Re: Overheard on the scanner

In article <68hnsdF2sqvboU1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
 Sean O'Hara <seanohara@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> The WMATA website lists $4.50 as the max fare for Metro Rail, and 
> $3.10 for Metro Bus. Assuming you need to use both to get to work, 
> that's a smidge more than $15 per day, or about $4000 per year.
> 
> By comparison, the average insurance cost in Virginia is about $700 
> a year. (http://www.ppinys.org/reports/jtf/autoinsurance.html)
If 
> you have to fill your tank once a week while commuting, assuming an 
> average price of $3/gallon, you'll be paying upwards of $2300 per 
> year in fuel. So unless their car payments are under $84 per month 
> and they have no maintenance costs, the Metro would be cheaper for 
> the average person.
> 
> Now a person who has lower than average insurance costs and bought a 
> cheap used car that doesn't require any major maintenance, might be 
> better off financially driving, but that'd be the exception, not the 
> rule.
> 

Your calculations assume that commuting is the only thing the car is 
used for, hence that it's average cost, not marginal cost, that is 
relevant.

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 Author of _Harald_, a fantasy without magic.
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