In my first post here at Wealth Junkies, I talked about how “going green” could help you save money. One of the most common pieces of advice people will give you when you talk about “going green” is to “use public transportation or walk!” While it is certainly true that using mass transit and walking are good for the environment (and your health), they are also fantastic money savers! Public transportation is not the enemy. It is one of the best ways to save yourself hundreds of dollars every month!
Consider this: gas prices are expected to hit four dollars per gallon this summer. In some places, this number is already real. If your car has a fifteen gallon gas tank, that means it will cost—at minimum—sixty dollars to fill your tank. If you drive back and forth to work each day and spend your weekends driving all over town to do your errands, it is quite possible that you will need to fill your gas tank three to four times a month. That means that you will be spending as much as $240 every month on gas alone!
Figure into this number the amount of money you are paying on your car payment and how much you pay for insurance. Did you know that you can lower your insurance payments each month by driving your car less? It’s true! Even if you cut down to just one tank of gas a month, that is about $180 in savings in gas and however much you are saving on car insurance.
Still not convinced? Let’s approach this from another direction:
How often do you go to the gym each week? Taking mass transit or walking increases your daily amount of exercise which will cut down on your need to visit the gym. Heck, you could purchase a simple weight set to keep at home and not have to go to the gym at all! Gym memberships are expensive—how much will you save if you cancel your gym membership? What’s more—if you had been driving to the gym, that’s even more money in gas savings!
Another reason to use mass transit (aside from saving you money on gas, insurance, gym memberships and keeping you healthy with the walking to and from the transit stop) is this: If you are walking or taking mass transit, you are less likely to go crazy when you go shopping. Why? Because you have to carry everything home!
While it is true that mass transit is not completely free, it is still cheaper than what you will spend on car insurance, gas and a gym membership. In Portland, Oregon (where I live) a mass transit pass costs seventy dollars per month. This gives you passage on the commuter train, the multi-county wide bus system and the city-centric street car.
Seventy dollars will also buy you a tank of gas and lunch. Which is more cost effective?
