Portland is a PR machine for light rail & streetcar

Here are Some Facts About Portland Oregon          

“It must always be remembered how cost-effectiveness works in the public sector: the cost IS the benefit.” - author unknown

Operating cost:

We base this on the AAA cost of driving which gives the cost of driving a car per mile for several different car types and annual mileage. The stated costs are per vehicle-mile, while transit data is usually per passenger-mile (after all the goal is to move people, not vehicles!)

The AAA  Driving Costs 2010.pdf states (page 7) the operating cost of the “average” car is 16.74 cents per vehicle mile

The TRANSPORTATION ENERGY DATA BOOK: EDITION 29,  fig. 8.1, says the average USA car has 1.59 people in it.

Since the average car carries 1.59 people, simple division gives the cost per passenger-mile:

16.74 / 1.57 = 10.66 cents/passenger-mile. Rounded off to $0.11 cents/passenger-mile.

Cost Comparison of Cars & Transit

Cost of Transit & Cars (per passenger-mile)

Transit from National Transit Database see http://www.portlandfacts.com/top10bus.html

automobile based on AAA data adjusted to match actual USA car age - see .portlandfacts.com/aaa_cost.html

Cost of Cars Used in Above Chart

Capital Cost: From: The AAA publication at

http://www.aaapublicaffairs.com/Assets/Files/201048935480.Driving Costs 2010.pdf

The AAA Driving Costs 2010.pdf  states on page 3:

Depreciation is based on the difference between new-vehicle purchase price and estimated trade-in value at the end of five years.

...

Finance Costs are based on a five-year loan at 6 percent interest with a 10 percent down payment. The loan amount includes taxes and the first year’s license fees, both computed on a national average basis.

Therefore the average car in the AAA study is 2.5 years old compared to the national average of 10.6 years (table 3.9). This accounts for almost all of the difference between the AAA cost of driving and the actual USA cost of driving. (And the IRS cost because the IRS appears to use the AAA number.)

Here is the AAA chart of “ownership” costs with our added right hand column being the average USA cost from above (“AAA number” in the USA Avg. column means we used the AAA number):

AAA average ownership costs:.....................................AAA......................USA Avg.

full-coverage insurance................................................$1,031..................$1,031 (the AAA number)*

license, registration, taxes...........................................  $585.....................$585 (the AAA number)*

depreciation (15,000 miles annually).............................$3,554..................$1,388 (actual cost)**

finance charge............................................................. $806........................$0 (in above)***

TOTAL......................................................................$5,976..................$3,424

at 15,000 miles/year:

Fixed costs.....(divide total by 15,000)...........................39.8   cents/mi............22.8 cents/mi

Cost per Passenger-mile (divide by 1.59)....................25.0 cents/mi............14.34 cents/mi

* the cost of both insurance and license, registration and taxes for the average car would be less than the AAA number, so using the AAA number here will make our USA average cost of driving higher that the actual real cost.

** Actual household car purchase expense $2,776 (calculated from Table 8.3 - see above) divided by 2 to get cost per car since there are two cars per household.

*** Finance charge is assumed to be in the vehicle purchase cost. Data from TRANSPORTATION ENERGY DATA BOOK: EDITION 29  Table 8.3:  

Cost of Transit Used in Above Chart

Notes, Data sources, and calculations data same as motor bus

• Light rail energy and costs are not directly comparable with bus numbers because, typically, buses service low usage routes which drives up their cost and energy consumption.
• Light rail lines are usually built only where there are relatively large numbers of users.
• For a valid comparison, the LRT data should be compared to data for the best bus line(s) in a given area.

NTD Table Contents

( For the data, go to http://204.68.195.57/ntdprogram/data.htm (select RY 2007 Database (Self-extracting xls)   

Data is in 27 files, this one file combines the important data:  http://ti.org/NTD07sum.xls)

 Table 1: Summary of Operating Funds Applied

Table 2: Directly Generated Sources for Transit Operating Funds Applied

Table 3: Federal Government Sources for Transit Operating Funds Applied

Table 4: State Taxes Dedicated at their Source for Transit Operating Funds Applied

Table 5: Local Taxes Dedicated at their Source for Transit Operating Funds Applied

Table 6: Directly Generated Taxes Dedicated at their Source for Transit Operating Funds Applied

Table 7: Transit Capital Funds Applied - Summary and Federal Sources

Table 8: State Taxes Dedicated at their Source for Transit Capital Funds Applied

Table 9: Local Taxes Dedicated at their Source for Transit Capital Funds Applied

Table 10: Directly Generated Taxes Dedicated at their Source for Transit Capital Funds Applied

Table 11: Capital Funds Applied by Type of Expenditure

Table 12  Transit Operating Expenses by Mode, Type of Service and Function

Table 13: Transit Operating Expenses by Mode, Type of Service and Object Class

Table 14: Transit Operating Expenses by Mode and Object Class - Single Mode Bus Transit Agencies

Table 15: Operators' Wages

Table 16: Revenue Vehicle Maintenance Performance - Directly Operated Service

Table 17: Energy Consumption

Table 18: Employee Work Hours and Employee Counts - Directly Operated Service

Table 19: Transit Operating Statistics: Service Supplied and Consumed

Table 20: Transit Operating Statistics: Service Supplied and Consumed - Train Statistics - Rail Modes

Table 21: Passenger Stations

Table 22: Maintenance Facilities

Table 23: Transit Way Mileage - Rail Modes

Table 24: Transit Way Mileage  - Non-Rail Modes

Table 25: Age Distribution of Active Vehicle Inventory

Table 26: Fares per Passenger and Recovery Ratio

Table 27: Service Supplied and Consumed Ratios

Top Ten Light Rail Agencies   (by annual passenger-miles)

Light rail costs an average of $0.52 per passenger-mile and $138 including capital cost based on the average of the nation’s 10 largest light rail systems:

Download printable version of this page (PDF)

NOTES:

• Average passengers per vehicles range from 10.7 to 17.9.
• The cost per passenger-mile ranges from $0.68 to $1.26 (see below for method.). None come close to the cost of a car.
• Cost per passenger mile is listed for operation costs only and operation+capital cost.
• Costs are system averages and the highly productive lines will better these numbers.

All Data is from this bus file and this light rail file which was excerpted from   http://ti.org/NTD07sum.xls  which combines data from the many separate files of the National Transit Database at http://204.68.195.57/ntdprogram/data.htm (select RY 2007 Database (Self-extracting xls)  

We used

Data sources used by data table:

• Passenger-miles from Table 19
• BTU calculated from fuel consumption in Table 17
• Vehicle revenue miles from Table 19
• Capital Cost from Table 11
• Operating Cost from Table 12

Calculated data:

• BTU/Passenger-mile calculated from total system BTU / total system passenger-miles
• Cost per passenger-mile calculated by: (Capital cost + Operating cost) / passenger-miles
• Auto equivalent MPG calculated based on  123,976 Btu/gallon and 1.3 or 1.57 people per car as labeled. Calculatied by: BTU/Mile divided by Miles/gal then divide by people per car.
• Passengers/vehicle calculated from total system passenger-miles / total system vehicle revenue miles.

For more data see: Table 2.13, TRANSPORTATION ENERGY DATA BOOK: EDITION 27–2008

Top Ten  Bus Agencies (by annual passenger-miles)

Buses cost an average of $0.85 per passenger-mile and $1.01 including capital cost based on the average of the nation’s 10 largest bus systems: