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How much money do you save by being a bicycle commuter?

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How much money do you save by being a bicycle commuter?

Old 09-11-08, 02:27 PM
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Originally Posted by bckpck2rev
This is might have been said but I didn't catch it...besides the gas and car sh*t, if you go car-free you save money everywhere. how many times were you driving and you purchased something on impulse? I always did, now that I have been car-free for awhile, my money goes to food and living expenses (including bike maintenance). No more frivolous spending, if something is needed then buy it, everything else becomes well a waste of money. you eat better, you sleep better, you feel better and you can kinda gloat that in this autocentric society you manage to get around hassle-free.
I think the frivolous spending is deterred by the unfathomably small cargo capacity on a bicycle (compared to an automobile) and the extra energy required for lugging the extra cargo home. As far as food, just buy some protein bars, maybe some fruit bars, a water bottle for juice, a Camelback for water, another water bottle for milk, and throw in a brown-bag lunch for good measure, then when people start complaining about the price of gas, global warming, or the obesity epidemic, all you have to do is laugh and go "Not my problem. Take a good, hard look at me. Does it LOOK like I need to worry about any of those?"
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Old 09-11-08, 02:35 PM
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Originally Posted by mnaines
I know that commuting by bicycle greatly reduces a person's temptation to impulse-buy
I'll have to disagree there. For impulse spenders the impulse is just redirected to bike gear. I've seen this again and again.

But to answer your question, I save quite bit just in gas, wear/tear, and bus fare. My truck is a gas guzzler. The bus just flat out sucks and can take up to 3 hrs to get to work instead of 1 hr by bike and 20 min. by driving.

The amount of food I eat lowers my "profit margin" a bit, but I'm eating way more healthier. I can't put a price on how good I feel physically from biking as much as I do. My hockey game has increased exponentially as well. Again, that is priceless now that I'm on the back end of my 30's and my game should be declining.
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Old 09-11-08, 02:48 PM
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Originally Posted by JR97
I'll have to disagree there. For impulse spenders the impulse is just redirected to bike gear. I've seen this again and again.

But to answer your question, I save quite bit just in gas, wear/tear, and bus fare. My truck is a gas guzzler. The bus just flat out sucks and can take up to 3 hrs to get to work instead of 1 hr by bike and 20 min. by driving.

The amount of food I eat lowers my "profit margin" a bit, but I'm eating way more healthier. I can't put a price on how good I feel physically from biking as much as I do. My hockey game has increased exponentially as well. Again, that is priceless now that I'm on the back end of my 30's and my game should be declining.
As far as impulse-buying bike gear - IMO, impulse buying bike gear is less expensive than walking out of a grocery store or mall with a cart (or in some cases more than one cart) full of stuff you bought "just because" and suffering from the gas mileage drop because of the added weight in the car, and unlike impulse buying at malls and stuff, you eventually do become satisfied with the bicycle stuff you do have.
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Old 09-11-08, 02:50 PM
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Originally Posted by lil brown bat
$3.40 a day in transit fares, plus a lot of aggravation.
I am a reverse commuter; 14 miles outbound from Kenmore Square, Boston to Norwood by bicycle, and $5.25 for a one-way, relaxing half hour train ride back to Boston in the evening on a nearly empty train
;-)

I have all my maintainance done by my shop, very roughly about $600 per year, parts and labor (Bridgestone RB1 circa 1990, and Cannondale Mountin Bike (?) about five years old, bought used).
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Old 09-11-08, 02:57 PM
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10k a year. Will be more now that I have been given a raise.
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Old 09-11-08, 03:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Szczuldo
what kind of a car do you own? my god...my car costs about the same as my bike to maintain per year. I go through 2 chains a year on my bike (I commute and rec ride/race on the same bike, and since I get to keep my bike inside at my destination it does not bother me) which is about 60$ + any other replacements and usually ends up being around 100$, my car is about the same after oil changes and the couple of times I have to fill up.
Are you that sheltered that you don't realize most of the population has this thing called a "car payment" and then insurance and gas on top of it? And maybe the occasional speeding ticket?
And then don't even get me started on accessories. I bought a brand new Audi once and then proceeded to dump $10k into it in mods over the next couple years. It's like a bike but on a much bigger scale.
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Old 09-11-08, 03:47 PM
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Originally Posted by mnaines
and unlike impulse buying at malls and stuff, you eventually do become satisfied with the bicycle stuff you do have.
Not necessarily. You could get nickel and dimed at $10-$50 a pop just to find the right light setup. Or $30-$60 a pop for tires until finding the set that works for you. I don't see how that's different than dude buying a bunch of DVD's, clothes, and mall items for his apt./car/etc.
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Old 09-11-08, 04:06 PM
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$59 per month for the transit pass, but that's offset by the occasional ride on the T (say to a party), bike parts, and more food. In the end, it's probably a wash, but at least I get to ride a bike.
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Old 09-11-08, 04:09 PM
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I couldn't possibly care less. I would ride my bike if someone were giving me car and gas for free.

