Commuting is A GOOD Thing For Everyone, So Governor Patrick, Fix The MBTA Service, Please
Taken from the Alliance for Climate Protection:
Transit is good for business. Companies linked in to public transportation have fewer problems with absenteeism and keeping employees. Transit also reduces congestion, allowing for more on-time deliveries and lower transportation costs for goods.
If you build it they will come. Transit investment, particularly rail stations, creates an attractive investment environment. In Kenosha, Wisconsin, a 2 mile streetcar line was built connecting its downtown to the waterfront at a cost of $6.2 million. The business community responded by investing $150 million.Public transportation puts money in the pockets of you and your neighbors. 19ยข out of every dollar is spent on transportation, and almost entirely on automobiles. Families who live far from transit spend an average of 25% of their household budget on transportation, while families near transit spend just 9%. Transit users can save anywhere from $200 to $4500 on fuel costs alone. If riders can ditch a car altogether, they can save another $6000 to $11,400.
MOST IMPORTANTLY,
Among our American climate heroes is the mass transit user. Public transportation riders in the US save 855 million gallons of gasoline per year, for an 8.5 million ton reduction in CO2 emissions compared to if they drove. In America’s 85 largest urban areas, public transportation prevented 1.1 billion hours in time lost to traffic jams. The riders themselves can save even more — hundreds or even thousands of dollars in driving and parking costs, and for some even the cost of an entire car. For their commitment to public transit they get precious extra time each day to read, doze, or chat with other fine commuters.
If Americans could use transit for just 10% of our travel, we could cut emissions by 82 million tons. That would take us a valuable part of the way toward the reductions needed to solve the climate crisis. Transit also encourages more compact development, which will pay increasing dividends of greenhouse gas savings for decades to come.