Transportation Spending by Low-Income California Households ...
Transportation Spending by Low-Income California Households ...
Transportation Spending by Low-Income California Households ...
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commutes is $4,240, whereas the highest mileage rate (51.7¢ per mile)<br />
yields an average annual cost of $5,865 (Table 4.6).<br />
Private transportation costs for between-county commutes range<br />
from $828 for a commute from San Mateo to San Francisco (using the<br />
IRS mileage rate) up to $10,046 for a commute from Santa Clara to<br />
Alameda (using the AAA mileage rate). Napa and Sonoma Counties also<br />
have high private vehicle costs for intercounty commutes. Although one<br />
San Mateo commute has the lowest private vehicle cost of all the<br />
commutes ($828), the other San Mateo commute is substantially higher,<br />
at $4,799 (both using the IRS mileage rate). The Alameda and Contra<br />
Costa cost estimates for between-county commutes are more consistently<br />
at the low end, ranging from $1,687 to $3,256. As mentioned above,<br />
the variation in cost is driven entirely <strong>by</strong> the distance of the commute<br />
and the mileage rate that is used. 10<br />
For all but two of our between-county example commutes, the<br />
commutes cost substantially more via private vehicle than via public<br />
transportation. One exception is one commute originating in Contra<br />
Costa County, where the range of costs for public transportation nest<br />
within the range of costs for private vehicle usage. The other exception is<br />
one commute originating in San Mateo, where the cost of commuting <strong>by</strong><br />
public transportation ($2,375) is greater than the cost of commuting <strong>by</strong><br />
private vehicle ($828 to $1,189, depending on which mileage rate is<br />
used). The difference in costs between public transportation and private<br />
vehicle is largest for the commute from Santa Clara to Alameda. This<br />
commute covers a relatively long distance, so that private vehicle costs<br />
were estimated to be quite high. For between-county example<br />
commutes, average private vehicle costs are double or triple the average<br />
_____________<br />
10 The average commute length for the commutes that we selected for this analysis is<br />
22 miles. By comparison, 1990 data indicate that the median commute length across all<br />
workers in the Bay Area (including both intra- and intercounty commutes) is 8.58 miles<br />
(Metropolitan <strong>Transportation</strong> Commission, 1996). Therefore, our private vehicle cost<br />
estimates may not be representative of the costs commuters using private vehicles are<br />
actually paying. Some may choose to work closer to home or to not work at all rather<br />
than pay the monetary and time costs associated with the commutes that we have selected<br />
as examples. That is, the private vehicle estimates we provide in this chapter may be<br />
accurate estimates of private vehicle costs, whereas they would be overestimates of private<br />
vehicle expenditures.<br />
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