Electoral Math
Reality-Based^TM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot

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Is It Worth The Money?

Let's have another look at the Urban Mobility Report to estimate the cost of our traffic woes. Last time, we noted that Seattle has the second lowest per-traveler delays of any large city (45 hours per year), ahead of only Philadelphia (38 hours per year). That's roughly a 15% difference in hours wasted. At $21.25/hour, the median hourly wage in King County, that extra time is worth roughly $150 per year; that is, if I were an assistant manager at the fish shop in Pike Place Market earning $22/hour, and the government raised my taxes by $100/year but reduced my commute time by 15%, I could come out ahead by working those extra 7 hours. And even if my boss wouldn't let me work those 7 hours, I would have more free time to do fun things like watch movies, though I might have to rent them rather than buy them or go to the theater.

Let's apply this to regional traffic as a whole. Seattle spent a combined 74 million hours in congestion-related traffic delays last year. If we could reduce that figure by 15%, it would free up about 11.5 million person-hours, which is worth $245 million. When you factor in fuel costs, the total amount wasted due to heavy traffic is right under $270 million per year. That is, if the government raised taxes by $250 million per year (roughly $90 per person or $360 for a family of four) but reduced traffic congestion by 15%, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue-Everett as a whole would be better off.

Let's stop there for today. We spent 74 million hours stuck in traffic last year. If we had the traffic levels of Philadelphia, we would have spent only 62.5 million hours stuck in traffic. Those extra hours "cost" us well over $250 million per year. Up next, we'll look at the costs of the Roads & Transit package and see under what circumstances it turns out to be a good deal for the region.

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Last updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 11:13 01 October 2007