IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                      
Contact: Jean Leier (704) 432-0496
         
COMMUTERS SAVE $6,200 PER HOUSEHOLD BY RIDING PUBLIC TRANSIT

Charlotte, N.C., March 13, 2007 ─ Saving money is a reason commuters across the country say they choose public transportation. But exactly how much money are commuters saving by hanging up their car keys and riding public transportation?  $500 a year… $800 a year… $1,000 a year? According to a recent study commissioned by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), commuters are saving way more than that.

APTA's study, "Public Transportation and Petroleum Savings in the U.S.: Reducing Dependence on Oil," found that households that regularly use public transportation own fewer cars and live near transit services save $6,251 a year― more than the average household spends on food in a year.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average U.S. household spends $5,781 on food.  "That's a tremendous savings that we're passing on to our customers," said Ron Tober, Charlotte Area Transit System's (CATS) Chief Executive Officer.  "Just by making the simple decision to ride public transportation, commuters can save thousands of dollars a year that can go toward savings, vacations, college or whatever they want."

Darren Williams, a 53X Northlake Express rider who commutes from his home in the University area to his job in Center City, started riding CATS 10 months ago as a way to escape rising gas prices and expensive parking fees. 

Since then, he has watched his monthly expenses go down and his savings go up, up, up.  "I'm saving at least $150 a month and most of that goes into my savings account," he said.  "I'm from New Jersey and grew up riding public transportation, so I know all about the savings associated with it."

While Williams is putting his extra money into savings, Peggy Wessel, an 88X Lincoln County Express rider, is using the $150 she's saving a month on parking alone to have a little fun in the sun and to upgrade her home.  "I'm using my money to make home improvements and to go on vacation," she said.  "I think it's great.  I'm saving money and reducing my environmental footprint on the community, which we all need to be doing."

While riding public transportation can save commuters thousands of dollars, the study also found that it can reduce the country's gasoline consumption by 1.4 billion gallons a year, or the equivalent of 90 percent of the oil the U.S. imports from Kuwait each year.  "The benefits of riding public transportation are far reaching," said Tober.  "It saves money by reducing the amount of gasoline commuters need to put in their cars and driving less helps improve air quality."

• Each year, public transportation saves 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline, or 45 million barrels of oil.  The equivalent of 34 supertankers of oil, or a supertanker leaving the Middle East every 11 days

• If Americans used public transportation at the same rate as Europeans-for roughly 10% for daily travel needs-the U.S. would reduce its dependence on imported oil by more than 40%, or nearly the amount of oil we import from Saudi Arabia each year.

• Americans that do not use public transportation spend on average 19% of household expenses on transportation, the second highest household expense.

To view the full report, visit www.apta.com and www.publictransportation.org. For more information about CATS and its services, visit www.ridetransit.org or call (704) 336-RIDE.