It's actually pretty cheap for me to drive, compared to what most folks around here say. I do almost all my own car wrenching. I have a 12 year old car with 128K miles on it. It was $18K new, I pay about $600/year in insurance, and I've put $1600 total since new into all repairs and consumables to date (2 new sets of good tires, wipers, oil and filter changes, etc, plus lately I've had to take it to the shop and have them do some deeper engine work that I just didn't have the time to do myself).

Ironically, the deep engine work were both sludge related, and that was almost certainly caused by the fact that I hardly ever drive the thing anymore. A car that gets driven 10 miles 2 times a week winds up getting all sludged up because the water never gets burned out of the crankcase.

So in that respect, bike commuting has increased my car expenses. But I've saved more than that in gas.
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Old 09-11-08, 06:33 PM
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I ride to work 5 days a week. For the last month I have not been able to ride (due to health problems). I filled my tank with gas for $75. It lasted me all month. So I save $75 a month riding to work.
I am back to riding again.
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Old 09-11-08, 06:42 PM
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Originally Posted by mnaines
I have always wondered how much money a person can save by becoming a bicycle commuter. I know bicycles use no gas at all, and I know that commuting by bicycle greatly reduces a person's temptation to impulse-buy, but I also know there are other money-saving advantages to being a bicycle commuter, and I would like to get an idea of the cost comparisons between commuting by automobile vs commuting by bicycle before I make my decision to become a bicycle commuter.
It would take some time for me to think it through and calculate it, but I suspect my savings are minimal because I still own a car and still purchase a MARTA (public transit) card through my workplace. If I were to eliminate the car and the MARTA card and cycle commute exclusively the savings would be substantial.
As it stands I save on the wear and tear on my car, and gasoline, but that's probably offset by my cycling expenses.
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Old 09-11-08, 07:15 PM
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12 miles (r/t commute) x 1 gallon/35 miles x $3.41/gallon = $1.17/day

$45 (yrly parking permit) + 125 (r/t's per yr) x $1.17 ($gas/day)= $191.25 saved/year

i still drive about 2000 miles/year:
$372 yrly insur + $150 yrly oil changes + (2000 miles/yr x 1gal/35 miles x $3.41/gal)= $194.86/yr

all bikes and car are paid for, so these are about even; but i've got my eye on a new carbon fiber steering wheel & cup holders

the air i get off that ramp some kid leaves on the sidewalk on my route to campus = priceless
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Old 09-11-08, 07:32 PM
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oops $716.86 car expenses/yr (thought that seemed too low!)
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Old 09-11-08, 09:06 PM
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Thousands. Much of the money saved I've invested and has matured via compounded interest.

Thousands and thousands.

Of course, money is of little matter to me since I have very few bills other than small mortgage, property taxes, utilities..etc.

Because of my biking, commuting, etc. I live a much more relaxed life with few worries if any.

You begin to see how stupid everyone else in the world really is.
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Old 09-11-08, 09:33 PM
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I don't save anything but my sanity. I put lots o' dlollars in the Franken Kona Blast.
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Old 09-11-08, 10:52 PM
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Originally Posted by mnaines
He saves $750/month from not having a car, so if you count in the car payment, insurance, gas, maintenance, and whatever else goes into keeping the car running its just your typical mid-size car.
More like a typical large-displacement luxury car or monster truck.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:37 PM
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I save roughly $120 a month in just gas costs alone. Most, if not all, of my short-distance trips to grocery store, library, school, etc. are done on my bike now. I'm putting waaay fewer tough, stop-and-go miles on my car so I feel like I'm saving a ton in car maintenance/repairs.

