Congrats, You've Paid Off Your Transportation For The Year (Maybe)

By Lindsey Miller in News on Mar 11, 2010 9:40PM

So far this year, while you've been fulfilling - or breaking - your New Year's resolutions and waiting for spring, you've also (hopefully) been working to pay off your transportation costs for the year. According to the Illinois Public Interest Research Group, it has taken the average Chicagoland resident until today, 70 days from the beginning of the new year, to make enough money to cover transit for the year.

Illinois PIRG estimates that Chicagolanders spend 19 percent of their annual income on transportation, which is more than they spend on food, clothing, entertainment, income taxes, and health care. While households in more walkable neighborhoods, like Roscoe Village, spend closer to $7,034, an average household in suburban West Dundee spends more like $11,783 on transportation for the year. A person living in the city of Chicago who doesn't own a car and rides only the CTA via 30-day unlimited passes (at $86 each) would spend a little less than $1,118 on transportation per year. But that doesn't include spouses or kids, taxi rides, bike repair, Metra fare, rental cars, or any other incidental transportation costs.

In order to cut down on these costs, Illinois PIRG calls for better public transportation and more funding. The figures were calculated by the Center for Neighborhood Technology and partners based on neighborhood and household variables, which predicted car ownership, car usage, and public transportation usage, and eventually, how much an average household would spend on transportation. Of course, given the current crisis the CTA (and all local transit agencies) finds itself embroiled in, the call for more funding will remain wishful thinking.