While most of us know there are benefits to taking public transportation, many of us still opt for our cars. Reducing the impact on the environment is only one in a long list of benefits offered by using public transit.
Financial Benefits: Transportation is the second largest expenditure for the average American family, with 19 cents of every dollar earned spent on getting around. Using public transportation can save you money on gas, parking, car maintenance, tolls, maybe even the cost of buying an additional car. Perhaps the biggest financial benefit of using public transportation is... time. Your time is valuable, so why not use your commute to read, work, network, instead of sitting in traffic?
Health Benefits: Improved air quality benefits everyone's health, especially those with respiratory problems. Public transportation can also cut your risk of accidents; for example, the National Safety Council estimates that riding the bus is over 170 times safer than automobile travel.
Oil Independence: It's hard to argue that the money currently used to buy oil couldn't be put to more productive uses. If we spend less money on gas we can not only buy other things we want, but also save more-and for the economy savings is equal to investment.
Local Economy: Public transportation leads to more livable, human-scale towns, and far more of every dollar spent on public transportation benefits the local economy than a dollar spent at the pump.
Environmental Benefits: Per passenger mile, public transportation has been found to produce about half the carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), 95 percent less carbon monoxide (CO), and 90 percent of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) compared to private vehicles. Public transportation already reduces America's carbon emissions by the equivalent of the electricity used by 5 million households.
