The “leverage effect” of public transportation, supporting efficient land use patterns, saves 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline annually—more than three times the amount of gasoline refined from the oil we import from Kuwait.
People living in households within one-quarter mile of rail and one-tenth of a mile from a bus stop drive 4,400 fewer miles annually than persons in households with no access to public
transit.
Energy conservation is a national priority. More and more people are discovering that public transportation can offer significant energy savings. As an inherently energy-efficient travel mode that uses an average of one-half the oil consumed by the typical automobile user, public transportation is already leading the way. Just by taking public transportation, people can help reduce our country’s dependence on foreign oil.
Public transportation in the U.S. saves:
- 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline, representing 11.5 million gallons of gasoline per day.
- The equivalent of 102 supertankers of oil, or a supertanker leaving the Middle East every 4 days.
- The equivalent of 420,000 fewer service station tanker trucks clogging our streets each year.
- The equivalent of 900,000 fewer automobile fill-ups each day.
- If Americans used public transportation at the same rate as Europeans – for roughly 10 percent of their daily travel needs – the United States would reduce its dependence on imported oil by more than 40 percent or nearly the amount of oil we import from Saudi Arabia each year.