Kids can respond to incentives. One of my kids wanted to transfer to a private school. We didn't have the money but then found that my spouse's parents were willing to pay tuition. We told my kid that it was a special privilege to attend the school, and they would have to get up earlier than we did and get themselves to the train. The kid became competent at doing that, unlike previous years.

My commute is about 4.1 miles each way, but it has a fair amount of climbing. Total elevation gain is almost 750' in those 4+ miles. I have some good alternative routes on the way home, including a nice regional park with many trails for taking the long way home when I have time & spare daylight. I start basically at sea level and here's a view from my work.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9ae73181a.jpeg

14 miles and around 561 feet of elevation gained on the way in, 17 miles and around 930 feet gained on the way home. We have wall-mounted bike hangers behind a badge-access door, and a locker room with showers so cleaning up is pretty easily accomplished. I take my work clothes in on Monday and bring them home on Friday.

15 min from the railway station so 2kms and when riding to the flea market 20km back and forth done in 40min

2-1/2 miles one way for me. Uphill both ways. Literally - my route peaks right in the middle. Not a bad climb but sometimes I have to go slow so I don’t get sweaty. Surprisingly, that isn’t limited to summer. I can get pretty hot when bundled up for winter. I wear my work clothes (Levi’s and a button down shirt). Laptop etc in a backpack. I sometimes ride home for lunch. I don’t ride every day. Cold, rain, tired legs, errands, etc will get me in the car. I find that my definition of cold is getting broader as I get older.

I have had longer commutes. I did 18+ miles each way regularly for several years. For that distance it was bike clothes and a shower at work. Panniers for clothes, lunch, laptop, etc. Left my shoes at work.

26 mile and 37 commutes were a little too long for me to do regularly, because of the time involved. But when I did ride it was the pannier set up. Sometimes I would drive part way and then ride. Sometimes I would drive in and ride home. Then ride in and drive home the next day.

I bicycle commute twice a week to work; it's 10.8miles each way. There isn't much elevation except for two bridges, and I use mostly back streets. There is one main road I would never ride on, so I use the sidewalk for about a mile of the commute.

I don't have a shower, but I do have a private bathroom where I use a couple of wash cloths. When I first started doing this, I asked my staff if I stunk. They said thankfully no. They were concerned about it when I started 9 years ago, but "whatever you're doing in there, it's working."

Oh 'bike commute'...was going to say mine is brutal...a whopping 20 or so steps from my bedroom to the coffee maker...ugh it takes...for ev er...and trafiic...my wife gets in the way and it's into the ditch...can't win against her...sigh...commuting suxs

I commute on 10 kilometers to go and 11 to come back from work, trough the hills five days a week. I live in countryside. Each ride takes 25'. I change all my clothes and my shoes in bathrooms every morning when i am to the work.

My commute is about 5k each way, but I do it on an ebike so don't get sweaty!

Mine is ~7 miles each way and basically flat. Worst part is having to be in the bike gutters in one of the sections, but it's mostly fine. We do have a shower in the office, so I just bring my towel and spare clothes in my backpack.

Well, I just recently retired, but my commute was 13 miles one way. Actually, I live ~50 mile from work, but 2 -3 days a week I drive to a park-n-ride and bike in the 13 remaining miles. Going into work is a decent downhill then a false flat that slopes down much of the ride in. Problem is going home after a long day I have to deal with a slight uphill most of the way back then finish off with a decent climb to the car.

8.1 miles there and 8.1 miles back--its roughly 45 minutes each way, and 30 when its nice out and im feeling vicious. I usually just pack another t-shirt, because the one I ride in gets soaked with sweat. The good thing is that workout sweat doesn't smell as bad as stress sweat, so you can get to work all sweaty and by the time you cool off, it'll be like you didn't even ride that day. My coworker who doesn't ride, arguable smells worse (he doesn't like using deodorant).

