SAVE $9,530 A YEAR TAKING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON - People who opt for public transportation over driving in the D.C. metro area can save $9,530 a year or $794 a month, a new report finds.

The report linked to an American Public Transportation Association public transit calculator that allows you to enter your individual information (for a number of cities, including D.C.) to calculate your savings by taking public transportation instead of your car.

I tried it. My car is a small truck, about 20 mpg (can’t go fast enough during the commute for the truck to get beyond a fast idle). Commute distance is 58 miles round trip. Using fare information from the Virginia Railway Express, the Washington DC Metro, and estimating the cost of a parking space at $7.50/day based on a monthly rate, I had my annual savings estimated:

-$1002.82

That’s right. Public transportation would cost me roughly $1,000 more per year than driving in to work. Not to mention that it would cost an extra hour of commute time each day.

What happened to that $9,530 savings?