I feel so old and SO naive

[CoventryCat86]

After a 3 second google search for --percentage of population with access to public transportation--


http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/ricpubs/publictrans.htm


" <snip> Public transportation is available in approximately sixty percent of all rural counties nationwide, for a total of about 1,200 systems (Stommes, Brown, and Houston, 2002). About two-thirds of rural systems operate in single counties or are city/town in scope; only about one out of four rural transit providers operate in a multi-county area. About 60 percent of rural transit providers are public bodies, and roughly a third are nonprofit agencies; only five percent are private companies or tribal entities. <snip>"

60% obviously isn't a vast majority, but it certainly isn't "The reality either way you want to cut it (percentage of population served by public buses or percentage of land area served by public buses) it's incredibly small."


Also, I found this tidbit from here- http://www.unitedweride.gov/1_128_ENG_HTML.htm
"In 2001, on average, American households devoted 19.3 percent of every dollar spent to transportation expenses. This is the second largest expense category – more than three times the cost of health care – adding up to $7,633 per family annually just to get around. Housing, at $13,011 per year is the only category that exceeds transportation as an expenditure." (Surface Transportation Policy Project, July 2003 )

--Apparently my $1300 estimate, even for the handy guy who does his own wrenching, looks woefully low.

No hefty, you're quoting something that is different from what I'm talking about. The issue is BUS ROUTES, BUS PASSES, etc., that ashauler first raised, not all forms of public transportation that not all citizens qualify for so your "60%" number is irrelevant in this case. There is no way in the world you're going to convince anyone that 60% of the population of North America or 60% of the area of North America is presently served by public transportation buses that are available to all citizens (because while things like Dial-A-Ride serve my community, they are not available to just anyone, you have to either be disabled or on some sort of public assistance in order to use the service). Nice try but that is definitely a "swing and a miss" even though ashauler doesn't see it that way because he's only at the point now where he just wants to argue for the sake of arguing. You probably don't see it that way either but I'm still holding out hope for you.

Your other number of $7,633.00 per year or almost $650.00 per month for transportation expenses is ridiculous and even you have to admit it's unrealistic just as your "60%" one is too. "United We Ride" great job hefty, that's a real unbiased, credible and reliable organization that most definitely has no motivation to distort reality. Never mind, it MUST be true, after all you found it on the internet!

Another example of statistics don't lie but liars use statistics.......