Originally Posted by
noglider
Are you saying one should drive a minimum number of miles per year to make the investment worthwhile? I can't agree with that. Each mile driven incurs costs. There is no mile in there that has a financial payoff.
If he can't get rid of the car -- and that could be true for many reasons --, then bike commuting is not going to change his life financially. But it's not likely to make his life more expensive, either.
What I have been saying is that there is no reason to incur the unnecessary financial burden from buying, owning and replacing
a new car with another new car every five years in order to commute 2,600 miles a year. A far cheaper well maintained used car can be used for the same purpose, and not need to be replaced for anywhere near as frequently as is assumed in government reimbursement rates for use of a motor vehicle for business purposes.
An alleged savings of 67 cents for each mile of bicycle commuting is highly inflated and incorrectly adapted from rates based on studies of typical motor vehicle yearly use and large losses due to depreciation associated with frequent replacement.
Nobody claimed that bike commuting would make the OP's or anyone else's life more expensive.
It is not necessary to justify riding a bicycle to commute by citing inapplicable rates of "savings" per mile and non-applicable government "deductions."