It's hard to quantify but I know it'll add it up to significant savings. For example, I used to change my car's oil four times a year but that's been cut down to only once per year. Other regular maintenance items such as filters, fluids, brakes, tires, suspension that I would replace annually or every two years are changed much less frequently now.

Also saving quite a bit in parking costs. No more carrying spare change for meters or stalking for parking spaces.

Last edited by SophannPhin; 09-11-08 at 11:40 PM.
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Old 09-12-08, 12:30 AM
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This past year was my first as a year round commuter. And I'm a big feller. I spent alot of money getting geared up, wheels/tires, litle things like tools and such. I also sold my car since I went a year commuting except for the worst 15-20 days of the year. Given my hours and type of career, I can't be late, I can't call in.

So anyway...With selling the car I'm sure I managed to break even..?
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Old 09-12-08, 07:09 AM
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Cost savings in my case cannot be measured in dollars unless the number can be negative, but I do hope it lets me live a bit longer and lot better than I would were I to not commute.

Instead of foreign oil, I seem to be dependent on foreign bike parts. No cost savings here, just cost migration.
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Old 09-12-08, 08:17 AM
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Where I'm coming from:
I have a 4 mile commute. I am not a bike-commuter, as I usually drive my car. I have ridden my bike numerous times though and I enjoy it a lot. No matter what, my wife and I each have to have our own car to enable the flexibility of picking up our daughter at day-care.

So, I am going to own a bicycle and a car no matter how I choose to get to work. They are both sunk costs. The purchase cost of the bike (or car) shouldn't be counted towards your cost of commute if you are going to own them anyway (such as in my case). From there, I figure I am only saving money by riding my bike. Saving gas and car maintenance puts a few pennies back in my pocket every time I ride the bike. Like others have mentioned, the intangibles are priceless (I feel good not contributing to the horrible traffic in the DC area), so we can leave those out.

I won't count the cost of my bike or anything else I have put on it so far (lights, computer, air pump, etc.) against the cost of my commute because I would own them either way. Now I am thinking about spending about $100 for a rack and some bags since the backpack is annoying. That I will count towards the cost of commuting since I wouldn't own them otherwise, but that is negligible compared to the numerous years I should be able to use them. A few tanks of gas will easily cover that.

With all this said, I think I would save less than $400/year if I commuted EVERY DAY, which I am not going to do in the worst weather. So, I agree that in most cases, you can't sustain bike commuting on the $$ alone - it has be something you want to do for many reasons. But, I think it should be noted that no matter what, bike commuting is cheaper (except for the guy whose company hooks employees with train passes. You really should hit your company up for some sort of subsidy).
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Old 09-12-08, 08:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Industrial
About $100/month counting just gas and toll booth savings.
Another $100/month for making me quit smoking.

I happily spend all my savings eating fresher food. I go far into the negative if you count all the bike swag I've bought but I would be spending my money on some hobby anyway.
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Old 09-12-08, 08:48 AM
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I'm not able to give an exact amount on how much I save by commuting with a bicycle, but by prolonging the replacement of my older SUV with a newer one, I save money with lower licensing fees, insurance premiums, no loan interest, which all goes along with the gas savings. All this money goes to either items for the bike, our household or in the savings account, but at least I have something more tangible to show for my money other than just a paper receipt.
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Old 09-12-08, 09:08 AM
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Originally Posted by bkrownd
More like a typical large-displacement luxury car or monster truck.
That notoriously anti-car group, the American Automobile Association, says it costs about 55 cents a mile to drive a typical late-model sedan. So 750 a month isn't that far off the mark -- that's 1400 miles or so.
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Old 09-12-08, 09:12 AM
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Originally Posted by cooker
Can you write to the employer asking for a bike subsidy comparable to the train subsidy other employees receive? Otherwise, isn't it discrimination?
I wish! But unfortunatley no. I still get the train subsidy; I just rarely use it. Only if its snowing or thunderstorms.
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Old 09-12-08, 09:58 AM
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Since my first commute of the season on March 24, I have traveled 1725 miles on my bike. That has saved me from purchasing 78 gallons of gasoline from organizations I don't want to support and 1490 pounds of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere.

...as for money, I am at $724 in the negative (even factoring gas savings) due to purchase of a new bike and accessories.
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