Smart Growth Saves on Combined Costs of Transportation and Housing

The Transportation + Housing Connection 1

Our Rate of Driving Grew Three Times Faster than Population 2

How Much Does it Cost to Drive? Small Sedan Medium Sedan Large Sedan SUVVan Gas & Oil8.21¢10.54¢11.51¢14.39¢12.16¢ Maintenance4.26¢4.51¢4.92¢4.94¢4.87¢ Tires0.61¢0.87¢0.82¢0.95¢0.74¢ Total Operating Costs per Mile per Year 13.08¢15.92¢17.25¢20.28¢17.77¢ Insurance$948$957$1022$948$897 License & Registration$419$572$711$727$602 Depreciation (new vehicle) $2,430$3,401$4,551$4,619$3,818 Financing (new vehicle)$553$786$998$1023$832 Ownership Costs/Year$4,350$5,716$7,282$7,317$6,149 Total for 12,500 Annual Miles$5,985$7,706$9,438$9,852$8,370 Average Cost Per Mile$0.35$0.46$0.58$0.59$0.49 American Automobile Association Vehicle Cost Estimates (2009) 3

Traffic Delays Add to Transportation Costs In 2007, the amount of time and fuel that Americans wasted in traffic was worth an estimated $87.2 billion. – 2.8 billion gallons of wasted fuel (enough to fill 370, wheeler fuel delivery trucks bumper- to-bumper from Houston to Boston to Los Angeles) – 4.2 billion hours of wasted time (equivalent to 105 million weeks of vacation). 4

Growing Distances Add to Transportation Costs Another way to look at the impact of regional development patterns on household costs is additional commuting time resulting from a region’s lower density. Additional hours of travel, per capita per year Additional cost, per capita per year New York-Newark (NY-NJ-CT )3$361 Philadelphia (PA-NJ-DE-MD)14177 Pittsburgh (PA)22(27) Baltimore (MD)26344 Washington (DC-VA-MD)61693 Source: Cortwright, Joseph. “Driven Apart” September

Transportation Costs Are a Big Portion of Household Budgets The average household spends 51% of income on the combined costs of housing & transportation; both costs are increasing. The average household spends 19% of income on transportation. – Households in auto-dependent neighborhoods spend 25% on transportation. – Households with good transit access spend only 9%. This savings can be critical for low-income households: – Very-low-income households spend 55% of income or more. 6

Transportation Costs Reduce Affordability 7

Transportation Costs Reduce Affordability of Suburbs 8

Transportation Costs Reduce Number of Affordable Communities “Seven out of ten communities (69%) are considered affordable under the traditional definition of housing costs at 30% of income. That shrinks, however, to just four out of ten (39%) when both housing and transportation costs are considered and a 45% affordability benchmark is applied.” Pennywise, Pound Fuelish, New Measures of Housing + Transportation Affordability, Center for Neighborhood Technology (2010) 9

Transportation Costs Hurt Working Families 10

Smart Growth Saves Transportation Costs 11

Smart Growth Saves Money By Reducing Transportation Costs Portland, Oregon: a 4-mile reduction in VMT per capita when compared to the national average translates into an estimated $2.6 billion in regional household savings on transportation and time costs. Chicago: A 2.1-mile reduction in VMT when compared to the national average translates into household savings of $5.5 billion on transportation and time costs. If the 51 metropolitan areas in the US were to decrease their VMT per capita by just 1 mile per day, the estimated personal savings to households in fuel and maintenance alone would amount to nearly $29 billion a year. 12