[Speed Gibson,
Monday February 25, 2008 at 10:31pm]
Willing to Drive Less for a Better Minnesota
The war is over. Our standard of living will drop again, this time largely to pay for another shiny new Light Rail system. Forgive me if I decide not to play along.
The gasoline tax is going up by 2 cents a gallon immediately as I understand it, and by 3 cents more on September 1. We use a little under 100 gallons a month, so that's an additional $2 now, $5 in September. We would have to cut our consumption by 10% now, 25% in September to equalize the tax bite, which is a bit difficult. I have a better idea.
I occasionally take the bus to work, like when my son needs the car or it's at the shop. A rush hour trip is $4 round trip, $3 otherwise. This is a bit more than the gasoline and other car expenses would total, but there are three upsides. One, I have to walk 24-48 minutes on such days depending on the exact time and route, which burns some calories, which is good. Two, it saves maybe a dime of state gas tax.
The third positive is that Metro Transit is heavily subsidized, the fare box paying maybe one third. So that round trip costs the MTC another $3 per day. Granted, there are fixed and variable costs in that number, but clearly just three extra days a month should position me as reducing my net contribution to Light Rail.
Actually, I like riding the bus, and after all, that's what the self-appointed transit experts like Senator Murphy want me to do, right? I'm only too happy to oblige, to drive less - and pay less net tax - for a better Minnesota.
The gasoline tax is going up by 2 cents a gallon immediately as I understand it, and by 3 cents more on September 1. We use a little under 100 gallons a month, so that's an additional $2 now, $5 in September. We would have to cut our consumption by 10% now, 25% in September to equalize the tax bite, which is a bit difficult. I have a better idea.
I occasionally take the bus to work, like when my son needs the car or it's at the shop. A rush hour trip is $4 round trip, $3 otherwise. This is a bit more than the gasoline and other car expenses would total, but there are three upsides. One, I have to walk 24-48 minutes on such days depending on the exact time and route, which burns some calories, which is good. Two, it saves maybe a dime of state gas tax.
The third positive is that Metro Transit is heavily subsidized, the fare box paying maybe one third. So that round trip costs the MTC another $3 per day. Granted, there are fixed and variable costs in that number, but clearly just three extra days a month should position me as reducing my net contribution to Light Rail.
Actually, I like riding the bus, and after all, that's what the self-appointed transit experts like Senator Murphy want me to do, right? I'm only too happy to oblige, to drive less - and pay less net tax - for a better Minnesota.
By only having one car, driving carefully, and carpooling, I have reducing my gas bill to a mere $25 a week on average. I figure that it costs me about $400 a month to own a car, but to ride the bus to work would only cost about $94 a month. So, if I get to the point of not being able to make it work out with only one car, it makes a lot of sense to start taking the bus. Right now however, as long as I can carpool, it doesn't work out financially.
The downside is that I'm contributing less to MMGW, but one can't have everything.