Embargoed for Release Until: 10:00 a.m. November 30, 2000

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San Francisco – A new study released today finds that Bay Area residents spend a whopping $20 billion out of their own pockets on transportation -- an average of $7,150 a year per household -- second only to housing and totaling more than all personal spending on health care, education and utilities combined. The Bay Area ranks as 10^th most expensive region nationwide out of the 28 largest surveyed. The report says that while regionwide nearly 98% of those expenditures are spent on personal vehicles, costs vary dramatically depending on where you live. Residents living in lower density suburban developments with few alternatives to driving can spend as much as $4,000 – $6,000 more each year because they likely own more vehicles and drive them 20,000 – 30,000 miles a year further than those living closer to public transit services and in more walkable neighborhoods. Bay Area communities where residents drive the most and spend the most include Livermore, Dublin, Brentwood, Tassajara, West Marin, Los Altos Hills, Alamo, Blackhawk and Clayton.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, most of the added auto activity for suburban dwellers isn’t just the notorious commute to work – those journeys now comprise less than a quarter of all trips regionwide. Rather, it’s errands, shopping excursions, shuttling kids back and forth to school, and other non-work destinations that are now making up the bulk of all trips, particularly in more spread out communities where households are more heavily dependent on driving more vehicles more often to get where they need to go.

The study, entitled "Driven to Spend" and co-authored by the Surface Transportation Policy Project and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, found living in more transit-accessible cities like Emeryville, San Francisco, Oakland, Albany, El Cerrito, San Bruno, San Rafael, Pleasant Hill, or Daly City can save households $1400 - $4,000 more per year on transportation costs. Individual neighborhoods with frequent and reliable transit service can realize even higher savings in the $4,000 - $6,000 range. Households in these more compact areas typically have fewer cars, drive less, have more abundant public transit options, and residents can walk to shops, businesses and schools because their communities are more compact and accessible.

"Fewer transportation choices means driving becomes an expensive necessity," said James Corless, California Director of the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP). "Walkable neighborhoods served by reliable mass transit aren’t just more convenient, they can also save you thousands of dollars."

And that could mean a big difference for some families currently priced out of the hot Bay Area housing market. A savings of several thousand dollars a year in transportation costs may not initially translate into enough of a difference for a family to be able to afford the difference in home prices between property in Livermore or Tracy versus more transit accessible property in the east bay or the peninsula. But if families are able to credit savings from reduced transportation costs towards a higher mortgage for buying a home, it can boost their buying power exponentially. For example, a $1000 a year savings in transportation costs can translate into an increased mortgage of $50,000 for a typical family.

While lending institutions have typically assumed no differences in transportation costs no matter where you live, a new program called the "Location Efficient Mortgage" has recently been unveiled in the Bay Area, Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles in order to begin crediting families for buying homes in more transit-accessible and walkable neighborhoods.

Lending institutions in the Bay Area recently processed their first Location Efficient Mortgage, allowing a family to afford a home closer in to existing amenities and services where otherwise they would likely have been priced out of the market. Other programs that allow families to dramatically reduce the cost of transportation include "City Car Share" in San Francisco that will allow the pooling and sharing of vehicles by neighborhoods in order to allow for the convenience of the car without the cost of individual ownership. The study authors are calling for such programs to be expanded in addition to vastly improving regional public transit services, building more walkable "mixed-use" developments, and providing more affordable housing closer to existing transit stations throughout the Bay Area.

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The Surface Transportation Policy Project is a national non-profit coalition of more than 200 professional, environmental and community organizations working for a balanced transportation policy that protects neighborhoods, promotes social equity and makes communities more livable. A full copy of "Driven to Spend" is available on line at http://www.transact.org  The Center for Neighborhood Technology is a non-profit research and advocacy organization based in Chicago. More information about CNT is available at http://www.cnt.org  or by calling 773-278-4800.