U.S. Transit Ridership Is Plummeting: Can San Diego’s Proposal Buck The Trend?

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by C.

I'll share my personal situation when I lived in Jersey City.

I worked from home 2 days a week.
Employer paid 100% of transit costs to/from work.
I would use Uber/Lyft on days I didn't feel like talking a bus to the Journal Square PATH station to get into Manhattan.
Average fare was $6.00 one way for UberX or $3 and change if UberPool.

Monthly costs getting to and from work would be about $140.

When I moved within a short walk of Journal Square PATH, I no longer had a need for Uber or Lyft. But I ended up paying $400 a month more in rent. I was better off living further away from the station and using Uber and Lyft daily (or taking the slow-ass bus).

Everyone's situation and economics is different. There are tons of folks that eschew buses and will user ride sharing to get to a rail transit station. It costs more but the convenience and speed, especially in the winter months, was well worth it.

It would cost me ~$15 each way to get to work via uber or lyft (maybe half that if shared... but then I might as well take the express bus which will probably get me there faster anyway... in my experience shared rides are rarely faster than the CTA).

[C.]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

It would cost me ~$15 each way to get to work via uber or lyft (maybe half that if shared... but then I might as well take the express bus which will probably get me there faster anyway... in my experience shared rides are rarely faster than the CTA).

I have a friend living in the south where public transportation isn't an option. He pays about $300 a month to park downtown in a private lot next to the office. I've tried to explain to him that it would cost about the same if he ubered to the office everyday than it would if he drove once factoring in the cost of parking + gas + maintenance + depreciation.

Folks have a hard time calculating the true cost of car ownership.

CTA is a good system depending on where you live and where you were traveling. I use to live on the north side and worked near the airport. It was close to a two hour commute by train/bus. One hour by car. :-/

Uber was not available back then but it would have been not unfeasible for my commute due to the cost.

Again, everyone's situation is different.

(For shits and giggles, I used Google Maps to determine travel times from my old place in Chicago to the airport by car and by transit. 1 hour 11 minutes by transit. 37 minutes by car. Lol Nope!)