Hi cylcling folks! Your badassity has me in awe. Studded tires? Riding in ice? The whole family on bikes? Maybe one day I will join your bad-ass ranks.
So OMG, I'm so excited you guys, I just got my new bike! First I must mention I looked on Craigslist but didn't find anything suitable for a variety of reasons...maybe I'm just picky. Anyway.
OK, this thread is about saving money by biking. I'm just going to spitball a bit, because I'm too excited to figure out exact car costs...psh, I'm too happy about my beautiful new bike to care about precision right now.
My commute is 16 miles one way. Using the IRS standard mileage rate of 57 1/2 cents per mile, that is $18.40 per day round trip. (Yikes, didn't realize it was that high!) This takes about 45 minutes one way. I'm not factoring in the time value right now.
Well the car on the fritz this week, so I have been taking mass transit. That costs $9.40 and includes waiting for the G-D busses, which are never on schedule (on Tuesday, I just missed the 6:40 bus, the 7:00 bus never showed, argh!). If all goes well, this commute takes about 1 hour & 15 min, including about a half hour of walking each way...that's better that sitting in a gas-powered throne! A little more time, but it's relaxing on the train & I save $9/day.
But best of all will be tomorrow when I can ride the bike. It's just under 3 miles to the train station. Only have to pay train fare at $5.90, saving $12.50/ over car commuting (my default), or $3.50 over bus+train, and & 100% of the frustration. And the commute time should be about the same as the bus+train option, more or less. I guess that will depend on my legs :)
So, how much saved? $12.50/day that I bike commute. Purchase cost of the new bike will be paid back in 41 days, or about 2 months...wow that's faster than I thought! It's always useful to put pen to paper & work things out, so to, err, speak. Then I will have to figure out what to do with all the cash that will be stacking up, lol.
Ok, I will give it a whirl tomorrow & report in the beginners bike challenge thread. Hope to see you there!