Drive or not Drive

On the drive to work today I heard this little bit of news: number young people ages 15 - 24 with a drivers licence has dropped ~20% in the last 20 years.  One of the reasons the young people interviewed don't have a licence is the cost savings.  So I wondered what my costs are for driving.

Canadian Autombile Association  has this handy little Driving Cost Calculator which I tried out tonight.  The tool takes into account insurance, how much you drive (highway/city), maintenance costs etc. My annual driving cost is $4,758.

Cost of an adult transit pass in Calgary is $96 per year, which means a yearly cost is $1,152.

This is a savings of $3,606.  In addition there is also a public transit tax credit that can be claimed.

But not taken into account is the amount of time that is spent commuting.  For those living downtown and working downtown there may not be a major inconvenience of not driving.  Actually, I did this for a couple of years.  However, if you work in an industrial area and live in a different part of town, travel time can become quite long.  I did this as well for a little while, and it was about 2 hours of commuting daily.  So it's really an individual decision that varies depending on situation.