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Executive Summary
An Analysis of Household Gas Spending, Economic Stimulus Checks, and the Need for Better Transportation Options:
America’s dependence on oil has become increasingly painful. Two
thirds of oil in the United States goes to transportation, with the
largest share consumed by cars and trucks. As the rising price of
gasoline makes driving more expensive, Americans have sought
alternatives by driving a little less and riding public transportation
more.
Unfortunately, government policy does too little to help
Americans drive less. Energy experts generally agree that the era of
cheap gas is over. Scientists likewise agree that road-based global
warming pollution must be reduced. But lawmakers have not taken enough
steps to help Americans consume less at the pump. On the contrary,
overall government policies continue to encourage more driving at the
expense of alternatives, leaving Americans poorer, stuck in worsening
traffic, and emitting dangerous levels of global-warming pollution.
Nothing
illustrates how the lack of transportation options hurts consumers and
our economy more than the fact that, since approval of the tax rebates
in February, Americans on average have already spent the amount of
their stimulus checks at the pump. The standard stimulus rebate check
for American families with a joint filing couple and a child is $1,500.
As of this week, the average family household will have already spent
over $1,500 at the gas pump since February 13th when President Bush
signed the tax rebate checks into law.
The situation is akin to
families signing over their rebate checks to big oil companies like
Exxon Mobil or sending them to oil-producing countries like Saudi
Arabia.
We can reduce our crippling dependence on oil through
long-term solutions that will make it easier for Americans to drive
less. Modern buses, light rail, commuter rail and other forms of
transit more efficiently move passengers with less fuel. Transit also
reduces traffic congestion and encourages more compact development
patterns which, in turn, further reduce the amount Americans must drive.
Existing
public transportation already reduces America’s oil dependence.
Analysis by U.S. PIRG shows that net oil savings from public
transportation totaled 3.4 billion gallons in 2006, the last year for
which full data on transit agency and ridership is currently available.
These oil savings are enough to fuel 5.8 million cars for an entire
year and to save about $13.6 billion in gasoline at today’s prices.
Comparing
spending on transportation in neighborhoods with different access to
rail and bus routes underscores the gas-saving benefits of public
transit, according to newly released analysis by the Center for
Neighborhood Technology (CNT) as part of a Brookings Institution
project. Based on analysis of 2000 Census data in 52 metro areas,
neighborhoods with the best access to transit routes spent an average
of $728 monthly on all transportation costs, including gas, insurance,
upkeep, and transit fares. Households in communities with the least
access to transit, by contrast, spent an average of $925 per month.
Public
transit solutions can do far more. At present, underfunded transit
agencies are struggling to keep up with the record volume of riders.
Despite the success of new rail lines and bus routes around the
country, a long line of new transit projects remains stuck on the
drawing board due to lack of funding. Federal, state, and local
governments must invest in solutions to oil dependence through more and
better public transportation.
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