Bike Gremlin

From my experience, when my commute was 11 km one way, bike - using good quality components, not sparing anything, cost under 10 euros per month, while car, just the fuel costs, was about 50 per month.
Time saved on driving was mostly lost when trying to find an empty parking spot, while time saved on the way back was also mostly lost by being unable to make a quick grocery stop - parking again.

If the commute were about 5 km longer, then a car would have made a bit more sense. For 20+ km - a car would have been the only sensible option (apart from moving closer to work).

I can often use the company car - for free. Still, for all the hassle of traffic and parking, I prefer to use the bike - nothing to do with money saving, or being asketic.

Phamilton

MMACH 5

My wife and I have been a one-car family for most of our 30-year marriage. There were a few years that we lived 90 miles outside of town, so I had to have a car to get to work. For most of the 1990's, up until 2005, I was a skateboard commuter. I rode my skateboard to the bus stop, took the bus within a few miles of work and then skated into the office. In 2005, I got a job outside of the greater Dallas bus system. I dusted off an old bike from the garage and discovered a new passion. When I was struck by a car in 2012, being in a wheelchair, on crutches and a cane meant I needed a car for a bit. I'm a daily bike commuter. I mix in the bus and/or train with my bike more often than I used to, but being 26 miles away from home, I can get in about as many miles, each day as I want.

In the cold and rain, my coworkers often comment with things like, "Oh, you didn't believe the weather forecast, huh?" or "You picked the wrong day to ride that thing to work." Depending on how my day is going, my reply can be more snarky than it probably should be, but it is usually along the lines of "My boss doesn't care that it's raining and our clients still want their jobs to go out."
I usually drive the van to work two days out of the month. I bring fresh changes of office clothes on those days. My wife says my attitude is noticeably less pleasant on the days that I drive.

acidfast7

That's solid.

I was hit by van recently and ran over (no wheelchair) and my girl wanted me to give the bike up with a kid on the way. The ER (A&E over here) doc convinced me to keep it, which was smart as I'm quite irritated when I don't cycle in.

I just saw a student with the same issue (taco'd rear wheel) and asked if he was OK.

It happens more than we'd like.

prj71

Rough and cold winters...20 to 50 below zero at times. Occasional crappy days with heavy rain, sleet or snow. Live out in the country with a longer commute to town for wor or any store for that matter.

Nope. My 2 cars aren't going anywhere now or ever.

I-Like-To-Bike

Bicycle commuting is about bicycle commuting.

IMO, "delayed gratification" is not a major consideration for most people in the U.S. who choose to ride a bicycle to work or anywhere else for that matter.

So called "Frugality" may be the reason why a relative handful of people choose to ride a bicycle to/from work rather than use other available alternatives. "Frugality/delayed gratification" are hardly the best words to describe the motivation for those who use a bicycle for transportation because they unfortunately do not have the wherewithal to make any other choice.

In dense urban areas where bicycling to work can save the commuter the most money per trip by avoiding high parking fees, IMO more than likely the bike commuter is choosing the bicycle as an alternative to public transit, rather than as the means to "give up the car."

Steely Dan

living in urban chicago, it's kinda both for us.

my bike commuting helps us remain a one-car family. even though she works from home most days, i like to leave the car for my wife in case she needs/wants to use it, after all, it's "her car" . also, driving in chicago rush-hour traffic drives me absolutely effing crazy. i'd rather endure a drug-free root canal.

but i can (and occasionally do) take the train to work. round-trip on the train costs $8.50/day (or $123 for a monthly pass, or nearly $1,500/year).

since i only ride the train on the worst weather days (maybe 20x/year on average or $170 worth), bike commuting keeps ~$1,300/year in my wallet that i would have otherwise spent on train passes (getting a 2nd car is not in the cards for us because our condo only has one off-street parking space and street parking in our neighborhood can be annoying at times).

Jim from Boston

,Your post resonated with me. BTW, I like your avatar. When I was growing up, we had a Mobile gas station nearby, with that old Mobile Icon:

acidfast7

Damn, that yearly pass is quite cheap! Some of the London variants are more than £4K for a year! Is that all of CHI?

Prices: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/adult-fares-2018.pdf

"Pay as you go" is the one far. "Travel card" is daily.

The average London salary is £40K pre-tax, £30K post-tax and about £117 for every working day ... ouch for the median man.

I-Like-To-Bike

What is the difference between a "car-light" person and a motor vehicle owner who sometimes rides a bicycle, takes a bus or perhaps walks somewhere for transportation?

Steely Dan

no, metra commuter rail monthly pass prices vary by how far one travels.

the cheapest is $116/month ($1,392/year), the most expensive is $276/month ($3,312/year).

i live in the city proper and work in an inner ring suburb, so i don't have very far to go which is why i am on the cheaper end of the spectrum.

CTA el trains (rapid transit within the city and a few inner ring suburbs only) have a monthly unlimited pass for $105 ($1,260/year) regardless of distance traveled (also good for all CTA buses too). it's a great value. i can take the el to work as well, but it involves a bit of back-tracking and a line transfer, and thus takes a bit longer than my commuter rail option, which is more of a straight-shot.


i'm not sure there would be much of a difference, but if you really wanna split those hairs, maybe what separates the "car-light" person is that non-car transportation (walking, cycling, transit) is their default mode, while car use is the outlier, whereas the inverse might be the case for your second person?

just thinking out loud here.

I-Like-To-Bike

Your suggestion of default mode is one possibility, but there is nothing in the definition of a bicycle commuter that mandates or even implies it is the individual's default mode of transportation expect perhaps for getting to and from the place of employment.

