BUNDLE
THE STREET
Written by Joe Monte of The Street
Whether you live in a city, the suburbs or farm country, commuting by car to and from work can be an unavoidable expense.
Beyond the obvious cost of gas, there are other ways a commute lightens your wallet — wear and tear on your car, repairs and the value of your time as you are stuck behind the wheel in traffic.
An analysis of commuting costs and trends by TheStreet and Bundle set out to determine not only what people throughout the U.S. spend each year for transportation, but what cities are the worst off in terms of expenses. A ranking of how 90 U.S. cities fared can be found on the last page of this story.
According to U.S. Census data, roughly 76% of U.S. workers drive to work alone. Twelve percent carpool, 4.7% use public transportation, 3.3% work from home, 2.9% walk to work and 1.2% used other means (including a motorcycle or bicycle).
Analysis prepared earlier this year by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a Chicago-based think tank that looks at issues of urban sustainability, illustrates how transportation costs drag down traditional “affordability” assessments. It shows that only two in five American communities are affordable for typical households when transportation costs are considered along with housing costs.
The organization’s “Housing + Transportation Affordability Index” examined 337 metro areas across the country, encompassing 161,000 neighborhoods and 80% of the U.S. population.
View rankings of 90 cites (Bundle.com)
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View full article (Bundle.com): America’s Best and Worst Commutes
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Tags: Bundle, Commutes, The Street
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