Middle-class Americans spend a much higher share of their total household annual expenditures on getting around, compared with the poorest and richest groups.
(http://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/2015/04/Annual_Spending_and_Shares_of_Total_Spending_on_Transportation_total_transportation_transportation_share_chartbuilder/9e570a322.png)
http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/04/how-car-reliance-squeezes-the-middle-class/390678/
Is it because the middle class are trying to showcase their status by purchasing cars they can't afford? Many wealthy people will buy a new car and drive it for years or they will buy a nice certified pre-owned car and again, drive it for years.
I used to sell cars years ago and vowed that I would never buy a new car again. There are just too many upsides to buying a pre-owned car...namely the price and a decent warranty if you get it certified. More bang for your buck.
Quote from: menace1069 on April 20, 2015, 10:20:18 AM
Is it because the middle class are trying to showcase their status by purchasing cars they can't afford?
QuoteWealthy households own cars, of course, but they can also afford to live closer to work, or in city centers with better transit options—whether that's the subway in New York or the Google bus in San Francisco. Low-income city households also tend to rely on buses and trains, and while in their case that might make a commute much longer (and in some cases limit job access), it does keep transportation costs down.
But a middle-class household living in the suburbs is more likely to have no better choice than driving to work or to shops. The disproportionate gas share here is especially telling: while fuel costs accounted for 4.9 percent of median annual spending for all households, they accounted for 6.1 percent for fifth-decile households—the highest share for any income cluster. That's painful on a daily basis, and it's a bad sign for progressive policy, too: as things stand, if the price of gas were raised to match the true social cost of driving, many middle-class families wouldn't survive.
Quote from: menace1069 on April 20, 2015, 10:20:18 AM
Is it because the middle class are trying to showcase their status by purchasing cars they can't afford? Many wealthy people will buy a new car and drive it for years or they will buy a nice certified pre-owned car and again, drive it for years.
I used to sell cars years ago and vowed that I would never buy a new car again. There are just too many upsides to buying a pre-owned car...namely the price and a decent warranty if you get it certified. More bang for your buck.
Completely agree with you on the relative value of buying pre-owned rather than new, but to your first question, I would suggest that it's way more complicated than that. When people talk about wealth distribution and social mobility in America, transportation is a hugely underrated factor.
If you look at how urban economic theory has developed over the century - from the concentric zone model (below left), to the sector model (below right), to multiple nuclei (not pictured, but closest to what we have in Jacksonville now) - the most common trend is the separation of the middle class from central business districts. The wealthy can afford to live close to major job centers with great mass transportation such as Manhattan, San Francisco, downtown Chicago, etc. And the poor either a) occupy tiny, rundown shoeboxes in order to work close to job centers, or b) rely on mass transportation, limiting their job options. Thus, it's perfectly understandable that transportation costs would skew low at the top and bottom of the income ladder.
(http://image.wikifoundry.com/image/2/In-Qn7rb_rXnocNev1GAug21963/GW447H217) (http://image.wikifoundry.com/image/2/IMbjKZuuuX--6hSgNdeFRA30196/GW463H279)
Conversely, there's very little room for the struggling middle class near the major central business districts. If you want a good job, a family, and a reasonable quality of living at an affordable price, you're most likely going to face a significant commute to work. Thus, unless you have access to reliable mass transportation, you have little choice but to be slave to gas prices, maintenance expenses, car insurance premiums, etc. These are fixed costs that take a massive, unavoidable chunk out of the expendable income for Middle America.
I'm no fan of sprawl, especially sprawl as egregious as we see in Jacksonville, but it's more a socioeconomic byproduct than the consumer choice that some suggest. For this reason, it's insane to me when people suggest things like a gas tax, an artificial increase in gas prices to match the true cost of driving, or even toll roads leading from the suburbs to the job centers. You want to kill off the middle class for good, that's a great way to do it. Make it even more expensive for them to get to work.
A far better alternative would be to do whatever it takes to invest in reliable, inclusive mass transportation. In the meantime, it's about damn time that companies embrace part-time telecommuting when possible. Between Skype, a cell phone, Sharepoint (or whatever other file sharing service you use), and your company software suite, 90% of today's work can be done remotely. Let employees come in three days a week, and work remotely from home the other two days. Who loses? Your overhead goes down. Your employees shave 40% off of their commute costs and win back two mornings and evenings that won't have to be spent sitting in traffic. You even get positive externalities. Traffic goes down. Pollution decreases. Decrease in demand for gasoline drives prices down, at least in the short-term. We all win.
KenFSU, that's a lot of information there! But it is good stuff.
I wish that Jax had better transit options. I currently live out near JIA and would have no problem riding a tram or train to/from work instead of the drive. The Orlando area has that new SunRail that looks very enticing, currently runs from the Deland area to the South-West side of Orlando, with more to come. If Florida would realize the value of the bullet-style trains, I think that they would move forward. For instance, if I could get on a bullet-train and travel down to Tampa or Miami I would do it. But to hop on an Amtrack or a bus just doesn't do it for me.
Quote from: menace1069 on April 20, 2015, 10:20:18 AM.....Is it because the middle class are trying to showcase their status by purchasing cars they can't afford? Many wealthy people will buy a new car and drive it for years or they will buy a nice certified pre-owned car and again, drive it for years. ..............
In 1959 I made a comment about money and buying something. My well to do Great Aunt told me, ".....just how do you think rich people get to be rich, by spending all their money?" It is words more of us need to hear at a young age. Of course some will only hear, "spend all your money."
Bullet trains sound good in theory but building a HSR in any area outside of mia to west palm would be a waste considering that population densities are not high enough for one and their expensive installation/maintenance costs.
Middle class seek transporation flexibility.
They either get it by facilitating their own flexibility with high auto expense.
Or they get it through more transit options.
Either one requires cash outlay. Either indirectly through the componenet decisions of transporation choices (big car, little car, etc.)
Or through higher taxes to support more public options which is not as flexible. (Cant stop at Publix on way home from work)
People always choose the more flexible option.