Auto Commuting costs soar to $750 per month...
12-10-17, 11:03 PM
#51
Cycle Year Round
Thread Starter
Even out of context, it does not sound like he cycle commutes very much. It would be interesting if he stated just how often he cycle commutes vs driving given how he trumpets all the advantages he gets from driving.
__________________
Land of the Free, Because of the Brave.
Land of the Free, Because of the Brave.
12-10-17, 11:08 PM
#52
Cycle Year Round
Thread Starter
Because they already know the information and do not need the additional "advocacy".
__________________
Land of the Free, Because of the Brave.
Land of the Free, Because of the Brave.
12-11-17, 04:45 AM
#53
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: A2, MI
Posts: 132
Bikes: hopefully a Sun Traditional Trike
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 50 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
It looks like you might want to take great care that all that driving doesn't put you into your own clinic with some sedentary lifestyle disease. You kind of implied that when traffic cooperates you exercise. I hope you do find a way to get your daily hour (nurses study) or more, otherwise all you may get for all that work, other than the reward of helping people who didn't take care of themselves, is to be too disabled to work because you behaved like too many of your patients, albeit with the best of intentions.
A friend of mine just retired from being a retinal surgeon. He worked in two clinics, but the one ten miles from home was his main site. He always rode his bike to work. The other clinic was sixty-five miles away. He rode there, did his surgeon thing all day, and then a colleague gave him and his bike a ride home. Sometimes one has to be creative to squeeze adequate exercise into a modern career. I doubt if his plan would work for many, but sometimes just accepting that there might be some outside-the-box way to do it can cause one to see an opportunity.
A friend of mine just retired from being a retinal surgeon. He worked in two clinics, but the one ten miles from home was his main site. He always rode his bike to work. The other clinic was sixty-five miles away. He rode there, did his surgeon thing all day, and then a colleague gave him and his bike a ride home. Sometimes one has to be creative to squeeze adequate exercise into a modern career. I doubt if his plan would work for many, but sometimes just accepting that there might be some outside-the-box way to do it can cause one to see an opportunity.
I refuse to become sedentary and thus want to get back on a bike so I can do needed errands and get the workout at the same time... since Vertigo rules out 2 wheels I am going with 3.
12-11-17, 04:49 AM
#54
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: A2, MI
Posts: 132
Bikes: hopefully a Sun Traditional Trike
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 50 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
One additional note- I work hard to leave on time and get home without that issue.. there was a year when I couldn't- when I had a management role, but I stepped down for my own health and that of my marriage and getting stuck like that happens MAYBE once a month now, not even weekly... I can cope with that.. there is time for exercise in my routine.. of course grad school puts a bit of a kink in that... DH laughed the other night- I was writing a grant proposal and on breaks in writing was doing planks in my home office when he walked upstairs to see if I was going to be fixing dinner or he was.
12-11-17, 03:52 PM
#55
On Holiday
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 1,014
Bikes: A bunch of old steel bikes
Mentioned: 14 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 394 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 14 Times
in
12 Posts
And since you seem to be interested: In my 45 year working life, at all jobs at a variety of locations, I have driven to work probably 2% of the time. Longest commute was 22 miles one way, shortest is the one I do now - 7 miles.
And please read my original response again - I was not trumpeting the advantages I get from driving, I was stating simply that the economic advantage for me to commute by bike is nowhere near what the article in your post would suggest.
12-11-17, 07:06 PM
#56
Cycle Year Round
Thread Starter
You are so perceptive. You probably looked at my commuting mileage log: https://www.bikeforums.net/20046749-post1150.html
And since you seem to be interested: In my 45 year working life, at all jobs at a variety of locations, I have driven to work probably 2% of the time. Longest commute was 22 miles one way, shortest is the one I do now - 7 miles.
And please read my original response again - I was not trumpeting the advantages I get from driving, I was stating simply that the economic advantage for me to commute by bike is nowhere near what the article in your post would suggest.
And since you seem to be interested: In my 45 year working life, at all jobs at a variety of locations, I have driven to work probably 2% of the time. Longest commute was 22 miles one way, shortest is the one I do now - 7 miles.
And please read my original response again - I was not trumpeting the advantages I get from driving, I was stating simply that the economic advantage for me to commute by bike is nowhere near what the article in your post would suggest.
__________________
Land of the Free, Because of the Brave.
Land of the Free, Because of the Brave.
Last edited by CB HI; 12-11-17 at 07:11 PM.
12-13-17, 12:55 AM
#57
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Eugene, Oregon
Posts: 7,048
Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 509 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 9 Times
in
8 Posts
a) thats why I want to start bike commuting to the closer clinic, b) I run on weekends and used to do it during the week, but time isn't there with me back in school right now except sometimes if the school load is low on my days at the local clinic, and c) I walk 10,000 plus steps a day at work, and some of that is power walks on purpose and the clinic further from home has stairs I climb many times a day as well as this being a 3 story house and I go out of my way to stair climb here as well.. d) I have a short but effective home exercise routine as well... I used to go to the gym, but that became very difficult during that year with the funky hours and since I have found other ways.
I refuse to become sedentary and thus want to get back on a bike so I can do needed errands and get the workout at the same time... since Vertigo rules out 2 wheels I am going with 3.
