Why America needs rail (the beginning)

As public transportation popularity grows, the importance of investing in the upgrade of America‘s public transportation network seemingly is still not obvious. Therefore here is my take as to why America needs to invest in rail and its derivative thereof.

America needs rail because current transportation options are inefficient. The options for transportation in America are currently the following: driving, airplane, rail, bus and boat (boat will not be counted in my analysis).

Today’s post is concerning the cost to the consumer per travel.  Admittedly there are a lot of variable that can determine the expense of transportation to the consumer.  However, in this post, I have taken the most pertinent cost factors of each transportation mode in order to determine an overall cost to the consumer.  Again, I stress that the figures presented here can change based on circumstances specific to each consumer (for example: If a consumer owns his own car, leases, or rents the figures may be slightly different accordingly).

In order to start analyzing the cost of transportation to a consumer, I decided to use a long trip as a base catalyst in order to see how each mode reacts to the trip on a financial scale.  In other words, how much is a person actually paying to take a long trip on each mode respectively?  I decided to use as a catalyst a trip from Gainesville, FL to Austin, TX using the capital as my final destination.  Based on the figure from Google maps, this trip is 1,015 miles long.

NOTE:  Any destination can be used to determine costs.

With the origin and destination determined, I proceeded to calculate the corresponding costs per mode.

CAR

The Automobile is the most complex mode for the consumer to calculate since all of the cost associated with the automobile is the consumer’s responsibility.  This analysis does not take into account environmental impact costs.

I analyzed two options.  Car styles vary and depending on the car type and style, different gas mileages can have a different cost association.  Therefore, in order to come about an agreeable average I looked at two car options.  The first car (Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Vehicle) is considered to be the most gas efficient vehicle according to www.fueleconomy.gov.  Here are its stats:

Car: (2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Vehicle MSRP 29,125 – 31,125) Most Gas Efficient

According to http://www.fueleconomy.gov

Cost to drive 25 miles = $0.90

I also looked at the most popular vehicle according to http://www.edmunds.com

Most popular vehicle (2012) Toyota Camry According to www.edmunds.com

Vehicle MSRP=23,220 according to  http://www.toyota.com/camry/

Cost to drive 25miles= $3.00 (according to http://www.fueleconomy.gov)

Gas national Average: Regular $3.388 according to fuelgaugereport.aaa.com (July 13, 2012)

With these two cars in mind I proceeded to calculate the cost for a consumer to make this trip on these cars given that it takes 17 hours 2 minutes non-stop (According to Google map) on car to make this trip.

Moreover, I took into account cost associated with other aspects of the vehicle:

NOTE: these are national averages:

Cost for car: (according to commutesolutions.org)

Fixed cost (insurance, registration, motor vehicle taxes) = 11.9 cents per mile

Maintenance and tires = 5.3 cents per mile

Accidents (personal costs of injury and property damage) = 10.9 cents per mile

Finance charge = 6.3 cents per mile

Depreciation = 27.9 cents per mile

English: Mitsubishi i-MiEV in Spain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mitsubishi total energy (gas/electric) cost: trip  = $36.54

Insurance   = $120.79

Maintenance   = $53.8

Accident   = $110.64

Finance   = $63.95

Depreciation   = $283.20

Total        = $668.92

2007-2009 Toyota Camry photographed in College Park, Maryland, USA. Category:Toyota Camry (XV40) Category:Silver Toyota sedans (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Camry total trip:  trip = $121.8

Insurance = $120.79

Maintenance = $53.8

Accident = $110.64

Finance = $63.95

Depreciation = $283.20

Total         = $754.18

Note:  Please understand that when you purchase an airline ticket, they take into account (according to http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/storysupplement/airline_costs/ ):

1. Labor
2. Fuel
3. Aircraft rent and ownership
4. Non-Aircraft rent and ownership
5. Non-Employee labor
6. “Misc” which include
   1. Food and beverage
   2. Landing fees
   3. Maintenance supplies
   4. Insurance
   5. Agent commissions
   6. Communications
   7. Advertising
   8. Office supplies
   9. Payment to regional partners and agents
   10. Interest
   11. Other airline expenses
   12. Federal Taxes
   13. And of course profit

The airline makes you pay for any expense they incur + their profit, therefore, the above car analysis is not unrealistic.  It is a standard analysis that all transportation agencies do.

Airplane

Flight time (time the plane is actually in the air): 3hours and 40 minutes (according to Delta)

Boarding trip time (trip including layover): 5hr 5minutes (According to Delta)

Total time (including 30 minute recommended early arrival, 1hour for international flights): 5hr 35 minutes nation 6 hours 5minutes international

Ticket prices: As of 6:11 pm 7/13/2012 for travel dates 07/20/2012 return on 07/27/2012 the

prices ranged from $473.20 to $848.00 at Delta.com

NOTE: Ticket prices are tricky to determine since you can use sites like priceline.com or Kayak to get lower priced tickets.  It also depends on time and date.  However, an average for ticket prices is $364 according to Air transport association (check out the report here http://www.airlines.org/Pages/FINAL%20A4A%201Q12%20Review%20and%20Summer%20Outlook.pdf)

This price does not include food bought on the plane.

