Over on Culture11.com, they calculate that by taking Amtrak, salt-of-the-earth, working-class Joe Biden spends $222 on commuting every day that the Senate is in session.
Looking at Amtrak’s page, the rate for a train from Wilmington, Del. to Washington D.C.’s Union Station ranges, from $42 to $125 one way. So if he bought the cheap seats — and anecdotal evidence suggests that is not the case — he spends $84 per day; two one-way peak tickets on Acela (presumably Biden doesn’t always know when the Senate will finish its work for the day) costs $250 per day.
Not that Biden has been in attendance every day, but the Senate has been in session 129 days so far this year. So his commuting cost range, had he gone to Washington every day that the Senate was in session, would range from $10,836 to $32,250, just from January to August.
As they note, if Biden worked five days a week fifty weeks a year like most Americans, his train expenses would exceed the median household income in the nation. If Biden is, as he once claimed, “the poorest man in the Senate“, some of it may have to do with how he spends his money.
UPDATE: Some readers note that if Biden gets a monthly pass, he’s spending $1,062 per month – so $12,744 per year.
However, according to Amtrak, “Northeast monthly ticket holders may upgrade to certain off-peak Acela Express trains for an additional charge. This may only be done at staffed Amtrak stations within 30 minutes of departure.” Anecdotal evidence suggests Biden takes Acela regularly.