This article was published in the Spring 2011 newsletter of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization, where you can read about regional transportation planning efforts such as bikeways, long-range planning and more.
1. Investment in public transportation is good for business. Analysis of Portland, Oregon's transit system and land use patterns revealed that the associated reductions in commute time and vehicle miles travelled freed up $2.6 billion per year for general consumer spending [i]. Studies have found that transit systems boost annual area business sales: $16.3 billion in sales due to Philadelphia's total system, $3.8 billion due to Dayton, Ohio's total system, and $4.6 billion from upgrades to Chicago's system [ii].
2. Transit increases property values. In Portland, residential property values were found to increase by ten percent when the homes were located within ¼ mile of rail stations [iii]. Residential property values in St. Louis were found to increase $140 for every 10 feet closer the homes are to rail stations; a home located 100 feet from a station has a price premium of $19,029 compared with the same house located 1,460 feet away [iv]. Proximity to bus rapid transit stations has also been shown to increase property values [v].
3. Transit systems create jobs. IndyGo provides employment for approximately 450 local residents. Supplying the system with everything from buses to fuel to uniforms creates a multiplying effect in the local and national economy. Nationwide, 24,000 jobs are supported for one year per billion dollars spent on public transit capital investments. For every billion dollars used for operational expenses, 41,000 jobs are supported [vi]. These jobs generate hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenue and boost national GDP.
4. Public transportation provides personal mobility and freedom for people from every walk of life. Access to transit gives people travel options to get to work, go to school, visit friends, or go to a doctor's office. More and more people are expressing their desire to reduce their dependence on their cars, especially young professionals and recent college graduates, who are likely to choose places to live based quality of life factors including the availability of mass transit [vii].
5. Transit is the primary mobility option available to people who are unable to drive a car. According to the National Household Travel Survey, 9% of driving-aged individuals do not drive [viii]. Public transportation is the key to independent living for many people who are elderly or have a disability. With access to transit, non-drivers can work, shop, get medical care and enjoy a quality of life that is more equal to that of people with the ability to drive and the means to own a car.
6. Public transportation saves drivers time by reducing congestion on our roadways. In the Indianapolis metro area, we each spend an average of 25 hours per year idling in congested traffic [ix]. The more people choose transit over driving, the fewer hours we spend sitting in congestion. A full IndyGo bus takes 38 cars off the road (more if some passengers stand because the seats are full). Full Indy Express Bus vehicles take up to 55 cars off the road.
7. Using transit instead of driving a car results in substantial household financial savings. The average cost to own and operate an average-sized sedan is $8,487 or 56.6 cents per mile if you drive 15,000 miles per year [x]. Expenses include financing, gas, depreciation, insurance and maintenance. What is the price of 12 IndyGo monthly passes? $720. That's a monthly savings of $647.
8. Transit use reduces pollution. If an individual with a 20-mile roundtrip commute chooses public transportation over driving, his or her annual CO2 emissions will decrease by 4,800 pounds per year, equal to a 10% reduction in a two-car household's carbon footprint [xi].
9. Public transportation is good for your health. People who take public transportation on a regular basis walk more. After a light rail line opened in Charlotte, North Carolina, people who used the system more than once a week for 8 months had a 1.18 kilogram reduction in body mass index (BMI). That's a loss of between 6.4 and 7 pounds for a person who's around 5'5'' [xii].
10. Riding transit is safer than driving a car. In 2008, 12.2 transit riders were injured per 100 million passenger miles traveled. In contrast, 51.1 car occupants involved in crashes were injured per 100 million passenger miles [xiii]. In other words, people riding in cars are more than four times more likely experience crashes causing injuries than transit passengers.
11. The presence of public transit makes for a more livable urban environment. When transit systems are built, transit-oriented development is likely to occur near transit stations, increasing the density of housing, offices, stores, and services. This makes pedestrian access easy and reduces the need to drive a personal vehicle. The benefits of transit-oriented development and the resulting increase in urban density range from improved public safety to reduced energy consumption to the preservation of rural areas and open space.
[i] Cortright, Joe, "Portland's Green Dividend", http://www.impresaconsulting.com/node/42
[ii] Cambridge Systematics, "Public Transportation and the Nation's Economy A Quantitative Analysis of Public Transportation's Economic Impact", http://www.camsys.com/pubs/publictransp_nationseconomy.pdf
[iii] Al-Mosaind, M A, Dueker, K J and Strathman, J G, "Light-rail transit stations and property values: a hedonic price approach", http://pubsindex.trb.org/view.aspx?id=383269
[iv] Garrett, Thomas A., "Light Rail Transit in America: Policy Issues and Prospects for Economic Development", Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (http://www.stlouisfed.org/)
[v] National Bus Rapid Transit Institute, "Land Use Impacts of Bus Rapid Transit: Effects of BRT Station Proximity on Property Values along the Pittsburgh Martin Luther King, Jr. East Busway", http://www.nbrti.org/docs/pdf/Property%20Value%20Impacts%20of%20BRT_NBRTI.pdf
[vi] American Public Transportation Association, "Economic Impact of Public Transportation Investment", http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/economic_impact_of_public_transportation_investment.pdf
[vii] Crain's Detroit Business, http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20070812/SUB/708130316
[viii] US Department of Transportation, National Household Travel Survey, http://nhts.ornl.gov/
[ix] Texas Transportation Institute, "2010 Urban Mobility Report". http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/report/
[x] AAA, "Your Driving Costs, 2010 edition" http://www.aaaexchange.com/Assets/Files/201048935480.Driving%20Costs%202010.pdf
[xi] IndyGo, http://www.indygo.net/pages/go-green
[xii] National Public Radio, "Riders Who Take Mass Transit Regularly May Lose Weight", http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/06/30/128210165/riders_who_take_mass_transit_regularly_may_lose_weight
[xiii] Analysis of US Bureau of Transportation Statistics figures, http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/
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