IMO, the "car-light" moniker is used by BF posters who wish to earn or award a PC merit badge to bicycle riders who have no intention of "giving up the car".

Just as the "Car-free" award badge is sometimes self-awarded by BF bicycle riders who have given up the car and claim to be car free while the SO does all the motorized transportation chores with the household owned motor vehicle.

Steely Dan

right, a bicycle commuter is anyone who regularly rides a bicycle (in whole or in part) to get to a regular place of obligation away from their dwelling (work, school, whatever). nothing more, nothing less.

speaking for myself as a self-identifying "car-light" person, car-light goes beyond just commuting, it applies to any time i leave my home for any reason (work, run errands, going out for dinner/entertainment, taking the kids to the playground, etc.). whenever i leave my home i am FAR more likely to do so on foot or bicycle (or on foot to get to transit), than i am via car. it's one of the biggest reasons why we choose to live where we do (and pay a bit of premium to do so).

wait, we can earn merit badges here?

how do i sign up?

I-Like-To-Bike

Subscribe to the LCF sub-forum. The high priests/scout masters of Car-free/Car-light high horsemanship are always looking for comrades and bloodless pinning of morality awards to themselves.

MMACH 5

Almost creepy how similar we are. (In a good way.)
My grandfather blew neon for a living in Wichita Falls, so he made countless neon Mobil horses for gas stations all over west Texas. And while it is mostly obscured by taller buildings, the large one still sits atop the former Magnolia/Mobil Oil building in downtown Dallas. Back in the '80s, Dallas put out a bike route system and the signs featured the Mobil Pegasus with bicycle wheels. I was going to get a tattoo of that Pegasus and my daughter kind of called me on it. She said, "Dad, you're a graphic artist. Certainly, you can come up with your own bicycle Pegasus design."

That's the story of my avatar. Thank you for noticing it.
Thread jack over.

noglider 

And your role is to make fun of them.

Jim from Boston

The Commuter Raii fare schedule in Metro Boston is based on Zones 2 – 8. Fully assembled bikes are free during off-peak hours.

For about 20 rides in one month, the tickets range from $130.00 (Zone 2: Monthly pass 207.75) to $230.00 (Zone 8; monthly pass $353.00) My zone is #3 ($150 / $234.25), but I use it maybe x3/week (14 miles from home).

We live Kenmore Square in downtown Boston, site of Fenway Park, and a commercial business / residential multi-unit neighborhood, with two-hour parking meters @ $2.50 / two hours from 8AM to 6PM, except Sunday. Some metered spots, and a few free parking spots are limited to cars with residential parking stickers.

We own a deeded outdoor parking space, and will tow trespassers. A nice perk is that on Snow Emergencies we can park at a reduced rate in nearby commercial parking structures and not get snowed in, and then we have have a shoveling service, so parking is again available after the Emergency.

RubeRad

No, I'm not sure where noglider found that figure, it was probably from this different post The True Cost of Commuting

MMM recommends investing in low-fee index funds to just track the market (although he also has a little bit of stuff dabbling with peer-to-peer lending (Lending Club)). The rest of the equation is (a) consume (spend) radically less, (b) save radically more. If you are skilled in frugality, you don't need as large of a pile of money to 'retire', and accelerated saving gets you to that pile quicker. Also, 'retirement' doesn't preclude doing productive, valuable things and receiving money for it. More it means you have a lot more control over choosing productive things to do that you find fulfilling and enjoyable, and doing only as much of it as you want.

RubeRad

The line between 'car-light' and 'car-full' is surely fuzzy, but I would think that a consensus 'car-light' might include criteria like: driving a car significantly less than the average amount (i.e. 5000mi/year? 1000/mi/year vs typical 15000mi/year?), having long stretches of time where the car is not driven at all (whole weeks? months?), and having frequent days of no-use (typically car is not touched 3 days/wk? 5days/wk? 200 days/yr?)

As I mentioned, our minivan is used like a regular american minivan, it takes multiple trips most days, for about 15000mi/yr. "my" car is driven typically 0-5 trips/week and when I can I take it to work and leave it in the parking deck (out of the SoCal sun) for weeks, sometimes months, at a time.

So the minivan is 'car-full' and the car is 'car-lite'. I consider us a 1.5-car family.

Phamilton

The question of yours that I answered ("Good for "saving money" though, assuming the ascetic or tightwad actually makes any real money, though what such people are saving it for remains a mystery.") had nothing to do with bike commuting. You have taken my quote out of context and manipulated my words. I no longer understand what you're seeking, but you may find like-minded individuals on LCF board.

I-Like-To-Bike

That's a new one one! A motor vehicle that is car-lite.

Previously I have only seen the "car-lite" merit badge applied to people not vehicles.

I-Like-To-Bike

Some of them can be hilarious all by their selves without any prompting, especially if gratuitous wackiness is considered funny.

RubeRad

OK, in that case you could say that I'm car-lite and my wife is car-full. Not to impugn her at all, she has different responsibilities that require moving more people further distances more often.

I-Like-To-Bike

I would say that you both share the benefits and convenience of owning the vehicles; it is immaterial as to who drives it to bring home the bacon, literally or figuratively, to keep the household functioning. IMO, you are both car-lite if you prefer that term.

I-Like-To-Bike

My question about what the money is being saved for was specifically directed at the one or two devotees of LCF as an adjunct of their belief in asceticism who frequently provide their version of economic advice on the LCF sub-forum. I did not quote your posts when I asked that rhetorical "question."

FYI, I have no trouble, like a 12 year old child understanding the meaning of frugality .

"Frugality/Delayed gratification" as a rationale for bicycle commuting is your construct; and I believe my response to that was clear and to the point.