I've had commutes ranging from 3 to 10 miles one way over the past 50 years. I've never found the need to shower and change. The worst was in KC during the summer where 80 degrees at 8 AM is common. Then I would wear a t-shirt in the morning and carry a small bottle of deodorant talc, towel off in the restroom, sprinkle a little talc around and put on a new shirt for the day. No problem.

Marc

I'm applying to teaching jobs to start in September. I'm hoping to have a commute of 10 miles or shorter. One place I went to is less than 2 miles, and another is 3 miles. I'm still interviewing at places 10 miles away because they may end up being a worse commute and a better job. Or maybe they will be the only ones making offers to me. Really, once it is 7 miles each way, I know I will ride it less frequently, and that would be a shame. Maybe I should consider getting an e-bike for commuting.

7.5mi and 305' to work
7.5mi and 435' to home

No shower at work. Bring a different.
I wont ride in if its already 75+deg at 630am. Ill be a mess because I push too hard when riding.

routine:

house to infant school (6yo goes there) ...
infant school to nursery school (4yo goes there) ...
nursery school to staff bike lock-up ...
2.4 mi total

3 min walk to office after

Mine is only 2.5 miles. Pretty short, so no excuse not to ride it.

small island here (24.5km2 / 9.5mi2) ... give or take 200k inhabitants ... everything is reasonably close

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bc563eafdd.jpg

Last year I went through a job change. My commute now is 15 miles each way. I'll do it few times per month. Winters can be a hit or miss because there is one part of my route which doesn't get winter maintenance and plowing.

3.5 miles with 300' elevation drop in the morning. Maybe 50' climbing.

5.5 miles home typically; sometimes I stretch that to 10 or 15, occasionally 40.

I've been doing this on a fixie the last couple years. It has a front disc brake, and i shamelessly ride the brake on the two steep downhill ramps in the morning. Occasionally I'll ride a geared bike, and it seems like cheating.

There's a locker room and showers, but I shower at home and just use the locker room to change. I wear a button down shirt and shorts or rain pants depending on season, and change into slacks and casual shoes for work.

You might consider a fat tire eBike for the future. I commute year-round here in Wisconsin. I ride more often in the winter than in the spring, as I prefer riding in a little snow than in rain. (a lot of snow is something different)
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ddaeb6b139.jpg
On a multi-use path (MUP) this past winter. 26x4" tires at about 15 psi for this.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0ae3f0f65d.jpg
Tires were at 5 psi for this MTB trail.


You could bike commute daily with such a rig; it would pay for itself quickly.

I calculated that for my commuter eBike, which cost $2300 new, it would pay for itself in 3 years if I commute on it 3 days per week and do one shopping trip per week on it.

I have a lot of bikes & eBikes, but this is my most popular commuter, it will probably take 5 years.

Just curious, how did you calculate the commuting $ savings for the ebike? What do/did you use for shopping or commuting when not using the ebike?

I found this hard to calculate as I have many options:

1. walk (cost of shoes at 10-14km/day walking)
2. free bus with my staff car ... (zero cost)
3. train for one station each way ... £4/day
4. non-free bus other route and less stops (£4/day)
5. bicycle rental (£0.18/min + 99p unlock)
6. e-scooter rental (£0.18/min + 99p unlock)
7. Uber (£10/day)
8. Drive (not much for fuel but to park legally around £10)

Bicycle seems like the best option with the sunk cost and proximity to home/office.

I did do a test of car ownership over 10 years / 150k miles and came up with this ...

https://www.******.com/r/Volkswagen/...rs_150k_miles/

all in it was about £0.30/mi or $0.39/mi

What does "it" represent in the last sentence? Is $0.39 your savings per mile or cost per mile of e-bike use, or cost per mile of use of your car, or something else?

The total cost of car ownership including depreciation was $0.39/miles over 10 years and 150k miles (petrol is expensive here).

I made this sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

I allowed someone editing access who I think added or revised the bottom part. I just removed his permission to edit. I guess I need to lock down certain cells before allowing others to edit.

