Why Commute By Bike?

As you may know I'm a full time bike commuter finishing up my first year. So I thought I'd run a few articles on what I've learned about commuting by bike so far. Look at the category "guide" to see everything.

To start we'll consider a cost analysis. These numbers are intended to be ball park figures. I'll miss minor details and probably make some estimates incorrectly. The purpose is the comparison.

Cost by car. We'll use a semi-fictional car that retails for $18,000 (with all of the goodies that you end up buying and taxes). Our car averages 30mpg. So keep in mind that this is an economy car. We're assuming 15,000 miles per year of use.
* Cost of car: $18,000
* Maintenance: $1,000 per year. (Note that maintenance tends to have a delay effect)
* Gasoline: $1,125 per year. (At $2.25 per gallon)
* Insurance: $800 per year.
* Taxes: $150 per year.

Running the car for 12 years and getting $2000 out of it at that point: $18,000 + 12*($1,000 + $1,125 + $800 + $150) - $2,000 = $51,100.
* Cost per mile: $52,900 / 180,000 = $.29.

Please keep in mind:
* We didn't include financing
* We assumed that gas would stay at the current price, and it won't.
* We assumed you'll drive this car for most of its lifespan.
* Insurance and taxes start high and go down. So this is a huge estimation!

Edmunds estimate, over a 5 year driving period, would be around $.45 for this size car. However, no frugal car purchaser is buying a new car every five years!

Cost by bike. I'm gonna use my bike, which is a bit fancy for a commuter.
* The bike: $1,025
* Maintenance: $100
* Fuel added in later.
* Insurance: $0
* Taxes: $0
* Replacement parts: $1,400

These are estimated over the life of the bike which I'm calling 30,000 miles. Many, many folks report getting a lot better mileage out of their bikes. However, somewhere in this area you'll find that many of your components are worn out and require replacement. You may or may not want to just buy a new bike. Some folks swear that they can keep a bike running indefinitely.

The cost of fuel is hard to figure since it depends so much on what you eat. I'm going to use this blog as a source of food costs. It takes about 40 calories for a cyclist to propel himself one mile. To get into less basic food it takes about $.10 for 40 calories. You'll probably eat cheaper stuff to refuel from cycling, but that's okay we'll cost for real food. If you ate peanut butter it's about $.03 per mile. If you ate smoked turkey it's about $.64 per mile!

You should also keep in mind that the average US adult is overweight. You may already be eating enough to make your commute. NOTE: You'll suffer from weight loss and longer life.

Cost:
* The Bike: ($1,025 + $1,400) / 30,000 = $.08 per mile
* The Gas: $.10 per mile
* Total: $.18 per mile

So. With decent food and an expensive bike we've still come out cheaper than we could hope to get in the car. And it may be that the food cost is almost nothing because we might be eating that anyway! Besides that: Cheetos taste good; gas smells like poison.

If we commute 10 miles a day (5 miles each way). 22 days a month. That's 10 * ($.29-$.18) * 22 = $24.20 per month. It's not exactly a fortune is it? It gets a lot better if you can do enough commuting to get rid of the car or relegate it to the minimum insurable mileage. You might also keep this in mind. You're theoretically supposed to get that money, somehow, to pay costs on your bike. It's in the interests of evening things out with respect to existing bus and personal auto parking subsidies which are far bigger.


Next I'll talk about what sort of bikes are available and what makes a good commuter.