Connecticut Post: Gas prices force new work routes

[marmar]

Gas prices force new work routes
ROB VARNON
Article Last Updated: 05/22/2008 12:23:07 AM EDT


More and more Connecticut commuters are racing to catch trains, buses and the Web to work in order to escape the financial beating they are taking from $130-a-barrel oil and $4-a-gallon gas.
Metro-North Railroad, bus operators, vanpool organizers and Telecommute Connecticut reported surges in contacts with people seeking alternatives to driving to work alone.

Dan Brucker, a Metro-North spokesman, said the figures for May are not available, but April 2008 ridership on the New Haven Line jumped 4.3 percent from April 2007. That's an increase of 128,561, or more than the population of Stamford, riding the train in one month.

There is a financial difference between driving and taking buses and trains, according to MetroPool, the Stamford-based van and carpooling advocacy group.

MetroPool's Web site has a feature to compute how much a daily commute costs.

For instance, a 30-mile roundtrip commute by car costs about $305.55 a month. That's using the Internal Revenue Service's latest 50.5 cent per mile reimbursement cost for a vehicle. It also takes into account a 21-day work month. The IRS figure includes insurance and maintenance costs.

By comparison, a monthly pass on Metro-North between Bridgeport and Grand Central Terminal in New York — a round trip of more than 120 miles — is $329.28. A monthly pass to ride from the Milford station to the Stamford station is $87.22. This does not include parking costs or the trip to and from home, the station and the office.

At $4.06 per gallon — the average for regular unleaded gas in Connecticut on Wednesday according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge — a person driving a car that gets 33 miles to the gallon would spend $18.45 per week just for gas for a 30-mile daily commute.

Ron Kilcoyne, chief executive officer of the Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority, said a 31-day pass to ride his buses costs $60. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.connpost.com/ci_9340490?IADID=Search-www.connpost.com-www.connpost.com