Cars Free Commuters

Share

An old high school friend posted today an interesting bit of news. After spending money on a municipal transportation program that allows him to borrow a car, use the bus, and access other mass transit programs, he determined that it might be more economical to procure and operate his own car. I know part of the premise is to cut down on environmental impact, but it’s becoming increasingly ludicrous because the total cost of mass transit use increases while we’re supposedly saving money, and we’re increasingly dependent on reductions in schedule availability. Furthermore, they keep hiking rates, and the reasons for that may not be about the customers for whom they allegedly exist.

While they hike rates, they spend money on things indirectly related. Here in Las Vegas, they just revamped all of the bus stops, even though one of them was immediately destroyed by a drunk driver. We had stops already, and the ones near my house remain simply signs along the roadside. They hire consultants and build a massive transit center in one of the bleakest parts of downtown where none of us want to be. Of course, they hire more people, display more advertising, and yet the buses are no more reliable or cheaper or more comfortable to ride.

While they hike rates, they cut services. Old routes die, the frequency of buses declines, and the on time arrival continues to be piss poor. The monorail alongside the strip is cutting services, and all talk of a light rail or streetcar system has died (I like those, but I don’t know how feasible they are in the desert). All we have is our stupid, cramped, smelly, bus system, and it would take me an hour to ride the bus 11 miles to one work location or two hours to get to the one 18 miles away. It’s ludicrous.

While they hike rates, it becomes more attractive for people to furnish and procure their own transportation. It gives them options, and it gives them more control over the costs. I can ride my bicycle to work faster than I can ride the bus. Since it’s already 90F here, I choose to drive a car instead and do it in 70% of the time. Plus, if I want to, I can always go over to my dad’s and have him charge up my AC Condenser and help me swap the serpentine belt so that it engages the AC. My car gives me options, and I can go when I like and run errands during lunch or leave early. In fact, the car gives the greatest flexibility even when things go badly.

I started Wednesday morning with a dead car battery. Accordingly, I walked the 1.5 miles to the auto parts store with the old battery and then back with a brand new one. I know many people can’t do this or wouldn’t know how to swap it themselves, but I was only late for work by an hour, and that because it takes time to remove a battery, walk to the store, and then reinstall a new one. I would have to wait an hour if I happened to miss the bus, and this time I was in control.

They tell us that time is money. Every hour you spend waiting for the bus is an hour you are not doing anything productive. Although the cash outlay might be some small percentage less, the amount of lost opportunity, discomfort (particularly in the summer in Vegas), and the lack of flexibility is more than made up by the extra cost of owning and operating a car even with the current gas prices. Assuming you do any of the maintenance yourself rather than farming it out, cars are cheaper, easier, and more flexible, particularly as the cost of public transportation rises. The one weak suit is that we pay for public transportation anyway through taxes, and if you don’t use it you kind of throw away that money. If it’s bad money on a bad idea, I prefer to do something else.