Transportation Freedom Day marks the high cost of getting around

After today, it's a free ride for the rest of the year.

Triangle residents spend an estimated 17 percent of yearly household income on transportation, so NC PIRG says today is "Transportation Freedom Day."

Transit advocates are using the occasion to talk up the virtues of public transportation.

"Expanded transit can bring many benefits to people in the Triangle -- from reduced transportation costs and accessibility, to job creation and economic development, and to improved air quality," Karen Rindge, organizer of Capital Area Friends of Transit, an advocacy group, said in a press release.

The cost estimates are based on census figures for household income, gas, repairs, parking, vehicle depreciation and transit fares. The average U.S. household spent more than $8,000 a year on its cars in 2008, NC PIRG said.

"People may not recognize how much they pay for transportation," Katie Manthey of NC PIRG, a non-profit advocacy group, said in a press release. "Our research and these numbers show that we need long-term solutions that make it easier for North Carolinians to drive less and to get around more efficiently."

The number-crunching was provided by the Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology, which also today released figures on housing and transportation costs for the Triangle area.