I’ve ridden all of the above, myself, and I am currently a daily rider of the D.C. Metro. I’m also an occasional rider of Amtrak, as I try to get up to visit friends and family in my home state of New Jersey at least once every month or two. More often than not, I’ll drive, but I’d prefer to take the train. It’s certainly less of a hassle. I can read or just take a nap. It avoids unnecessary wear and tear on the car. And it gets you there faster, particularly by avoiding the traffic snarls that always pop up on I-95 (invariably, it should be noted, the bottleneck is the 10-mile stretch that goes through, you guessed it, Delaware.)

The reason I don’t take the train more often is that the one thing a ride on Amtrak is not (not even close, not even with gas over $4 a gallon) is cheap.

Amtrak, you see, is NOT a commuter rail service.

The distinction may seem semantic, but step aboard the train that Mr. Biden rides each day to and from work on Capitol Hill, and you’ll understand there’s a world of difference between Metro (or even Maryland’s longer-haul MARC trains) and Amtrak’s high-speed service. You will not see much in the way of regular commuters doing their daily grind on an Acela. Mostly, you’ll see corporate executives hopping from one meeting to another up and down the Northeast corridor (along with a smattering of tourists and, depending on the season, a few college kids with bags of laundry bound for mom.)

Take a gander at the price of Mr. Biden’s daily commute. A first class ticket from Wilmington to Washington’s Union Station on Amtrak’s Acela Express runs $111. That’s $222 a day. $1,110 a week. And if Biden actually worked every week, like most Americans do (which, of course, he does not, because members of Congress get more recess than a six-year-old) that would run $57,720 a year.

Put that in context. According to the most recent Census Bureau statistics, in 2007, the median household income in the United States was $50,233. In other words, Joe Biden’s “regular guy” commute costs more every day than the typical American family earns, before taxes.

A decade ago, I was working for a major government contractor in the New York area that had a significant D.C. operation. Every now and then, I’d be asked to come down to work in our D.C. proposal center over on K St. My employers had me travel by way of the Delta Shuttle, from LaGuardia to Reagan National. I was no high-powered executive and they were not looking out for my own personal convenience. Flying was CHEAPER than taking the train.

I don’t know if that’s still the case, and with the cost of fuel today, I would doubt that it is. And I’m sure Mr. Biden saves a bit by buying a monthly pass or something equivalent, rather than paying hundreds of daily fares. But the larger point remains.

Now, I’m not begrudging the man his choice of transportation. Dude’s gotta get to work, and if you can swing it, Amtrak is a far better option than sitting in the parking lot that is Beltway traffic. But then, I’ve never been one to expect members of the U.S. Senate to “feel my pain.” I ask only that they stop causing so damn much of it.

But this notion that cruising along in air-conditioned comfort every day qualifies Joe Biden for hoi polloi status is just patently ludicrous on its face. It is much like the howler that he is, after all, “the poorest man in the Senate.” 

At this rate, I’d expect to hear pretty soon how, while he might winter in Palm Beach, his place is on the “rough side” of town.