Ride or Drive? Revisiting the Cost of a Metro Commute.
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Many Metro riders say they are looking at their relationship with Metro and trying to decide whether it still makes sense, and many think the marriage should be saved. When a letter writer said Metro is too expensive compared with driving, riders responded with their calculations.
Dear Dr. Gridlock:
I was slightly surprised to see the letter [Dr. Gridlock, Nov. 8] saying that it was more expensive for two to commute by Metro than by car from Vienna to the District.
By my estimation, the cost of commuting by Metro is $287 a month for the couple, while driving costs $510 a month.
My assumptions were these: Gas is $3 a gallon, and their car gets 20 miles per gallon, so driving the car costs 20 cents a mile. (This was derived by simply assuming that a car costs $20,000 and will last about 100,000 miles and doesn't take into account insurance or maintenance and repairs.) And it is a 40-mile round trip from Vienna to the Judiciary Square station.
On the Metro cost calculation, I have assumed that they do one trip at rush hour and one not. If both trips are during rush hour, add $54 to the Metro rate. In both cases, I have assumed that there are 20 workdays per month.
Either way, taking Metro costs a significant amount of money, but driving is clearly more expensive.
