Houston Households Spend Most On Transportation

[MidtownCoog]

Nothing was a good as my commute from Midtown to Downtown, but Fall Creek has been pretty sweet. We have 8 more years of the Shell Houston Open, another golf course on the way, lots of trees and deer, and some nice and quiet neighbors.

And you can also get to Westchase in less than 30 minutes on the Beltway.

The bus is really good. And I NEVER thought I would EVER take a bus.

[kjb434]

hehe,

Yeah, I work by the Beltway and US 290 and had to drive out to just past Fall Creek to look at a jobsite one time during afternoon rush hour. I was surprised how I got there in 20 minutes. Thank you EZ Tag.

[Kirzania]

The study, conducted by the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP) and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, [...].

-Households in regions that invested in public transportation reap financial benefits from having affordable transportation options, even as gasoline prices rise.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm sorry, this must be said: "According to a new study, about a third of all major studies from the last 15 years were subsequently shown to be inaccurate or overblown." JAMA (CNN's summary)

In other news, study shows 66.66% chance that 1/3 of studies are nonsense.

[sevfiv]

I'm sorry, this must be said: "According to a new study, about a third of all major studies from the last 15 years were subsequently shown to be inaccurate or overblown." JAMA (CNN's summary)

In other news, study shows 66.66% chance that 1/3 of studies are nonsense.

LMAO

[kjb434]

What is shocking is how true this is. If you make some sort of effort when reading these studies and a small educated background check, you'll find them to be full of crap.

Much like most of the environmental studies and this study about cost of driving versus mass transit. Medical studies are some of the worst offenders too.

A lot is to blame on the news media overhyping the study and not really explaining much to the audience.

[SpringTX]

I'm looking at the details of this study.

In the results, I don't see any relationship between average number of cars owned, and total expenditures on transportation as a percentage of household income.

According to this study, Minneapolis has no commuter rail system, a low percentage of people who use non-automobile means to get to work, and they're still ranked very low (19 out of 28) in % spent on transportation. According to the researchers conclusions/predictions, Minneapolis should rank very high.

I don't like the way they used transportation expenses as the basis of their study, and then tried to make inferences about whether commuter rail systems are needed. They didn't look at number of miles driven, dollars spent on gasoline, or direct savings achieved from people using public transportation.

I personally find it hard to believe that Houstonians drive more miles than people in cities like New York, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. I'm not convinced that Houston commute times are any longer than any of those cities, either. This study doesn't show either of these facts.

I was under the impression that Houston usually has LOWER gasoline prices than most other cities in the country. This study doesn't show that Houstonians pay more overall in gasoline costs than people in other cities, or that our gasoline prices are higher.

I wonder if marine-related transportation expenses (power boats, etc.) are included in total transportation costs. Maybe a lot more Houstonians own boats.

Are telecommuters counted in this study? Maybe telecommuting is more popular in places like Portland than it is in Houston.

Are we counting work-related transportation expenses (for which persons are reimbursed by their employers)? So if Houston has more taxi drivers, truck drivers, or travelling salesmen, does that increase our total transportation expenses?

This study also didn't break down the number of bicyclists going to work. I'm sure Portland has more people biking to work than Houston does. If so, building more rail lines won't help us a bit.

The study concedes that car payment is the biggest part of transportation costs. And it seems to imply that, if we had more public transportation, many fewer residents would own cars. That may not be the case necessarily, and they certainly don't have any DIRECT data measuring that. Plenty of people own cars and still ride public transportation to work.

I also question commuter rail as their solution to save transportation costs. Houston has a developed commuter bus service. If Houstonians wanted to skip driving, can't they ride the bus? If so, and if they choose not to do so, why would building more commuter rail lines help any?

I think basically all this study showed us was that Houstonians own more expensive cars. We could build plenty more rail lines and this might not save Houstonians a penny.

By the way, since we spend less on housing than almost every other major city, as this study shows, why WOULDN'T we spend more on our cars? We have the spare change to hook ourselves up with some dope rides.

[RedScare]

Sometimes these studies are poorly done. Other times they are taken out of context. But, some of this study makes sense (and some of it doesn't). Kind of depends on what the parameters were. Oftentimes, people take the study and try to make it fit their argument, when it doesn't belong.

Public transit can help lower transportation costs, especially in a 2 wage earner family. That family can get by with one vehicle instead of 2. The transit need not be light rail, however. Buses will get you to work as well.

Houstonians, given that even city dwellers live in a 630 square mile city, probably do have longer commutes than New York and SF.

Since this figure is expressed as a percentage, lower cost of living cities like Houston and Dallas, with lower average paychecks, will have a higher transportation cost, since cars cost the same everywhere. Further, Texas' penchant for SUVs, which cost more than cars, will drive up the percentage. However, I saw a similar survey last year, expressed in dollars, and Houston still ranked 2nd, right after Anchorage.