ax0n

Here's the deal: Post how many commutes you pulled off in 2007, and how many commuting miles. Then we'll figure out how many gallons of fuel we saved. EPA estimates that the average real-world fuel economy was about 20 MPG, so we'll calculate fuel savings based on that. Then we can see just what kind of impact a few dozen forum-dwellers can have.

I know some of us (myself included) are multi-mode commuters. We won't bother figuring in car half-way trips, bus or train stuff.

Count all commuting or errand miles. If you keep track of your recreation-only miles, don't count them.

Bike Commuting days in 2007: 214
Commute/errand miles in 2007: 3,505

Gallons of fuel saved @ 20MPG: ~175

climbhoser

I'm guessing lots here, and many factors have changed for my commute including distance and the days I bike.

Until October I commuted 5 days a week, rain or shine, for 8 mi. RT After Oct. it's been 4 days a week, rain or shine, for 30 mi. RT.

I'm going to guess I did 200 days of commuting in 2007, 54 of them at 30 mi. RT which calculates to 1620 miles since October. The other 146 days I did 8 mi. RT which calculates to 1168.

=2788 mi. total

Gallons of fuel saved=~139.4

Calculated at $2.80/gallon that appears to have saved me $390.20

However, my truck gets 12 mpg in town, which would have saved me $650.33

This is a very easy benchmark for me to beat as next year I won't be moving (not planned anyways) and if I do 200 days of commuting at 30 mi. RT then I will pull 6000 mi. easy and save myself 300 gallons or $840 at $2.80/gallon. I can get a new bike for that! Awersome!

Psydotek

I'm estimating ~500 miles commuting ~2x/week since February.

Direct savings for gas i didn't have to buy: $0

Why? All that money went to my train tickets. Gas is less expensive than a ticket actually. 70 mile round trip, my car gets ~26-27mpg, so estimate about 3 gallons/day @ $3.50/gallon which equals ~$10.50/day for gas compared to a little over $12/day for a train ticket.

However, bike commuting does give me exercise, eliminates stress from sitting in traffic, and is more fun. On the other hand, my "work day" (which i count from the time i wake up to get ready to the time i get home) is extended from 3:00AM-4:40PM compared to 4:00AM-4:00PM when driving. So it's give and take which is why i only do it afew times a week.

Other savings come from reduced maintenance costs. For example i only have to change my oil every 3 months nowdays compared to every 2 months when i was driving every day (i do the work myself but supplies for oil changes cost me ~$40 for oil and the filter).

Pig_Chaser

uh dunno how many days but my total is 3382km or 2101 miles for '07. These are all commuter/errand miles.

ax0n

Realistically, I saved about $850 this year on parking alone, and $500+ in fuel because of the bus. The bus passes cost me $15 per month for a grand total of 180 per year, so I'm ahead of the game there.

My usual R/T to the bus is about 5 miles. My usual RT all the way to work without taking the bus is more like 30 miles. All in all I averaged about 16 miles of commuting and errands per work day, or about 9.5 miles per day (weekends, vacations included).

unixpro

I have to guess a little too. I don't keep track of my commute vs. recreation miles, but my odometer was at about 5.1K at EOY and I know I changed it in March or April, which resets everything. Call it a total of 6K miles. From Jan - April, I was doing 4 days a week, and 5 since then. Take some out for vacation, holidays, and times I actually needed the vehicle for one reason or another, and I'll guess at around 200 trips.

6,000 miles at 20 MPG = 300 Gallons saved

300 gallons at $2.80/Gallon = $840.00

However, my van, like climbhoser's truck, gets about 12 MPG, and gas around here has been more like $3.00 for most of the year, so my real savings were more along the lines of (6000 / 12) * 3.00 = $1,500.00.

halfro

BART $8.20X5= $41
41X50=$2050

Bike: $900 (including tires, tubes, spokes, etc)

Total: $2950


If I used a car:

78 miles per day. five times a week.

78X5=390miles a week

390X50=20280 miles a year


20280/20 mpg = 1014gallons

1014X $2.8 = $2839

Maintenance I cannot guess but I know It's at least $2000 a year.

Riding all the way...

Oh, I forgot. 2400 miles commuting by bike.

ItsJustMe

I have 3700 miles on the bike, though I'm suspicious of that number; I had 2800 back at the end of July, I should have had 4700 now, and last year I DID have 4700, and I've ridden as much. I suspect there's something wrong with my bike comp.

I think it's actually safe to put me down at 4500 miles. The car I would otherwise be driving gets about 22 MPG (it would get 25 but it has a vacuum leak that hurts the mileage, but it's cheaper to feed it more gas than to have it fixed).

mallfellow

Some stats pulled from my Excel bike log:
197 days of commuting both ways by bike (32 miles roundtrip).
21 days with a one way bike commute.
13 days where I didn't ride either way.
Total number of days at work during 2007=231
7,609.40 commuting miles of which 6,352.76 miles were straight-up commutes (i.e. my normal routes +/- 5 miles) and 1,256.64 were extended commutes (>5 miles tacked on to the normal route).
I managed at least one ride on 241 out of the 365 days in the year.
60.19% of the miles and 70.64% of my rides were on my fixed gear.
500.73 hours spent on the bike in 2007.
8,601.74 total miles during 2007.

Based on the ~20mpg if I drove everyday (which would necesitate the purchase of another vehicle) I'd say I saved some where between 315 & 380 gallons of gas during the course of the year which equates to a dollar savings either side of $1,000.

ax0n

Let me guess... A Mercury Mystique/Ford Contour or some other Ford with a V6 and plastic intake manifold?

HardyWeinberg

4500 miles, not sure how many days. Quite a few.

mhifoe

I did 3982 miles for the year.

My car gets 40mpg, but diesel in the UK costs £1.06 a litre ($8 a US gallon).

So I saved $1000 in fuel alone.

mtnwalker

2007 commuting miles: 4068
# of commuting days: 174
Gallons saved(25 mph vehicle): 162.72
Dollars saved based on $3.00 average: $488
Money spent last year on bikes and accessories: <$5K

So I have 10 years to go to break even. Doh!

Leiniesred

2007 commuting miles 3,900 (most of these miles were on a $50 pawn shop rigid mt. bike. "El Diablo.")
Bike Commuted days: 156
Commuter car is 32mpg. so that is about 121 gallons
121 gallons X $2.80/gal = $338

cachehiker

2100 miles commuting, 2300 for recreation.

2100 miles times typical 32 total cents per mile to drive my little 29 mpg Nissan equals a total of $680 saved. Only $220 was gasoline though. The rest was low mileage discounts on insurance, only two oil changes per year instead of five, tires last me ten years, etc.

kmac27

Started biking at the end of may and have clocked in 2160 miles since then. Mainly going to work and back but also some fun 10-20 mile rides.

Brian Sorrell

Bicycle commuted 219 / 220 days. But my commute is a 4 mile r/t, so my total mileage from commuting was only 876. I didn't track other non-recreation miles, but it's not much because I live a mile from the store -- so I'll just stick with the work commute.

876 miles / 20 mpg = 43.8 gallons

In terms of dollars, I get $2 / day from our county rideshare program. I saved $40 / month on car insurance when I updated my policy (a couple of years ago) and told them that I don't drive daily. Not sure about maintenance that I saved, since I didn't actually do any automotive maintenance in 2007 -- I drove my car less than 1,000 miles. We use the wife's car when we go out in the car, mostly. So my rock bottom total savings:

$2 / day * 219 days = $438
$40 / month * 12 months = $480
43.8 gallons * 3.10 / gallon = $136

Total: $1054

iqaro

I started to commute in july 2007 and rode 2700km (1678 mi) last year in a new bike... I guess I saved US$735 in bus and taxi fares, besides less stress, more exercise, better feeling. My cost last year was US$60 in spare tire and tubes, brake shoe and no more. I spare Earth of burning 85 gallons of gasoline.

Hugo

thdave

From my calcs, I saved 115 gallons of gas. Not a lot, but every bit helps.

I had approx. 130 trips and logged 1700 miles this past year. Both are records for me!

I attribute my improvement to two things: studded snow tires and my rain poncho.

cyccommute 

150 days
2059 miles

Saved 3300 miles in vehicle usage
Saved 236 gallons of gas
Saved $589 in gas cost at $2.5 per gallon
Saved 4620 lbs of carbon dioxide (2.3 tons)
Saved 7071428 Kcal of energy or 28285 jelly donuts.

Used 61776 Kcal of energy or 247 jelly donuts

From 1988 to present:

Ridden 2344 days.
44188 miles
Saved 44188 miles of vehicle usage
Saved 3156 gallons of gas
Saved $5534 at a cost of $1.75 per gallon
Saved 61864 lbs of carbon dioxide (30.9 tons)
Saved 94,600,000 Kcal or 378,759 jelly donuts

Used 1,325,657 Kcal or 5302.6 jelly donuts

Damned car. Gets more jelly donuts than I do! Ain't fair!

SSP

131 days and 1900 miles.

acroy

230 commutes at 12 miles each, 2760 miles, 138gal of gas

paulrad9

Gas is only one part of the financial equation. Total cost should be the cost to operate the vehicle + the cost to fuel the vehicle. The IRS mileage reimbursement is about $0.50/mile, so assuming you get 25 miles to the gallon and gas costs you $3.50/gallon:
fuel cost / mile: 0.14
vehicle cost / mile: 0.36

bent-not-broken

208 commutes
2080 miles (10 miles per RT)
130 gallons gas saves (16 MPG van)
83,000 calories burned (40 cal/mile)
8 different bikes used
2 flat tires
96 F hottest, -13F coldest

bobcrotch

I only had about 90 days of commuting (I just started last summer)
8 miles a trip to work = 720 miles
then I would say roughly 6 miles to grocery store/bank 32 times (Guess? 2x a week?) = 192 miles
Total miles on bike = 912
I have a 2004 honda civic that gets about 28ish in town, or about 320 miles per tank. So roughly 3 tanks of gas at 3.00 a gallon (very conservative) in a 12 gallon tank, I saved 100 dollars and 36 gallons of gas!

Wow thats actually pretty damn cool if you ask me!