Seattle shifting to mass transit, more people going car-free

Fire .... makes for really great baked beans

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c'mon, it only happens about as often as the sox winning the series.

 

In the early 1970's the Federal gov't made large free funds available to cities to begin transportation systems of their own desire. Seattle, "transportation-trapped" between Puget Sound & huge Lake Washington, needed the funds most of all, & was at the top of the Federal list, with almost $700 million available(billions of dollars in 2019 money). Placed on the local Seattle ballot to accept the funding, the citizens of Seattle TURNED DOWN THE FREE MONEY, showing the Emerald City populous was not environmentally green. Seattle has been in a transportation quagmire ever since, now faced with disastrous sky-high costs to jump-start decades-belated transportation solutions. Portland got the money Seattle turned down & they have a sweet 3 county transportation system. Their system is one of the high reasons, that pollution rates per capita in Portland are much lower than in Seattle.
I said I would never commute to Seattle for any worth-while job, & I never did.

 

Very interesting. I didn't realize that about Portland. Good stuff. Bummer about Seattle though.

 

Not that I do a lot of traveling, but when I have to, I have taken buses and trains many times just to avoid flying. For one person travel, as long as I can complete the travel in a single day (including red eye train) I take buses and trains over flying any days. But still, I need a car to get to the nearest bus station ~50 miles away or train station ~200 miles away. As it happens for me, the nearest airport is only 5 miles away. For more than one person travel, driving especially on PRIUS PRIME is the least expensive mode of transportation. That being said, if I lived in a big city, I would not want to own a car at all.

 

My general rule of thumb - if I can drive there in 6 hours or less, I drive. Unless I'm going into an inner city where I can't park the car.

By the time I go to the airport, park, take the shuttle, go through security, wait for the flight, fly, go find ground transportation, etc, I can generally be there in my own car for less money. Sometimes flying allows me to avoid an overnight, so then I would typically fly.

If I am going to travel a bit once I get to the destination, then I'll stretch the rule to 12 hours, then I'll have my own car for the time I'm there. Generally cheaper as well.

 

Year, if I can get to where I need to be in 6 hours driving, I would never fly. Only when I can not complete the travel without staying extra nights, I will consider flying as a last resort. My travels are mostly for conferences usually held in the downtown of a major city. I don't need a car once at the final destination.

 

Even with a Prime, it appears to be more efficient in terms of fuel consumption to travel by air. The 737-800 is a reasonably fuel efficient aircraft, commonly operated by Southwest Airlines, which I fly frequently.

The typical burn rate on a 738 is 0.028 liters/km per seat (Fuel burn A320 v 737 - Leeham News and Analysis). I assume this would be for a full airplane, about 186 seats or so.

0.028 liters/km = 2.8 liters/km = 84.01 MPG. Even with a Prime, I can't get that kind of mileage on a long trip. For a single point of data, on a recent trip where I had my cruise set to 73 mph by GPS, I got a bit less than 56 mpg.

So,by this calculation, taking the plane saves fuel. When you get there, rent an economy car that gets good mileage and it's a net fuel savings for the entire trip.

 

Traveling alone in a car, any car makes the efficiency to drop per passenger base. According to this article, using a statistical average occupancy of each mode of transportation, the BEV is the most green. But that assumes 2 occupants in a BEV. If you are going solo, it is better to take a bus.
This Graphic Maps the Energy Efficiency of Modes of Transportation, From Planes to Cars

 

My calculation was for solo travel, since I usually travel alone. That last mode I would choose is a bus, based on every long bus trip I've ever been on. Regardless of the environmental impact, that is a horrid experience for the most part.

They didn't show any math to support that. Where do they assume the electricity is coming from?

Edit - here's the downside of a BEV. If I want to travel 750 miles, which is a typical "get there' day for me, in the Prime it's one fuel stop of about 15 minutes (fuel and restroom). In a BEV, it's two stops of one hour each (assuming a Tesla with 300 mile range and a Supercharger), assuming there is a Supercharger where I need one and it's not occupied.

 

Yeah I thought I'd heard that. Crawling 'cross country in a car impacts the environment less than flying.

 

Strictly on Passenger Miles Per Gallon base, driving a 20mpg SUV with 7 people is greener than driving the same distance solo on a BEV. assuming 20mpg for the SUV x7=140PMPG vs ~100PMPGe for a BEV. But compared to 180PMPG for a bus, it is less efficient. Even very efficient plane at 84PMPG like a full occupancy 737 is definitely not better than the bus.

 

By any metric other than person fuel efficiency, the bus is at the bottom. I'd rather chew my own arm off than spend 12 hours on a Greyhound.

And, none of these calculations consider the value of your time. With an airplane on a long haul, it's a big time saver. As the chart shows, you can get places in your car faster than the bus, since you don't have scheduled stops. That's how my six hour rule came about - if I can get there in similar or close to similar time in my own car, that's a winner for me.

Note this only applies for round trips - since you need to drive you car back home eventually. If I need a one-way trip, the car is out.

 

Haven't been on Greyhound since my college days. My workplace uses Peterpan and other charter buses. They are very comfortable and far better than flying with all the restrictions and regulations imposed, IMO. I do like the freedom the personal car allows for traveling but for work-related travel, use of a personal car is not encouraged. Besides, I can sleep or work in the bus, which I can't do in my car if I am driving.

 

Three data points from when I took pulblic transportation one way to pick up a new car.

1. 2001 - Omaha to Denver on Amtrak. Scheduled to leave midnight and arrive at 8 am. Actually left at 0630 and arrive at 2 pm. Since my son traveling with me with was only 12, this left me to drive the car home starting at 4 pm. Arrived home 2:30 am.

2. 2006 - Omaha to Chicago on Southwest. 1 hour flight, left and arrived on time, $258 for two of us. Shuttle bus to O'Hare, then another to Rockford IL. Dealer picked me up there. Everything on time, still had to drive home, this time with two drivers. Arrived home as expected at 1 am.

3. 2019. Omaha to San Jose CA on Southwest, one stop in Denver, everything on time. $125 one way. Sister picked me up in San Jose and dropped me at dealer in Sunnyvale. Zero problems. Drove the car home a few days later.

That's a plus.

We used to check out a company vehicle to drive from Omaha to Naperville, IL. 5 in the vehicle, we set up a WiFi hotspot. One driver, 4 working. MUCH cheaper than flying the four of us there.