A big part of being green is using green transportation. And, as I’ve discussed many times before, using green transportation is not just good for the environment, it’s good for the green in your pocketbook, for your health, and, I would even argue, for your personal happiness.
Interestingly, a lot of people don’t consider the transportation options at a house or apartment in much depth before choosing to live there.
It has been shown that people underestimate the cost of transportation compared to the cost of housing, and a lot of people think they’re getting a deal by living in a cheap house in the suburbs.
But they actually aren’t (and may even be paying a lot more in total) when you factor in transportation costs.
Luckily, the Center for Neighborhood Technology recently came out with an excellent online tool — Abogo — for helping you to evaluate the average transportation costs in a neighborhood. Curious about how much you spend, but don’t really keep track of it and don’t want to do the math?
Take a look at the average for you neighborhood. It might surprise you.
Planning to move soon? Make sure to check out the average transportation costs in neighborhoods as well as the costs of the homes.
Abogo, coming from the words "Abode" and "Go" is based on the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Housing + Transportation Affordability Index for now. However, CNT says they’ll be adding new features to the site soon, including:
- personalized transportation costs
- housing costs
- saved searches
- …and whatever else you might think of! Send ideas to abogo-info@cnt.org.
So, check it out, and send in any suggestions you have for more features to include.
Transportation is one of the leading factors causing global warming, air pollution, water pollution, AND personal debt. Motor vehicles are the largest net contributor to global warming and cars actually have a larger per mile impact on global warming than planes!
Cut the warming, cut the pollution, and cut the debt by living in a clean, green neighborhood.
[Photo: mfajardo/Flickr]
