You’ve just sat through another tough morning commute, and are likely to sit through a rough ride home, too. Have you ever wondered how much sitting in all this traffic actually costs?
The cost is higher than you might think, according to new numbers put together by Tim Lomax at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
“The average Houston auto commuter spent an extra 61 hours in travel,” Lomax told KTRH. “That’s like a week and a half of vacation extra.”
So how much does that translate to in terms of dollars for each driver that sits through traffic?
“Just looking at the extra time and the fuel that you burn because you’re in stop and go traffic, you’re looking at something like $1500 per auto commuter per year. The total cost is close to five billion dollars,” Lomax explained.
As bad as those numbers are, it could be worse. Los Angeles drivers spent an average of 104 hours in rush hour traffic. That translates to over $2400 per driver for a total of 9.7 billion dollars.