I was curious when I saw the Salt Lake Tribune article asking if the new Frontrunner commuter rail is going to be used by people due to the high ticket price of, maximum, $5.00 each way, so I did a little math.

Just yesterday I had an appointment that would require me to drive from 1300 East and 2900 South to Clearfield and then back to my home. Round trip this was 61.8 miles and about an hour and twenty minutes long.

Now here is where the math comes in. My car is considered efficient; when I last filled up I discovered that I was getting 35 miles to the gallon, mostly highway. Now with gas at $3.18 a gallon at the local gas station I spend $5.65 every time I make the trip. Now, keep in mind that this math assumes that my car is running at the highest efficiency rate it can and that gas stays at $3.18 – facts that are inherently flawed. Now, my car sat in rush hour traffic, surrounded by cars and trucks that are far less efficient than mine. In fact, I would guess that most cars I saw were getting 20-25 miles to the gallon.

Allow me to make some reasonable assumptions: 1) my car averages 30 miles to the gallon, 2) gas will easily be $3.50 a gallon come summer, and 3) most people don’t have cars with as good mileage as mine. So 62 miles at $3.50 a gallon and 30 m.p.g., that equals almost $7.25. None of this, mind you, includes wear and tear on my car.

A Frontrunner ticket, round trip, would cost me $8.00 and the average person a maximum of $10.00.

So the question I have to ask myself: “Is being able to sit down, not worry about traffic, get work done, and get there faster worth $.75 to me?” I would say it is.

So, to all of you who shun mass transit, I encourage you to crunch the numbers and see if it is so far-fetched to charge $10.00 a day to ride compared to the cost of your own gas-guzzling SUV.