Commuting - Count the cost

Have you ever figured how much you are saving by bicycle commuting instead of driving a car? There are many ways a bicycle can replace car costs, whether it's gas, parking, wear/tear/maintenance, or even avoiding that second car.

I figure my bike saves me the cost of a second car. I've been around long enough to know that's a bundle. Even a used car costs a lot to repair, not to mention gas, insurance, parking...

Ok, at some grab-at-the-air figure of 25 cents per mile, if I ride 3 days per week, I'm saving over $1,000 per year, or $22,000 before I reach 65. If I invest that money in a 5% fund compounded annually, that would be about $36,000. (I hope I calculated that properly....)

Anyway, it's all hypothetical, based on some 25 cent-per-mile average, which was supposed to be the bare minimum one could pay for driving a car. This does not include parking or health costs, or how much one might spend on a BMW...

As a matter of fact, if a car lasts about 10 years, and I pay $10,000 for it (a really cheap model,) with maybe $4,000 in repairs and 10 years worth of gas...hoooo,wee! That's about twice as much, compoounded annually at 5%, is about $82,000.

They used to say a house was the best investment, but now I think it's a toss-up between a house and a second car...

Pete, don't forget that your bike does cost money also. No where near as much as the second car, but I think that it should be figured into the calcutions. You could be spending 100$s a year on the bike which eats into that 1000$ savings.

I think what people forget here is the depreciation side of things. If I go out and buy a car tomorrow, it will be worth considerably less in twelve months time, and much less still in another five years. Yet if I'd been able to afford that unit overlooking the Broadwater that I was eyeing off not so long ago, it would most definitely have increased in value. So as far as I'm concerned, there's not question about which I intend buying first.

Sure, bikes go down in value, too. But not nearly as much as cars do.

I purchased my $90.00 dollar Pacific Toy bike last month and it just paid itself off today! By not having to pay the New York City Transit fare of $4.00 dollars each day, I'm saving about $80.00 dollars a month minimum! The junk bike paid itself off in 23 working days.

Guess what? The city counsil already stated there may be ANOTHER fare hike next year! We have one of the most expensive subway systems in the world and the fare keeps going up, up, and UP! I could care less. They can raise the fare to $10.00 dollars each way. I'm done with riding that sardine can.

My greatest fear that somone would rob it before the bike paid itself off was unnecessary. I'm happy to state, the crooks leave it alone since the parts are worthless. I'm now reconsidering my opinion of toy store bikes in a totally different light. There is a place for them as urban commuters but you'll need to do some necessary work and adjustments before they become street worthy. I'll have a report on the toy bike in a couple of months.

When I think about it, I'm saving almost $1,000.00 dollars a year from NOT having to ride a packed subway car.

you should use 0.325 cents per mile in your calculations, per the gov't.

I have been tracking my expenses for the last eight months. I have spent about $20 a month on parts and maintenance. My company will buy your bus/trolley tickets to encourage use of mass transit. I need to convince them to reimburse me for my cycling to work.

Originally posted by Dahon.Steve
I purchased my $90.00 dollar Pacific Toy bike last month and it just paid itself off today! By not having to pay the New York City Transit fare of $4.00 dollars each day, I'm saving about $80.00 dollars a month minimum! The junk bike paid itself off in 23 working days.

Guess what? The city counsil already stated there may be ANOTHER fare hike next year! We have one of the most expensive subway systems in the world and the fare keeps going up, up, and UP! I could care less. They can raise the fare to $10.00 dollars each way. I'm done with riding that sardine can.

My greatest fear that somone would rob it before the bike paid itself off was unnecessary. I'm happy to state, the crooks leave it alone since the parts are worthless. I'm now reconsidering my opinion of toy store bikes in a totally different light. There is a place for them as urban commuters but you'll need to do some necessary work and adjustments before they become street worthy. I'll have a report on the toy bike in a couple of months.

When I think about it, I'm saving almost $1,000.00 dollars a year from NOT having to ride a packed subway car.

yes, there is a place for those low end bikes. I'm glad you have found one.

Originally posted by Chris L
I think what people forget here is the depreciation side of things. If I go out and buy a car tomorrow, it will be worth considerably less in twelve months time, and much less still in another five years. Yet if I'd been able to afford that unit overlooking the Broadwater that I was eyeing off not so long ago, it would most definitely have increased in value. So as far as I'm concerned, there's not question about which I intend buying first.

