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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, 11:17 AM
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How much money do you save by being a bicycle commuter?

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.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:21 AM
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None, I spend my gas money on all the fancy accessories, food and new bikes. But I feel better.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:22 AM
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Originally Posted by BigDaddyPete
None, I spend my gas money on all the fancy accessories, food and new bikes. But I feel better.
+1

Though I have probably started to save some money now that the summer is coming to a close. I haven't bought anything new for my bike in a while.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:25 AM
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10-13k per year in maintenance, payments, insurance, parking, gas etc.

...and I still ride a pos beater.

probably avg around $100 a year in bike odds and ends.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:27 AM
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Originally Posted by BigDaddyPete
None, I spend my gas money on all the fancy accessories, food and new bikes. But I feel better.
Well, you're still saving money on medical bills because you're using the cleanest form of transportation. I believe the best way for America to reduce its carbon footprint and its reliance on foreign oil is for people to become bicycle commuters and for city officials to make the cities more accessible to bicyclists.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:28 AM
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Originally Posted by BigDaddyPete
None, I spend my gas money on all the fancy accessories, food and new bikes. But I feel better.
yep. Any money saved on gas is spent on tools, tubes, lights, etc. etc. etc.

I guess the one thing to consider is how much longer my car will last. Before I started commuting, I hit around 120k miles on it. Now I'm driving about 400 miles less per month, it will be much longer before I have to buy a new car.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:28 AM
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My biggest savings comes from brown-bagging it at lunch. Not as easy to go out and plop down good money for oversized meals at restaurants when you don't have a car. I fit a moderately sized sandwich and some side veggies in the rack trunk and save a ton.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:35 AM
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Keep these coming. I know there's more ways.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:36 AM
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Well I don't do it for the money...but this year i intend to keep track of my commuting km. I made a spreadsheet program that counts my km per week. We'll see how it goes
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Old 09-11-08, 11:43 AM
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Contrary to about 99.9% of people here, I am saving money to purchase a car again. Not riding the bus to work anymore saves me $2 a day. Since utilities and food have gone up, I barely save any money.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:43 AM
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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 09-11-08, 11:44 AM
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I don't know we still spend a ton on car maintenance and repairs. The amount saved on gas is not too huge. Maybe save 7k miles a year? Not bad, that could be $1k in gas. But at least it's only one car costing a lot to sit in the driveway, not a fleet.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:45 AM
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It really depends if you don't own a car or if you do own one. If you don't own one at all you save a TON because you don't have to pay for insurance/car payments/maitnance. If you do own one but you ride to work you pretty much only save on gas because you still have to insure your car and maintain it.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:47 AM
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According to a local government website I use to log alternative commute miles, I've saved a little over $500 this year based on 43 saved trips. Also, I won 2 $25 gift certificates from that site, so total me out at $550 so far this year.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:50 AM
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why does everyone ask this question. In the summer if i'm taking summer class I carry my bike with me into my class and I had people ask me the same question. I don't know...i'm not doing it to save money, I'm doing it because I don't have time to get any training rides in during the week so I do intervals during my commute. It does take about 15 minutes to get used to riding a bike without panniers on the weekends though...
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Old 09-11-08, 11:51 AM
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when I ride the wife drives my car and leaves the suburban in the garage. that saves at least $10 per day in gas. Maybe I can sell Al Gore my carbon credits.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:54 AM
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I probably save a tank of gas a month or so. Health wise not so sure. I am at a great weight after riding and other exercises and watching what I eat. Yesterday I had a checkup and I am in the "excellent" range for my BMI stuff. 16% body fat for a 42 year old. All that is great. But my cholesterol is 280???? I exercise more than anyone I know. GRRRRRR.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:55 AM
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You could probably save many thousands of dollars each year depending on how much you spend on a bike and how much you would have spent buying, maintaining and running a car. But how much you actually save depends entirely on how much you spend on the bike and how much you would have spent on a car. The cheapest way to commute would probably be to buy a used bike off of craigslist for however much and then ride it into the ground and then buy another one. But that isn't very fun which is why you see people spending all sorts of money on accessories and whatnot. I don't think that there are significant saving besides the costs of a bike and the cost of a car.
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Old 09-11-08, 11:59 AM
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Compared to many of my coworkers, I save $2340 per year just in parking fees.
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Old 09-11-08, 12:00 PM
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I bought my newest bike back in May. I spent about $1200 all told on bike, accessories, and a couple of maintenance issues.

A subway/bus pass costs $59 per month. The new bike will have payed for itself around January 2010.
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Old 09-11-08, 12:03 PM
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Around $4-$5K/year even with buying the extra bike stuff. We moved to being a one car family and now we don't pay gas or insurance on a second car and all that money is no longer tied up in a depreciating asset.
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Old 09-11-08, 12:06 PM
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None. I probably spend more money this way.
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Old 09-11-08, 12:07 PM
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None. Bikes are a lot more expensive than walking everywhere. Fun tho.
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Old 09-11-08, 12:08 PM
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~$10 a day taking into consideration that when I ride I go out to eat more, I spend money on light rail passes, and I buy bike crap which eats up some money. I still have my car, and maintinance on that thing is basically nil so it comes down to gas saved and food eaten. Car insurance is a non-issue. I pay only $40 less every 6 months becaue I dropped my mileage from 12k a year to 6k.
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Old 09-11-08, 12:09 PM
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$3.40 a day in transit fares, plus a lot of aggravation.
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