Transportation Facts
q The average American family’s second largest expense is transportation. – South FLA commuter Services
q Americans spend an average of 62 hours per year sitting in rush-hour traffic - Texas Transportation Institute 2002
q A typical commuter who switches from driving alone to using commuter alternatives saves more than $800 a year in transportation expenses - Commuter Choice
q A typical household spends nearly 20 percent of its income on driving costs- more than it spends on food. - Commuter Choice
q Nine billion gallons of fuel are wasted in traffic each year – 800 times the amount of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez. - Commuter Choice
Facts below are taken from Getting There: Strategic Facts for the Transportation Planner
q Americans lose more than 1.6 million hours a day stuck in traffic.
q It takes 5-10 million years to make just one gallon of gas. The average automobile will consume this gas in only 22 minutes.
q Every commuter that opts to ride the bus to work will save 200 gallons of gas per year and each full bus on the road translates to at least 40 fewer cars.
q Commuters waste enough gas in traffic jams to drive to the sun and back over 300 times each year.
q If a car’s tank is filled up with unleaded fuel, by the time the tank is empty, the car will have emitted close to 300 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
q The average American spends one out of every five dollars on auto-related expenses and puts in the equivalent of ten 40 hour work weeks driving each year.
q The average US household consumes 1,014 gallons of gasoline each year, travels 18,595 miles in vehicles each year; owns two vehicles; spends 19% of their income on transportation.
q The World Resources Institute calculated the real cost of gas in 1991 when factoring in road construction, damages to our health and the environment, etc. to be close to $7/gallon.