Bus

According to Greyhound.com

Travel Time 24-26 hours (this includes one layover)

Price for Ticket: Standard round trip fare as of 6:25pm 07/13/2012 is $382.00 for travel dates 07/20/2012 return on 07/27/2012. This price can be lower or higher depending on the type of fare or discount you get.

Train in America (Amtrak)

English: Amtrak Downeaster conductor standing in Amfleet car doorway, as the Downeaster train leaves Durham, New Hampshire. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to Amtrak.com they do not service Gainesville.  Therefore, I had to use Jacksonville Fl, for this analysis. for travel dates 07/20/2012 return on 07/27/2012:

Travel time: 72hours and 22 minutes

Ticket price $525.00

High Speed Hypothetical 

With the above statistics completed I wanted to pose a hypothetical.  A “what if” if you will.  The fact is, we do not have a high speed rail service from Florida to Texas therefore I had to use the given information and calculate what the statistics for a high speed rail could be.  It’s a hypothetical based on my reasoning.

According to Eurorail. The Alta Velocidad Española’s (AVE) train top speed is 300 km/h or 189 mph.  Using this as a model train for my hypothetical analysis calculated how fast the train would make the trip from Florida to Austin.  I divided the total miles of the trip by the top speed in order to get the time it takes for the train to cover that distance (1015 miles/189mph = 5.37 hours). Granted realistically the train would not travel consistently at 189 mph however for the entire duration of the trip. However, for analysis sake let’s say it does. Thus if the train travels non-stop from Gainesville to Austin, it would take the train 5hrs to get there.  That’s as fast as the total travel time of a plane!

However, we know that there are areas where trains will have to slow down.  Moreover, trains will have to stop and train stations to load and unload passengers along the way. Therefore lets say, there is a total of 20 stops between Gainesville and Austin TX.  At 15 minutes per stop, that would add 5 extra hours to the travel time, that’s 10.37 total hours of travel (and this is a very conservative figure, normally high speed trains don’t stay for more than 10 minutes at a minor station in Europe.)

Cost?: This is hard to determine on a hypothetical situation.  However, if we look at the current train ticket prices of Amtrak for a similar trip (Jacksonville, to Austin).  It can be said that, per hour, Amtrak charges $7.30 (525/72= dollar per hour).  If this is the case than10x7.30 = $70.30.  To check I found a trip that is roughly 10 hours on train. A trip on Amtrak from New York city to Charlotte NC takes 13 hours and costs $162 according to Amtrak.com as of 07/13/2012 at 7:29 pm. This trip has a total per hour cost of 12.46.  Nevertheless even at 12.46 dollars per hour, the train option would be the most economical option available.

Keep all these figures in mind since I will come back to them on the next post (next Friday).  This is to lay the foundation of how I am going to tackle this question.

A few things are obvious.

1. No matter where you live the car is just expensive. No matter how economical it is.

2. The car takes more time than other modes.

I have laid the ground work for my coming arguments, tune in next week for the second post on this “Why America needs rail” series.

Related articles

• To Drive or Not to Drive (A Response to A Friend’s Dismisal of the Need for Public Transportation) (facesofurbanplanning.wordpress.com)
• Spain I Roald Smeets (iroaldsmeets.wordpress.com)

To Drive or Not to Drive (A Response to A Friend’s Dismisal of the Need for Public Transportation)

Looking south above Interstate 80, the Eastshore Freeway, near Berkeley, California on a Saturday afternoon. Picture taken by Minesweeper on May 14, 2005. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This entry is a response to a good friend concerning the need for public transportation and the want for private automobile.

Responding to Nathan

It is true.  If free market demands it, then it will come to pass.  However, what are we doing to educate the masses so that there will be a higher demand for public transportation.  That the demand for the automobile is high is a no-brainer.  According to the US Census Bureau; 77% of Americans drive to work alone (that is without carpooling).  77% of Americans choose to go to work in their private vehicles, which alludes to the fact that at least 77% of Americans own cars.  Moreover, they choose to use their cars as opposed to other means of transportation.  The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) reports that since 1972 there have been more vehicles in production or in the market then there are licensed drivers to drive them.  So yes, it’s safe to say that the demand in the United States of America for the private automobile is high.  Therefore is easy to see how someone can just throw the possibility for public transportation to the way side.

However, there are many facts concerning the automobile that have been kept from the public conscious sight.  I am convinced that if a person takes a careful consideration to these facts he or she will be more apt to give public transportation a second look.

