And the assets just keep piling up - or should I say dropping off - for her.
"Last year, I lost 20 pounds just in walking," she said.
That's just from walking to and from the bus stop.
And using public transit is good for the air, bank account and helps reduce reliance on foreign oil.
"Some 37 million metric tons of carbon dioxide does not go into our air because Americans are using public transit at record levels," said Bill Millar of American Public Transportation Association.
And he said it saves more than 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline each year, which is three times the amount we import from Kuwait.
To figure out your savings, click here.
Certainly a good idea, but you might be surprised at the savings some local commuters are pocketing.
The daily commute can be a nightmare for drivers.
"It's very stressful," said commuter LaTonya Brown.
Tired of it all Brown now rides the bus from Renton to Seattle, which saves her $4,700 a year. Sound Transit wants you to jump on this bandwagon and ride out the recession with it.
The family budget prompted Andrew Smith to start riding the bus from Seattle out to Redmond.
"When my daughter was born, I had to save some money because my wife now is not working, taking care of the baby," he said.
So far he's saving $880 a month, and putting it toward his daughter's college fund.
"I figure within six years, I should be able to save for the entire four years of at least UW," he said.
Sound Transit and the American Public Transportation Association did the math on average savings. Adding up car costs, gas prices and parking fees, the average Seattle commuter can save more than $10,000 a year.
Barbara Clemons has to get to Seattle everyday from Tacoma. Because the buses run so frequently in the mornings, she uses the bus. But in the evenings, she prefers the train.
"Through the pastoral regions of King and Pierce County is just more relaxing than bombing down I-5 on a bus," she said.
Parking her car the past three years, saved her about $6,200 a year. She cleverly used that cache to go to China with her son! And the assets just keep piling up - or should I say dropping off - for her.
"Last year, I lost 20 pounds just in walking," she said.
That's just from walking to and from the bus stop.
And using public transit is good for the air, bank account and helps reduce reliance on foreign oil.
"Some 37 million metric tons of carbon dioxide does not go into our air because Americans are using public transit at record levels," said Bill Millar of American Public Transportation Association.
And he said it saves more than 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline each year, which is three times the amount we import from Kuwait.
To figure out your savings, click here.