Sure, bikes go down in value, too. But not nearly as much as cars do.

Depreciation runs about 10% a year on a newer car, that's with no high mileage or dents........ :eek:

Originally posted by Chris L
I think what people forget here is the depreciation side of things. If I go out and buy a car tomorrow, it will be worth considerably less in twelve months time, and much less still in another five years.

My understanding is that (new) cars depreciate in value immediately they are driven out of the dealership by the purchasers. Try selling back a car with 50km on the clock to the same dealer a day later at the same price it was purchased. Fat chance.

I noticed a news item the other day that the Australian Taxation Office is going to crack down on many things, including illegitimate claims for vehicle expenses. Good.

Now if we could change the tax system to get rid of tax deductions altogether for business use of motor vehicles (where more tax rorting goes on than anywhere else, IMO), people would start counting the cost of their transport much more closely.

R

Originally posted by Paige
Depreciation runs about 10% a year on a newer car, that's with no high mileage or dents........ :eek:

Unfortunately, you can currently claim 22.5% depreciation on a "work-related" car on your tax in this country (although that's in the process of being scaled back just a little, so don't run out and buy that new car just yet).

As far as tax deductions for fuel goes - it amazes me that so many people actually see this as a justification to drive more km for the sake of it (hence all those "business" trips to places like Darwin and Perth). Instead of giving some of the money to the tax man (the top marginal rate in this country is currently 47%), they end up giving all of it to the oil companies (I believe this is a flat rate of 100%). Now that's really clever. Yet so many people do it.

Pete, you are the master internet researcher and can find the report, but I remember reading somewhere about three years ago that the average savings from bicycle commuting was a bout $6,500 per year. This took into account depreciation, gas, maintanance, insurance, bicycle costs, etcetera.

Originally posted by mike
Pete...I remember reading somewhere about three years ago that the average savings from bicycle commuting was a bout $6,500 per year. This took into account depreciation, gas, maintanance, insurance, bicycle costs, etcetera.

Parking alone, at $2.50 per day x 22 working days per month x 12 months = $660 per year. If I saved only parking, and invested that money at only 5% compounded annually, I'd have $8,716 in 10 years. That's almost enough to buy a cheap car (but that would defeat the purpose.)

What annoys me is that there are many costs associated with cars like insurance, annual registration etc that you still have to pay when you leave your car unused. I would like these things to be rolled into the price of gas, so you would get a large financial benefit from not using you car.

I think i save more money than most people with my bike commuting.

I spent just 20$ US on the 10-speed i'm commuting on. ;) looked like hell, but rides great! gotta love thrift stores!

how much ya wanna bet nobody ever cuts my lock to get at this thing?

I have a 10 year old "beater" Trek 720 I ride around town on errands. Each year, I ride about 500 miles to the bank, post office, Dairy Queen, grocery store, Hooters, etc., all within a five block area. The mileage really adds up! This isn't counting the 1,000+ miles of recreational riding I roll up on my road bike.

If all Americans would use a bike for short trips, we'd save a hell of a lot of gas and reduce our dependency on foreign oil. There are approximately 200,000,000 cars in the U.S. If every car was driven 500 miles less every year, that's 10 billion car miles saved. Ten billion car miles is 500 million gallons of gas saved (not to mention the pollution). Figuring 20 miles per gallon on average. This would also burn 1,500,000,000,000 calories, which would make Americans thinner and fitter.

I don't know if my math is right -- I had trouble with long division in high school. My $5 calculator doesn't go that high -- maybe some of you CPA types with sophisticated calculators can do it right. But it's still a hell of a lot of gas, by anyone's calculation.

George Bush could get behind this movement by riding a Huffy from D.C. to Camp David every weekend, rather than taking a fuel guzzling helicopter. :D

Originally posted by trmcgeehan
I have a 10 year old "beater" Trek 720 I ride around town on errands. Each year, I ride about 500 miles to the bank, post office, Dairy Queen, grocery store, Hooters, etc., all within a five block area. The mileage really adds up! This isn't counting the 1,000+ miles of recreational riding I roll up on my road bike.

If all Americans would use a bike for short trips, we'd save a hell of a lot of gas and reduce our dependency on foreign oil.
Now that's a vision I could get behind.