Cue Usher’s “Confessions” melody….these are my confessions….for being a money moron to this day.
I live in a city that is extremely public transportation friendly meaning if you live or travel into the city (even as far out as 1-1.5 hours away in the suburbs), then the majority of the public will take the train.
I have this thing against public transportation (buses, trains).
I think this started when I had to take the bus every day my last three years in college living off campus. I got tired of being restricted to the bus’ schedule. This is not to say that I have completely avoided taking public transportation, but for my daily commute into work, I avoid PT.
Here is a breakdown of how much of a money moron I continue to be with my monthly transportation expenses. Here is a high level income breakdown for the past two months.
- I live a few miles from work in the city. I drive 4 days a week to work on average. I work around once a week from home. My current housing lease already includes a garage so no extra expense there, but my monthly lease payment is not pretty. My average monthly gas expense has been $60.
- I pay a garage fee to park in the city. “Luckily” my work subsidizes the fee to 1/2 the cost. Monthly garage parking fee is a fixed cost of $250.
If I were to take public transportation, I would:
- Cut my monthly gas expense from $60 to $45. I drive to the suburbs for family and side hustles so the bulk of my gas is not spent driving to work.
- Replace the monthly garage fee from $250 with a monthly unlimited train and bus pass for $110. My place in the city is walkable to the train station even though I have no clue where it is. The reason I know is because I see people walking to and from a station…somewhere….out there.
If I were to take public transportation, I would save $155 every month or $1,860 per year. Yikes.
Yet I will continue to pay extra for the convenience and avoid public transportation as I have the past 10+ years since graduating from college.
