Tuesday, September 7, 2010

So hop on the bus, Gus

Two articles in the August 16 edition of Passenger Transport magazine (http://passengertransport.apta.com/aptapt/issues/2010-08-16/email.html) specifically address the benefits of public transportation.


The first focuses on health benefits and summarizes a survey conducted on behalf of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) which found that living near quality transit improves health and can even extend lifespan! The full report entitled, Evaluating Public Transportation Health Benefits, is available at http://www.apta.com/.

The second takes a look at the financial benefits of choosing transit and refers to APTA’s Transit Savings Report, released monthly, which indicates that individuals, on average, save $9,381 annually and $782 monthly by choosing transit over driving alone.

What are some other benefits of riding the bus?

 US reliance on foreign oil could be cut by more than 40% if just one in ten Americans used public transportation regularly.

 The National Safety Council estimates that riding the bus is more than 170 times safer than automobile travel.

 For every passenger mile traveled, public transportation is twice as fuel
efficient as private automobiles.

 Fully one quarter of those 75 and over do not drive; public transportation
is a lifeline for older adults.

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