Park & Ride

[cadteach]

My location doesn't allow me to use public transit the whole commute to work.  My commute to work is about 25 miles one way.  I can drive about 10 mi. to a park and ride, then bus the rest of the way.  I've been doing that for about a month, it adds a bit of time, and I'm just trying to figure out if it's really worth doing. I end up leaving home about 25 minutes early, and get home about 25 minutes later than driving the whole way.

I understand the vehicle has a sort of price/mile cost, but I'm paying to have the car to go the first 10 miles, then about $66 /month for the bus pass to go the rest of the way.  Like I said, I've been doing it about a month, (actually since early December) just not sure how much its saving and if its worth it.  I've considered biking the first part, but in winter I can't imagine getting up in time to ride that distance in the snow/cold.

Any thoughts as to how you might fairly compute the savings, if any?

[TheAnonOne]

Meh, I looked at doing this around here. Once, I factored in my time I was way ahead just driving..

Though, the math would change if you had to pay to park near work daily, in a ramp or something and could avoid that by bussing in.

[Kaybee]

I'm probably the worst person to try to help you but have you spoken to your insurance company and found out what a plan with a lower mileage cap would cost (and if the transit use brings you to that lower mileage?)? 

I'm not a numbers person so I wouldn't be able to help you figure out what the cost of fuel/wear & tear/parking for the extra commute would be vs the bus pass.  If you drive a gas guzzler, it might not be worth driving but if your car is very efficient, it might not be so bad.

I used to do a drive/transit commute and I LIKED the time I spent taking transit so it wasn't "lost" time for me, it was time that I could spend specifically reading books/listening to language CDs and not feel guilty about.  I understand most people don't feel that way though, lol!!

[slugline]

You don't mention parking costs, so I presume parking is free at your workplace.

If you use the IRS's standard rate for deductible auto expenses of $.54/mile you get a monthly figure of $324 ($.54/mile * 15 extra commuting miles * 10 trips/week * 4 weeks) assuming you're working a typical M-F workweek.. So it looks like your bank account wins with that monthly bus pass.

Calculating actual savings is a bit squirrelly can be kind of difficult because of the number of variable costs that you need to look at -- gasoline and more frequent maintenance of oil changes, brakes, tires, etc. But I guess you could go for it if you know how much all of that costs for your make/model.

[Chris22]

This sounds like a job for the marginal cost per mile.

Basically, since you're driving 10 miles each way anyways, there are a lot of fixed car costs (like the cost of the car, some of the wear and tear, insurance, tc) that you are going to incur regardless of whether you drive part of the way or the whole way.  In that thread, I estimated the marginal cost of a mile to be ~$.25, about half of MMM's (and the IRS's) quoted ~$.55. 

Using MMM's math, 15 miles x 2 = 30 *.55 = $16.50 * 20 days/mo = $330 - $66 for the bus pass = $264.

Using my math, 15 miles x 2 = 30 * .25 = $7.50 * 20 days/mo = $150 - $66 for the bus pass = $84.

Is $84 - $264 worth an hour of your day each day?  Up to you.  For me, $84/20 = $4.20 an hour, worth it, and even using MMM math of $264/20 = $13.20 an hour, still worth it. 

But that value judgement is up to you.  You can also tweak my assumptions based on your car (mileage, etc).

[AZDude]

15 miles one way saved, so 30 miles a day. 30 * 5 = 150 miles a week. Assuming 25 mpg, that is 6 gallons of gas at ~$3.00/gal(varies widely by location, so this is a big assumption).

That is $18/week in gas saved. 4 weeks in a month that would be $72 a month saved in fuel costs. So without factoring in depreciation and maintenance costs of the extra mileage, you are saving $6 a month by doing the park and ride. You say this is taking an 50 minutes a day, so 50 * 5 * 4 = 16.5 extra hours. So you are making $0.35 an hour by riding the bus.

Now, there are other things to think about. Do you like taking the bus over driving? I took the bus to work for a couple years and liked it better than driving. I could relax and listen to podcasts while being chauffeured to work. My employer also paid for my bus pass, so it was a no-brainer for me. It also meant I walked more, went out to lunch less, etc... so it was a good deal for me.