Do you drive more or bike more per year?

[windawake]

I figured it out this way:

I've filled up my gas tank 7 times in the past 12 months, and one tank of gas gets me about 320 miles, so that's 2,240 miles driven.

I bike to work almost every day for 9 months out of the year which comes out to 9 miles a day, 5 days a week, for 39 weeks which is 1,755. Plus I bike about an additional 10-30 miles per week during that time frame for other activities so rounding to 15 additional miles for 39 weeks is 585 additional miles biked for a total of 2,340 miles biked per year.

That's 2,240 miles driven vs. 2,340 miles biked. I was pretty excited to learn that I bike more in the year than I drive. I'm hoping this year to bike more during the winter and hopefully turn at least 300 of those driving miles into biking miles!

[basd]

Drive. By far. I'd love to get to work by bike but as our clients are geographically distributed throughout the west of Holland and I live dead center one way trip are usually at least 40 miles.

[Nudelkopf]

Ride more than drive. I ride pretty much 6 days a week. I don't own a car, so I definitely ride more than I drive.

My housemate & I go to the same church on Sunday (she drives us), and I tend to stay home & work on a Sunday, so that's why it's only 6 days a week.

[Ian]

Most years of my life I haven't owned a car, so bike by far. Now that I'm in Korea, I actually walk more than either.

[hybrid]

Drive by far. Being a recent convert rather than having grown up in the bike culture, I'm at a few disadvantages. Work is eight miles away and there is no shower at work (and I tend to sweat when I ride), so bike commuting is a challenge for me, I ride half the time in good weather when I can carpool in with Mustachian Buddy. Combined with a bunch of side gigs where I have to drive, my mother and Costco 15 miles down the road, most of my friends out of biking range, it's really more a matter of where I can save fuel where I can. I definitely drive less than I used to, however. I average about 10,000 miles a year by car.

I was asking myself where would MMM live in Richmond and that's a tough call. I'd say the Byrd Park area where I grew up (Google Garrett Street Richmond Virginia) because of its proximities to numerous parks and easy bicycling to grocery, library and miscellaneous shopping in Carytown. I could see living there again one of these days, but I really love the house I am in now and doubt I will move any time in the near future.

[Silvie]

Definitely bike. I work within walking / biking distance of pretty much everywhere. I only drive once a month or so to visit my parents, and that's only 15 km. I pay my sister 16 cents per km to use her car.

[GuitarStv]

I average between 350 - 400 km a month on the bike and about 500 km a month in the car.

[Ottawa]

That's a great gauntlet to throw down?  "Bike more than you drive!"

Just so happens we started keeping a miles diary in our car 6 months ago - we write the date, #kms travelled and purpose.  I'm happy to report that the first 6 months of information show that we drove 3,500km (2,200miles).  1000km of that was visiting family at christmas...so 2,500km was travelled locally in Ottawa.  That's about 5 tanks of gas or $375 - unfortunately alot of those trips were less than 10km!  For instance we don't bike to get groceries in the winter here - I expect the car km to go down over the next 6 months.

SO biked around 1000 km over the last 6 months (takes bus DEC - MAR)
I biked around 1500 km over the period.

So, biking total was 2,500km (and SO took the bus for 4 months - $96 bus pass which is around 22cents per km (450km))

[CarDude]

Definitely drive. However, there was a time when I could have said the opposite. Life takes you in different directions each decade!

[Thegoblinchief]

Per year, it's about even once vacations are factored in.

During the typical month, I bike 600 miles and drive about 75-100. If you eliminate fitness bike rides, my "transportation" bike rides are about 100 miles. More now that I can pull the kids in trailer to places that normally we had to drive to.

So, yes I bike more than drive on average.

[sol]

I personally bike more than I drive, but they are both less than 100 miles per month.  I just don't drive much.

My family as a whole drivers more than it bikes by at least a factor of three, though.  It's not really fair of me to say I bike more than I drive when my wife does most of the driving to shuttle the children around.

[ruthiegirl]

I am the driver in our family -- I ferry kids to and from school and activities.  My husband can say the opposite.  A week or more will go by without him ever getting in a car.

[Clever Name]

Easily drive.  It would be about even if you excluded vacations and weekend trips to national parks, rock climbing destinations, etc. but including those it isn't even close.

[seanc0x0]

Unfortunately, I drive a lot more than I bike. 

Until last fall, I would walk about 4km a day (2 each way) to/from work. Now, however, I am required to drive way more. I went from 50km/month to 50km/day, mostly related to driving my kid to daycare. We had in-home daycare,  but had to switch to an outside-the-home daycare when our previous babysitter (my sister in law) decided she no longer wanted to do that job anymore. We had a hell of a time finding daycare (not nearly enough spots in our young, rapidly growing city), so had to take a non-optimal placement.

I look forward to the day my daughter is old enough to go to school, and I can go back to commuting by means of human power.

[Albert]

The only occasion for me to drive is if I rent a car during one of my vacations, however whenever I do that I end up driving long distances. I don't cycle much either… Work is too far for cycling and most other things are within walking distance plus there is a tram if I'm in a hurry of feel lazy.

[Nancy]

Definitely bike more than I drive. I also walk, take the train, and take the bus more than I drive. Writing down miles and purpose of car trips sounds like an excellent idea, Ottawa. One more thing to track (which I love to do)!

[Zikoris]

I've never had a car or drivers license, so bike :) But I probably walk more miles than I bike.

[FunkyStickman]

I really want to ride more than I drive... but probably won't happen any time soon. I would have to commute 4-5 times a week, which is pretty difficult with my sleep schedule (I won't ride if I'm really tired).

Maybe some day.

[greaper007]

Great job OP.   I wish I could say that I bike more, but there just isn't a good route to pull a trailer on for my son's school commute.    So at this point we drive everyday.   I do try to hypermile, still, I long for the day when the city decides to put a bike path in.

[bikebum]

I don't drive my vehicle anymore; I'll be rid of it soon. I walk to work and most other places. I do ride in my girlfriend's car though, so if I count those miles it's probably more than biking as we like to take a road trip to the coast once in a while. All of my biking these days is for fun or exercise since I walk most places.

Awesome job OP!