OT: New York MTA more expensive than DESIEL gas

Estafador
BIG APPLE
You won't find this in an article, but by doing your own independent research, you can EASILY come to the conclusion that NY MTA prices is either getting out of hand or is falling behind the times. According to gas Buddy website, Dec. 2015 has gas as low as $2.09/g. That's AMAZING if you drive a car. A real slap in the face if you don't. And if you travel regularly between NY Metro and Long Island and vice versa, it would be cheaper to drive than to take the LIRR. Assuming your car is paid off already (smart shoppers know how get cars for cheaper than the dealership would like),you pay like $≤200/m for insurance (I don't know anybody who pays that anymore...and I'm only 24 too), your gas tank maxes out average 13 gallons, or $27.17 (this is tax included) a tank you can make that last a week at minimum, a month at most as I've heard many of my friends and associates do so (pissing me off bragging about a car when they know I don't have one). So assuming your a smart driver, and with the advent of car technology, if you make a tank last a month on average, you are spending (including insurance) a whopping $227.17 a month.

Now especially for those in NY who commute regularly via LIRR and NY MTA, LIRR is BLOWN out the water as their monthly fee is usually at minimum $325. While the official mta website doesn't give you a particular price point as there are variables to your prices, I know that when I had the monthly pass for LIRR as a STUDENT going back and forth between Penn Station and Ronkonkama line during high school, the student discount allowed my school to pay $350. This was in 2008. You can only imagine how much it went up since then. NY Metro MTA, eh they are $116.50 per month so it's cheaper ONLY because of your monthly insurance fee. If you take away the insurance fee (since people carpool find ways to get gas for free or reduced, etc, etc.) driving comes out on top. Then there's the fact that outside of driving in Manhattan (who would), you get immediate gratification. You don't have to worry about waking up extra early or leaving at a certain time to catch your transit. Hell you don't even have to worry about whether or not the transit will be late due to circumstances not caused by you. After all, your a business man, and can't miss that big important meeting because a homeless person forced the train to a stop because he's medically ill.

I really did not mean for this to be this long.
http://www.newyorkgasprices.com/GP_Petro…

5 comments

Latest

samsung1
9 years ago
Besides gas and insurance you have to deal with parking hassles in nyc
rickdugan
9 years ago
Parking and tolls blow up this analysis if you are talking about commuting to Manhattan, which most people who take LIRR or MTA North do. You are damned lucky if you can find parking for $20 per day (at least $400 per month for 20 work days) in the city and there are only a couple of ways to slip into the city without paying tolls and most of them are not too convenient for most commuters. Also, one tank of gas per month is absurd.
rickdugan
9 years ago
Oh, and on the time front, the commuter trains are definitely faster than driving if you work standard business hours, especially on the departure side. Getting out of Manhattan anytime between 4:30 - 7:00 is a bitch.

I commuted everyday to the city for a long time and I don't miss it.
jackslash
9 years ago
You have to decide which is better for you. I used to commute from Barrington to downtown Chicago every day, and it was faster and cheaper to take the train than to drive, considering the cost of parking. And I could read or sleep on the train. I suppose commuting to Manhattan would be somewhat the same.
twentyfive
9 years ago
I do not know what it is like now but 30 years ago, in a previous life, I used to commute to Manhattan from the south shore of Nassau County on Long Island. I had to be in my office at 6;30 every morning and the way I did it was I would drive to Flushing Queens and park at Shea Stadium and take the subway at Roosevelt Ave Shea Stadium subway station usually a 30 minute subway ride, if you hit the express get off at Grand Central Station and walk the five blocks to my office.
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