Fact 1.  The Private Automobile is Expensive. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) the automobile has a proportion of 17% of an average annual household

united states currency seal – IMG_7366_web (Photo credit: kevindean)

expenditure (AAHE).  When you compare this to the fact that a home has a 32% AAHE you start to get the picture of the true expense of a vehicle.  It is the second most expensive item on the AAHE, third is food at 13% and fourth is Social Security at 10%. Using a person that makes 40,000.00 annually and using the BLS statistics, it can be calculated that this person is paying 6,800 Dollars every year for their automobile, compared to 12,800 dollars for their home every year.  That’s 566 dollars every month for a car.  These are conservative estimates.  Calculating the cost of driving on an individual basis may end up producing a higher expenditure value for an automobile (You can calculate your true cost of driving at http://commutesolutions.org/external/calc.html).   With these figures it is perplexing how the “free market” has not demanded something less expensive like public transportation.

 

Fact 2.  The Private Automobile Industry is Too Important

With such a high demand for automobiles, the automobile industry has become too important since it holds a major financial factor in the United States tablet of economics.  In other words, the United States has too much dependence on the automobile industry.  For example, In an article written for the New York Timesby Jeffrey McCracken and John D Stoll they reveal that the automobile industry employs about 3.1 million Americans across the nation.  That’s a lot of Jobs.  If the automobile industry was to

A photograph of the children’s version of Monopoly (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

somehow be affected in a negative way, the possibility exists that 3.1 million jobs could be at jeopardy. The year 2008 gave us a short visual of the possibility of such an event happening to the automobile industry.  It may seem that the course would then be to ensure that these companies would remain in good operation in order for these jobs to exist.  In doing so, a steady flow of tax income to the government and a healthy supply of jobs to the masses is then provided.    As good as this reasoning may sound, the fact still remains that the United States by exclusively supporting the Automobile Industry creates a situation in which it only has one main source of “goods”. It is as the saying goes, “putting all your eggs in one basket”.   The United States thus relies on the Automobile industry to supply the 3.1 million jobs and the steady tax revenue.  However, if the United States was to expand its load of job demand onto another industry, than it would not have such a dependence on one industry.  That’s healthy economics under any economic book out there.  According to the article written for Philly.com by Paul Nussbaum, a healthy public transportation industry in Spain created about 600,000 jobs within 5 years.  Spain has demonstrated that a Healthy public transportation system can help to create jobs.  The fact is obvious that 600,000 jobs is much lower than 3.1 million.  However, this second option to our transportation system would help to create a second financial basket which would then alleviate the financial burden upon the automobile industry and thus create more opportunities for advancements in automobile technology and public transportation technology.  The hope of course would be to create opportunities to lessen or completely severe the United States dependency on oil thus giving the United States a greater freedom on the world stage.

Fact 3 The Infrastructure for the Automobile Costs More than that of Public Transportation

According to the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority on average a Light Rail Transit system (LRT) costs about 35 million dollars per mile to construct.  That seems like a good deal of moneyespecially when estimates are based on not only 1 mile but 20 to 30 miles at a time.  The media is quick to point that the overall expenses to an LRT goes into the billions.  However, when you compare the 2.3 million dollars it takes to construct a highway lane per mile the LRT all of sudden does not seem so expensive considering that most lanes

English: Taxis, cars and buses stuck in the ever honking traffic in Kolkata near Sealdah train station. Deutsch: Taxis, Autos und Busse stehen in Kolkata im Stau in der Nähe des Bahnhofs Sealdah. Das Hupkonzert gibt’s gratis dazu. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

can only carry two thousand people per hour compared to a LRT than carry 20 thousand people per hour.  Thus per passenger mile basis the cost ends up being roughly about the same for both constructions.  However, LRT is not the only public transportation option.  There also exists Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) which, according to the US Government Accountability Office costs about 13.5 million dollar per mile in upfront charges.  The truth of the matter is that reasonably priced public transportation is available.

These are just a few of the MANY reasons why as a nation we need to consider public transportation.  It is true; the current demand in the United States is for the automobile.  However, if the masses can be educated to the benefits of public transportation, this demand can be changed.

It’s easy to say, “if the free market wants it, it will happen”.  But the free market is just people and apparently none of us are looking ahead.  Were stuck in the now, with no aspiration to do anything more than cope.  We like our cars because ultimately it is one of the most “status” showoffs we have available.  Its convenience is also evident.  Nevertheless, our population keeps growing, our resources are being taxed.  Land is at a premium when consolidation of ridership is simply too inconvenient for a society too engrossed with self.

We need to look ahead as a nation.  The stark reality is that compared to the world, we are falling behind in just about everything including transportation.  For a nation that is so bent on efficiency, we have become inefficient with how we move.  It’s time to do something about it.  I love my nation and I want it to be great again.

 

My Sources:

http://articles.philly.com/2010-08-08/news/24971401_1_high-speed-rail-ave-train-air-travel/6

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122670818143330019.html

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard106.html

ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/ce/share/2004/age.txt

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/05/030905.asp#axzz1YuXbXKIM

http://dcjobsource.com/drivetowork.html

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.apta.com/mediacenter/pressreleases/2011/Pages/110304_TransitSavings.aspx

http://commutesolutions.org/external/calc.html

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/does-the-us-need-an-auto-industry/

http://vorg.ca/2585-Cars-vs-Bus-vs-Bikes