In June 2008, Georgia PIRG released new findings that the average American’s economic stimulus check was spent at the gas pump. Since President Bush signed the tax rebates into law in February 2008, the average American household spent over $1,500 filling their gas tanks.
The day after the analysis was released, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation by a vote of 322 to 98 that authorizes $1.7 billion to transportation agencies across America to expand services and reduce fares.
Transportation Funds To Georgia
If the bill were signed into law, the City of Atlanta would receive $23 million; the Savannah area $1.1 million; Augusta-Richmond County GA-SC over $810,000; the Macon area over $576,000; and Athens-Clarke County over $411,000 over the course of two years. Statewide rural formula funds would be over $6.4 million over two years.
“If elected officials want to do something long-term about high gas prices, they will give people more options to driving,” said Sandra D. Glaze, staff attorney of Georgia PIRG. “Unless we make it easier to drive less, Georgia families will be stuck in neutral, spending more and more at the pump.”
Location Matters
The Georgia PIRG-released analysis, which was generated by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, also shows that neighborhoods around the country with the best access to transportation spent an average of $728 each month on all transportation costs, including gas, insurance, and up-keep and transportation fares. Households in neighborhoods with limited access to transportation spent an average of $925 per month.
For Atlanta, the research showed metro Atlantans with high transportation access spent $764 monthly, or 17 percent of the area median income, while low level access residents spent $761, an average of 22 percent of the area median income, monthly on transportation costs.
Transportation Saves
Analysis by the Georgia PIRG Education Fund documents that public transportation created net oil savings totaling 3.4 billion gallons in 2006, enough to fuel 5.8 million cars for an entire year and save about $13.6 billion in gasoline at today’s prices. Here in Atlanta, public transportation saved 88 million gallons, the equivalent of saving $359 million at the pump today.
“This bill serves the interests of MARTA and the nation by reducing the United States’ dependence on foreign oil by encouraging more people to use public transportation. MARTA and transportation systems throughout the country are seeing increases in ridership, which is a clear indication that if we put resources into transportation, people will use it,” said MARTA Board Chairman Michael Walls. “The bill is a step in the right direction.”