Thanks for your response. The top half of your spreadsheet is straightforward showing the savings on fuel when the ebike is used for commuting and shopping rather than your car, assuming electric charging for you is free.

The bottom half revised by somebody else seems to assume that you no longer will be paying $5,100/year for car insurance and car payment, and that $600/year will cover all your non e-bike transportation expenses to include the 1/4 year when you are not using the ebike at all, as well as all travel expenses for the rest of the year if you commute more than 3 times/week, or go more than 10 miles/week to anywhere else not on the ebike.

$5,100 year for car payment and insurance (plus licensing and maintenance costs) seems unnecessarily wasteful for a person only using the car to travel 40 miles/week for commuting and shopping and without any other travel requirements that require more than walking or conventional bicycling. I think that a used car capable of reliable transportation for approximately 2,000 miles a year could be found for much less annual cost and not need to be replaced for 20 years or so with such little use.

Back in 2011, Mr. Money Mustache wrote an article called The True Cost of Commuting and he meant the cost of car commuting. In the article, he uses the federal allowance for driving which was 51 cents at the time. Currently, it's 70 per mile. Some people think that the cost of driving is not linear per mile, but Mr. Money Mustache argues that it is. Fixed costs are believed to be purchase and insurance, but the less you drive, the less often you need to replace your car. The same goes for repairs. Calculating the only the fuel cost for your distance is wrong. So when you ride 10 miles instead of driving 10 miles, you're saving $7 off your car expenses. I don't know what bike expenses per mile are, but maybe acidfast7_2 does, since he did a study of it (with a sample size of one) a few years ago.

that thread is here:

https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting...term-test.html

the last calculation is here. quickly (that included the bike itself, extra fenders, lights, bike lock, all parts, maintenance) but didn't include the helmet or any clothes. I was hit once on the bike and needed a new rear wheel and some other bits (I think that comes under maintenance as I ride in dense urban areas usually). I needed new bars as I went from drops to flats. the lights still charge and work (USB after 12 years and the lock is still good). I could ride it some more, but I want the MTB for the kiddos on the back.

I could've bought a cheaper bike but I wanted to try a coloured FGSS bike and this was the cheapest on the market at the time.

episode 521
5521km/3430mi/264.16h
£605.76/€679.05/$777.27 total
£2.293/€2.570/$2.942 per hour
£0.1097/€0.1229/$0.2266 per km/mi
£1.162/€1.303/$1.492per RT commute

When I compared this the cost of having a car in the UK for 10 years and 150k miles, all-in, it was 30p/mi or $0.39/mi. (including all running costs and depreciation). we still use that car but not as much as longer (163k miles now and needs a service next month £300 for a yearly MOT, oil change and two new rear tyres). obviously, you can take 5 people in the Golf and only two on the bike easily, so per person it's likely closer than the gap suggests. 25-40% of those miles are likely with multiple people.

We've discussed this before and Mr. Money's argument that the "Federal Allowance for driving" (actually the IRS deduction for business use of a vehicle) represents the variable cost of driving each additional mile for personal use was flawed in 2011 and remains just as inaccurate, if not more so today because it (like the widely publicized AAA cost per mile rates) is based on not only the variable costs of mileage (fuel, tires, wear and tear replacement of parts and some maintenance), but much more so on the fixed costs of ownership such as insurance, loan interest, registration and depreciation with the expectation of frequent replacement (every 5 years for the AAA model) with a new vehicle. What is the standard mileage deduction
The reduction in vehicle maintenance costs or for replacement frequency for someone who reduces its use by 2000 miles/year by commuting and shopping with some other method like the OP's example is almost insignificant, and there would be little or no reduction in the fixed ownership costs as long as the commuter still owns the vehicle.

The OP's calculations for actual $ savings considering reduction in fuel, parking and toll expenses for commuting by bicycle instead of car provide a much more accurate portrayal of the potential cost savings realized by bicycle commuting than Mr. Money's misleading version.