Mathews points to research showing that trains emit the lowest of CO2 per passenger mile at 177 grams per passenger mile. Buses come in at 299 grams per mile, second-worst only to cars at 371 grams.
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Key Details. The climate footprint of a diesel school bus is about 3.3 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent per mile, more than double the per-mile footprint for a bus powered on the average U.S. electric grid, according to Argonne National Laboratory.
Avoid Short FlightsFor example, while a flight would emit around 109 pounds of CO2 per passenger on a 200-mile trip, that trip on a train or charter bus would emit just 26 and 19 pounds of CO2 per passenger, respectively.
According to the International Energy Agency, cars emit between 57 and 322 gCO2-eq/pkm—compared to buses at just 22-92 gCO2-eq/pkm, and trains at 6-118 gCO2-eq/pkm. International Energy Agency: “GHG intensity of passenger transit modes, 2019.”
Mathews points to research showing that trains emit the lowest of CO2 per passenger mile at 177 grams per passenger mile. Buses come in at 299 grams per mile, second-worst only to cars at 371 grams.
Thomas Rubin, Marcy Lowe, Bengu Aytekin and Gary Gereffi Debate Public Transit Buses: A Green Choice Gets Greener. The American Public Transit Association claims that public transit saves an estimated 1.4 billion gallons of gas annually, which translates into about 14 million tons of CO2.
Every vehicle on the road releases an average of one pound of CO2 per mile driven. Compared with driving alone, taking public transportation reduces CO2 emissions by 45%, decreasing pollutants in the atmosphere and improving air quality.
Public transportation use saves the U.S. the equivalent of 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline annually — and more than 11 million gallons of gasoline per day. Public transportation use saves the equivalent of 300,000 fewer automobile fill- ups every day.
Transit buses are a LITTLE more fuel-efficient, but not as much as many people might think. A car (24.2 MPG) with the national-average of 1.5 passengers gets 36.3 PPMG (Passenger Miles per Gallon). A transit bus (3.3 MPG) with a national average load (9.1 passengers) gets 30 PPMG.
The cleanest modes of transportation are walking and biking. Walking to and from the store will not only get you closer to your daily step goal, it will not contribute to air pollution. If you biked one kilometer to the store, your bike's emissions score would be 8.