Transportation Freedom Day

How Long Must You Work to Cover Your Transportation Costs?

What is Transportation Freedom Day?
Transportation Freedom Day is the day of the year on which a median-income household has earned enough money to pay for transportation for the year.

Why does it matter?
Transportation is a major expense for most American families, particularly those who are dependent on cars. Owning an automobile is expensive – between car payments, insurance, repairs, parking and gasoline, the average American household spends more than $8,000 per year on vehicles. Transportation represents 17 percent of Americans’ total household expenditures, more than Americans spend on food, clothing, entertainment or health care – and far more than we spend on income taxes.

Americans who live in areas with good access to public transportation tend to spend less on transportation than those who are fully dependent on cars. As a result, residents of transit-friendly neighborhoods achieve “Transportation Freedom” earlier in the year, and can spend more of their income on other things.

Why do communities with more transit spend less than those in car-dependent areas?

Residents of transit-friendly neighborhoods own fewer cars. Many families living near transit can get by with one car rather than two, freeing up hundreds or thousands of dollars in the family budget.

Residents of transit-friendly neighborhoods use their cars less often. Residents living close to bus and train routes are more likely to use them to commute to work – reducing expenses for gasoline and maintenance. In addition, residents of transit-friendly neighborhoods often live in places where it is possible to bicycle or walk to schools, stores or restaurants, further reducing the number of miles they drive.

Residents of transit-friendly neighborhoods take shorter trips – particularly if they live within walking distance or a short drive of shops, schools and entertainment.

But I don’t use transit. Why should I care?

You don’t have to ride public transportation to benefit from it. Indeed, every American benefits from public transportation investments in several ways:

Reduced highway congestion: Public transportation reduces the number of cars on the road, easing congestion. In 2007, public transportation avoided 646 million hours of roadway congestion. The resulting $13.7 billion in economic benefits from reduced congestion was more than one-and-a-half times the total federal investment in transit in 2007.

Lower dependence on oil: In 2008, public transportation use reduced our consumption of oil by 4.2 billion gallons – the amount used by 7.2 million cars in a year.

Less pollution: Public transportation curbs emissions that contribute to respiratory problems and to global warming.

Resources

CALPIRG Transit Goals

Fact Sheet: Stimulus Spending on Transit Creates More Jobs, More Quickly than Roads

Walk Score: Find Out Your Neighborhood’s Walkability (http://www.walkscore.com/)

Link to: Methodology for Transportation Freedom Days (http://htaindex.cnt.org/model_summary)

*Transportation Freedom Days in California*
South of Market District (San Francisco)	February 8
Downtown San Jose	February 12
Cortez Hill, near the Blue and Orange Lines (San Diego)	February 19
San Jose	February 20
Wilshire and Western in Korea Town (Los Angeles)	February 22
Richmond Grove (Sacramento)	February 22
San Francisco	February 25
Downtown Anaheim	February 26
Orange County	March 5
Millbrae	March 8
Santa Monica	March 9
Los Angeles	March 16
San Diego County	March 19
Sacramento	March 20
Santa Barbara	March 27
Hacienda Heights	April 2

How can we give more Americans a chance at Transportation Freedom?

Transportation Freedom depends on the availability of transportation choices. Unfortunately, for decades, America has over-invested in highway construction, while encouraging sprawling development patterns outside our cities. As a result, driving is the only transportation choice many Americans have. At a time of high and rising gasoline prices, when many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, giving more Americans access to public transportation makes good sense.

To bring the benefits of Transportation Freedom to more Californians, local, state and federal governments should:

· Target transportation investments toward building 21st century public transportation systems. There are hundreds of good public transportation projects that remain stalled for lack of funding. Building out these projects can give more Americans access to transit while creating jobs today.

· Protect existing transit services from fare hikes and service cuts. High gas prices and an economic recession have led more Americans to try transit. Indeed, transit ridership in 2008 was the highest in 52 years. Yet, strained public budgets have led to massive cuts in transit service in cities across the state at exactly the time when transit is needed most. Local, state and federal governments should do what they can to keep buses and trains running during the recession – enabling American families to enjoy the cost-saving benefits of public transportation.

ISSUES