Monthly Newsletter | September 2022

Driving Costs How Much?

Each month Yolo Commute sends a newsletter to its members with useful information about commuting and transportation. This month’s newsletter focuses on Yolo Commute’s accomplishments in FY 2021-22.

Many people are unaware, but purchasing an automobile is typically a household’s second largest purchase after their house and the most expensive consumer good purchase. According to Move.org, in 2021 the average annual cost to own, register, insure, and operate a car is over $5,500/yr or nearly $460/month! If your household owns two cars, then you’re likely near $10,000 per year. And as gas prices rise, so does the cost of driving.

Driving a car to work can also take a personal toll such as contributing to an inactive lifestyle, stress/anxiety from traffic, potential injury from or responsibility for crashes, and unproductive time commuting to work.

Societal Costs

Amazingly, entire research fields are dedicated to driving impacts such as traffic congestion and parking, roadway expansion and maintenance costs, air/greenhouse gas pollution, noise, resource consumption, and land use impacts. And lower income communities are affected more than affluent ones. Every time we drive, we contribute to these problems.

Where to Start

Understandably, most people don’t think about all this when they make a trip. It can be overwhelming! But even those wanting to explore choices often don’t know how – or where - to start.

Yolo Commute can help!

Yolo Commute Can Help!

A small change to consider is how you get to work. Why focus on the work trip? The work trip is often easier to plan around because it occurs regularly, at the same time each day, and when other people are going to work. This is also when most traffic congestion occurs. For this reason, more options are available than other trip types, especially if you live relatively close to your work.

Interested in learning about your commute options?

Not sure how to start? SacRegion511.org makes it easy. Simply enter your start location (typically home) and your destination (typically work) and 511 will show you options. It’s that simple. It will even find carpool matches for you! Stuck? Contact Yolo Commute and we’ll help.

Is cost a barrier? Yolo Commute has you covered with The Rideshare Incentive Program (TRIP). Our cash rewards increase the longer you stick with taking a bus, bike, carpool, etc. for two months until your new routine is established. After that, leave the driving stress at home while imagining how to spend your saved money. Find out more at YoloCommute.net.

What about emergencies? Yolo Commute has you covered there, too. Our free Emergency Ride Home Program will pay for a ride home by Lyft, Uber, taxi, or similar if you have a sick child at school or your washing machine flooded your house during the workday. We even offer a rental car if home for you is over 50 miles from work.

So go ahead and give it a try. Contact your Employer Transportation Liason for more information about Yolo Commute’s benefits. If your employer is not a member, ask them to join!