False Claim: Mass transit saves money

Cost of Trimet Transit vs Cars & Taxis

Mode

COST/Pass.-Mi.

Source of Number and calculation outline - Click for details

Bus

$0.835

Calc. from Trimet data: Bus system cost / bus passenger-miles

Rail

$0.434

Calc. from Trimet data: Rail system cost / rail passenger-miles

Combined

$0.67

Calc. from Trimet data: all system cost / all passenger-miles

Rail, with construction

$1.11

Calculated from Trimet data and applying amortization

Lowest cost BUS line in Portland

$0.34

(Line 33-McLoughlin) Public Information Request

Cost of Cars

Car (actual cost using national data)

$0.294 (veh.-mi.)

Calc. by national spending / national vehicle-miles

Car (actual cost using national data)

$0.185

Calc. by national spending / national passenger-miles

Car (using national data - adjusted for Portland)

$0.227

Calc. by nat'l spend / nat'l pass-miles x 1.59/1.3

Car (AAA estimate)

$0.522 (veh.-mi.)

From AAA          Why AAA is higher

Car (AAA derived)

$0.328

AAA cost (above) / pass per vehicle. See note below

Cost of Portland Streetcar

Portland streetcar

$1.25 (per ride)

Calc. from PortlandStreetcar.org: total cost / total trips

Portland streetcar

$1.67

above $1.25 / 3/4 mile average trip length per Charlie Hales

Cost of Taxi Fare in portland

Taxi fare - per mile portion only

$2.10

Cost quote from local cab co. Additional cost is $2.50 to board

Taxi fare with 1.6 people - per mile portion only

$1.31

Cost quote from local cab co. Additional cost is $1per extra pass.

Notes:
The Trimet costs and Car (BEA) costs are based of REAL costs and REAL miles, unlike AAA which is theoretical.
Light rail has massive construction costs which are ignored in the above (and ignored by Trimet's busmaxstat.pdf ) except as noted
The cost of roads is mostly included in the cost of driving due to taxes and fees being included.
Line 69 is the sum of lines 70-77 and includes most (all?) driving related expenses.
National average passengers per vehicle is 1.59, calculated by dividing national passenger-miles by national vehicle-miles

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