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[quote user="gardendance"] Sam, I agree with you that IF you had a passenger in your car the per passenger cost would be lower than it is for 1 person per car. I just don't think there are many regular commuters who drive 2 or more people per automobile. You often cite a statistic that says less than some single digit percent in the US use public transit. Do you have any data on the percent that have 2 or more people per automobile? [/quote] According to National Transportation Statistics, Table 1-38: Principal Means of Transportation to Work, which is published by US DOT, 10.7 per cent of the U.S. population rode to work in 2006 (latest figures) in a carpool; that is to say, with 2 or more persons in the vehicle.  The numbers would have been somewhat higher in urban areas and somewhat lower in rural areas. In 2006 86.7 per cent of the population drove to work or rode in a personal vehicle; 4.3 per cent used public transport, .6 per cent rode a bicycle or motorcycle, 2.9 per cent walked, 3.9 per cent worked at home, and the remainder used other means. In 1989, for comparison purposes, 88.1 per cent drove to work or rode in a personal vehicle, 4.6 per cent used public transport, .7 per cent rode a bicycle or motorcycle, 3.4 per cent walked, 2.6 per cent worked at home, and the remainder used other means.  As you can see, the numbers did not change significantly between 1989 and 2006, except for the percentage of people who worked at home.  The numbers for 2008, which will not be available until 2009 or 2010, will probably show a blip in the percentage of people who used public transport, walked, or worked at home.  However, at least based on what I see on public transport in Austin, the rush to public transport that was induced by the dramatic run-up in the price of gasoline during the summer of 2008 has subsided. Under another topic I opined of the importance of going to primary source documents to get an unbiased view of the subject being discussed.  To hear advocates for public transport (American Public Transport Association, commuter rail advocates, etc.) tell it, people are flocking to public transport to get to and from work.  These statistics do not support that contention.
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