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Environmental and economic reasons to ride MAT

When you ride Metro Area Transit, you're giving your wallet and the environment a break. More and more local residents are discovering these benefits of MAT. We experienced a 28% increase in the number of Fargo riders in the first quarter of 2008. Moorhead rides jumped 10% in the first quarter of 2008. 

Here are some of the ways riding MAT helps to protect our planet:
 

  • One person riding MAT for one day reduces their carbon emissions into the environment by 20 pounds. That equals more than 4,800 pounds per year! Riding MAT offers immediate benefits to the environment.
     

  • One Metro Area Transit bus full of people removes up to 50 cars from the road; that’s a line of cars approximately four city blocks long.  Think of the traffic jam averted by utilizing MAT!
     

  • The typical Metro Area Transit rider consumes, on average, one half of the oil consumed by an automobile rider. Each year, people using public transportation save the equivalent of 34 supertankers of oil, or a supertanker leaving the Middle East every 11 days. 
     

  • By eliminating one car in a two-car household, taking public transportation instead of driving can result in a savings of up to 30% of a household’s annual carbon dioxide emissions.
     

  • MAT buses produce nearly 50 percent less carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), per passenger mile, as private vehicles.
When you "go green" with MAT, you save green, too; MAT makes a positive impact on your financial bottom line:
 

  • Public transportation can save households an average of $6,251 every year. The savings continues to grow with the ever-increasing price of fuel.
     

  • A MAT pass for an unlimited number of adult rides costs only $420 per year.  Also, employers subsidizing bus passes for their employees can save money and also receive a tax credit.  
     

  • Every $1 invested in public transportation projects generates from $4 to $9 in local economic activity.
Learn more with these links: