I'm lucky enough to work in a building with showers, attached to a small gym. I think it's a bit ironic that I can go downstairs to change into my cycling clothes to ride home, on a gorgeous summer day, and find people in the gym riding stationary bikes to nowhere. I want to scream: "Winter will be here before you know it!! You can do that when it's -35ºC outside!!!" (And yes, I'm a bit of a fair weather cyclist. I take the train when it's that cold)
A few years ago someone measured air pollution in various places and found that the worst place to be, in terms of exhaust fumes, was inside a car at rush hour. The fumes get inside and don't easily get out again. So, you're actually breathing less pollution on a bike.
Where I live, people who can least afford cars are pushed further and further from the city core into outlying neighborhoods where public transit is bad to non-existent. Living in inner city downtown neighborhoods is now this chic expensive yuppie thing. Bad urban planning can force people into cars as much as any perception of safety.

WTF Are miles different lengths for cars and bikes? dumbass

Nah, bikes can go places cars can't -- shortcuts and less circling for parking, that kinda thing.

Hell, I'll bite.

1996 Suburban . . . $8,500
Registration...........$125
Insurance..............$43 (full coverage)
Tires....................$1k (yes, that's 'cheap')
Gas per week.........$75
Oil Change @ 3k......$30
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When I drove my Suburban, I averaged roughly 300-500 miles per week. My wife found routine excuses to 'go drive to Burlington' to price things out that we never purchased, go walk Target for 'savings' and other odds-and-ends.

We sat down and realized we put 90k on a vehicle in less than a year (when I bought her a new car in 2001). I live in Texas so I can only assume it would be worse if I lived in a large Metro area. Routine trips were less than 3 miles.

AN average day went something like:

8 a.m. - drive 2 miles to Elementary school, drop off son.
10 a.m. - drive to McDonald's for 'food' - 2-3 miles round trip
Noon - drive to work (wife drove truck back home) - 3 miles round trip
3 p.m. - wife drives to pick up son - 2 miles
5 p.m. - wife drives home to pick me up for dinner - 1.5 miles
6 p.m. - I drive back to work 1.5 miles
11 p.m. - I drive home for the day 1.5 miles
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Total mileage averaged 15 miles a day, without bull**** trips. Usually we could easily push 20 miles a day.

On my days off we would drive over to Mercedes, down to Matamoros, etc. Added mileage usually was around 100 miles a day. If we decided to drive down to the beach, now you're talking a measily 40 mile round trip to the coast and back.

So in a single week, 20 miles of commuting costs+140 miles of bull****=160 miles a week.

160x4 weeks (and that's a light number) probably came close to 800 miles a month, but probably closer to 1.5k miles a month.

All that mileage means maintenance costs. Maintenance that included replacing a water pump, CV joints ran me up near $1.3k for the year in 'minor repair costs.'

I replaced a windshield at $215 and, because I spent so much time in my truck, upgraded my stereo for a paltry $399.

I'm not even going to bother adding it up, because the final equation that you're not accounting for is the invisible consumer equation.

See, driving a car is lazy. So lazy, people don't realize that their consumer habits are attached to it directly. Big box stores bank on your ability to go out for a drive, and because you use a gasoline vehicle for 'freedom' you play into their hands. Gas stations offer sodas, and other easy to acquire consumables to the drivers because odds are, you're going to be thirsty when you go in and buy gas repeatedly every week.

-----------------

Now that my truck sits, I had to learn to make some adjustments.

My son rides the bus to school. My wife may not like it, or think it's safe for an 8 year old yet - but she's adapted to it.

I ride everywhere. Everywhere. So I have to think about my consumer spending habits. Do I really need that? Will I be able to carry it home? That alone has changed my costs.

My bikes have cost me less than $2k total. That includes riding gear, shoes, et al.

If I get a flat, the cost of patching it versus replacing a truck tire is minimal.
I do my own maintenance. I wanted to learn to be better at it, so I went to the LBS and made friends with the owner and asked him to teach me in exchange for free labor. End result? I can now do anything that is needed, and I got a nice long-term part time job out of it.

So by comparison, last year I spent upwards of $15k to be 'free.'
This year, I've spent $2k on a bike that already has outlived my Suburban (which is broken and awaiting $3k in repairs).

Even after next month when I repair the truck, it will sit until November 18th when I take my wife to the hospital for her planned C-section. Even then, I'm taking the bike to ride home at night and back to the hospital every day that week.

I think the comparison would only be more obvious if I rode a hand-me down or thrift store bike like MANY of the locals here do because they can't afford cars.

My bike cost $319.99. Free tune-up and a year of "tweaking." Fenders and rear rack = cheap, install was free. I've ridden it more than 500 km/h in two months. The cost to ride it these past two months = $0. I have no fancy "gear." I wear whatever clothes I already own. I did buy a cute cycling outfit with a skirt merely to deal with cycling in hot weather, wearing jeans on a 60 k/m ride = ouch. I bought panniers, a bell, a bike computer, lights for around $110 which I got when I sold a speedlight (flash for a camera) I didn't need that I got for free in the first place.

I may have to replace my rear brake pads at some point in the future, how much do those run? $7? At my LBS if I buy the pads there, they install for free. How much do car brake pads cost?

This thread annoys the crap out of me. Riding a bike is a gazillion times cheaper than riding the bus or driving a car.

Even if we ignore the initial cost of the car, which is likely enough to kill the entire calculation, I just got my Escape back from the garage for the routine 100,000 mile maintenance (nothing broken, just routine maintenance) and it cost just under $1,400. I also know I need a new battery before winter hits again.

I won't spend anywhere near that on bicycle clothing and parts, not even over the next three years. It is ironic though, because I rarely drive the thing. My wife drives it all over the place, and she has another car of her own she just likes the Escape better.

I have no doubt riding the bike is cheaper.

Including maintenance, repairs, oil changes, insurance, fuel, property taxes, registration, county sticker, and tolls, I easily spend $5000/year keeping two cars on the road. By contrast, I spend about $100/year on bike parts and maintenance. If I bike commuted, I'd probably have to up that by a factor of 5. That's still a fraction of the cost of maintaining the car.

If you have a load of maintenance costs on your bike, you might consider a new bike. I have hardly any maintenance costs. I bought a second hand Giant OCR from someone, and have changed out some parts.

Right now I am at €482,45. If I had been using mass transit like trains, buses et cetera, I would already have payed €1050, just for transport. So... It's definetely cheaper!

My cost to commute by subway = free
Journey time = 50 mins to the door

My cost to commute by bike = idk, but over last three years I spent £2.2k on bike related purchases (including the bike, £400) for fun/want/desire

If I was going out with friends, most lilel I'd use the subway, otherwise it's the bike all the way.

I am buying an Iro Mark V Pro which is equivalent to the cost of putting gas into my Honda Civic Si for two months! It will literally pay for itself and also help my training for the 2010 LA Marathon. (I'm surprised how efficient bicycle commuting is; 1 mile per 7 minutes on my cruiser)

If you go car free, there's tremendous savings. If you're not car free, there's almost no savings.

If you still keep the car in the driveway and pay for insurance, that's the majority of the expense of having a car anyway. The rest is gas and maint and gas and maint on a reliable car is not much. Gas is about 10 cents per mile on my Toyota Corolla (30 mpg, $2.80 per gallon). Maintenance is only 5 cents a mile maximum.

My commute is 15 miles round trip. At a savings of $0.15 per mile if I commute 250 days a year, which is almost everyday, I only save $562.50. That's not that much. If you buy a beater bike, you save money. If you buy a decent new bike, you lose money.

If I could get rid of the car and sell it, I would save money. As it is, I'm losing money.

Not true, at least not in my situation.

The going rate for parking in downtown Sacramento is $200 per month. Without even considering gas, depreciation, etc., I count $2400 in annual savings. With just what I save in parking, I could buy a very nice bike every year and break even.

I'm currently keeping a car in the driveway that isn't used much. Insurance is $240/yr and registration is another $50. So for about $300/yr plus per-mile costs the car is available for those times when alternative means of transport are inconvenient, costly, or not feasible. If that's the majority of your car expense then you must not be doing much driving at all - good job.

As alluded to in this thread, it's not all about money.

Or I sure hope it's not.

My car insurance costs about $700 per year. Average insurance cost in 2006 was around $800 annually according to this site: https://www.iii.org/media/facts/statsbyissue/auto/

You must have a really good car insurance plan. I think for most people the cost of the car payment and insurance would be the majority of the cost of keeping a car. How much do you save on just gas and maintenance?

Hrmmm.......

Car: $8K in 2004, paid off in 2009. (yay!)
Bike: $100.00 in 2009, paid off in 2009. (yay!)

Yep, the cars cheaper.

Granted I do eat more food when I bike commute, but hey, I like eating.