I refuse to become sedentary and thus want to get back on a bike so I can do needed errands and get the workout at the same time... since Vertigo rules out 2 wheels I am going with 3.
Good luck with it all, especially that vertigo. A good friend spent a couple of decades nearly bedridden with that. She had one of the nerves to her inner ear killed off by an antibiotic a couple of years ago and is now semi-recovered, but still would qualify as disabled. It's amazing how much damage one fluke infection can do.
12-13-17, 04:05 AM
#58
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: A2, MI
Posts: 132
Bikes: hopefully a Sun Traditional Trike
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 50 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I love that comment. It absolutely makes my week. I've watched too many good friends who once rode with my wife and I just go to pot one day at a time over the years (decades, actually).
Good luck with it all, especially that vertigo. A good friend spent a couple of decades nearly bedridden with that. She had one of the nerves to her inner ear killed off by an antibiotic a couple of years ago and is now semi-recovered, but still would qualify as disabled. It's amazing how much damage one fluke infection can do.
Good luck with it all, especially that vertigo. A good friend spent a couple of decades nearly bedridden with that. She had one of the nerves to her inner ear killed off by an antibiotic a couple of years ago and is now semi-recovered, but still would qualify as disabled. It's amazing how much damage one fluke infection can do.
12-13-17, 11:55 AM
#59
On Holiday
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 1,014
Bikes: A bunch of old steel bikes
Mentioned: 14 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 394 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 14 Times
in
12 Posts
I have to say that, for me, saving money has never been a strong motivating factor for commuting by bicycle. All in all, I just find it more satisfying than driving. On those rare occasions when I have to drive in commuting traffic I ask myself, "How can people do this every day?"
12-13-17, 12:18 PM
#60
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,341
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 959 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Interesting article that precipitated some personal musings:
I ride twice as many miles cycling than what I put on my truck, yet I am still saddled with insurance and taxes. Get rid of the truck and my savings go way up, but I can't put a half yard of gravel in my panniers and the boat is hard to tow with my bike so I pay the price. If I were to commute using my truck instead of my bike, it would cost me annually an additional $60-$70 in fuel, $150 for parking, and maybe $100 for maintenance. This amounts to a savings of $25 per month, which is handily used up (and more) by all the stuff I have to buy in order to commute by bike.
In addition if I started to drive to work, I would save about 45 - 60 minutes per day and that would allow me to get more home chores done so I could ride more on the weekends. This could easily result in my cycling mileage actually increasing! I would lose the intangibles though: the smugness of doing something that impresses coworkers, the opportunity to dress funny, and of course the annual lame appreciation breakfast my employer does for cycle commuters as compensation for claiming my carbon offsets as their own.
Kinda convincing myself to start driving again. Someone talk me out of it!
I ride twice as many miles cycling than what I put on my truck, yet I am still saddled with insurance and taxes. Get rid of the truck and my savings go way up, but I can't put a half yard of gravel in my panniers and the boat is hard to tow with my bike so I pay the price. If I were to commute using my truck instead of my bike, it would cost me annually an additional $60-$70 in fuel, $150 for parking, and maybe $100 for maintenance. This amounts to a savings of $25 per month, which is handily used up (and more) by all the stuff I have to buy in order to commute by bike.
In addition if I started to drive to work, I would save about 45 - 60 minutes per day and that would allow me to get more home chores done so I could ride more on the weekends. This could easily result in my cycling mileage actually increasing! I would lose the intangibles though: the smugness of doing something that impresses coworkers, the opportunity to dress funny, and of course the annual lame appreciation breakfast my employer does for cycle commuters as compensation for claiming my carbon offsets as their own.
Kinda convincing myself to start driving again. Someone talk me out of it!
Am I missing something?
12-15-17, 03:58 AM
#61
Member
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Germany
Posts: 45
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 40 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
To be fair the article is talking about $750 cost per month and household, not per car. I recall the average household size in the US to be 3 people and the number of cars to be around 800 per 1000 people, so it's an average of 2.4 cars per household or just over $300 per month and car, a far more realistic number even if you include depreciation (which affects different models of different age differently, not everyone is driving a 2018 Tahoe).
12-15-17, 04:07 PM
#62
Senior Member
To be fair the article is talking about $750 cost per month and household, not per car. I recall the average household size in the US to be 3 people and the number of cars to be around 800 per 1000 people, so it's an average of 2.4 cars per household or just over $300 per month and car, a far more realistic number even if you include depreciation (which affects different models of different age differently, not everyone is driving a 2018 Tahoe).
Yeah I thought the number seemed odd, so I looked into the supporting documentation and realized that the cost per month was down 4.8% to $750. Soaring down I suppose. Counting up the costs of my fleet of 4, we don't come close to 1/2 the $750/month total. The main cost is insurance for 2 teens since I bought them cars that needed some minor repairs for the low end of book value. I do all my own maintenance, we buy used cars, and drive them for over 10 years. None of us put on a significant amount of mileage, so I've only purchased a couple of used cars in my lifetime.
We don't have to pay to park anywhere like in the big cities, so that lowers the costs. However, my road bike cost about as much as one of my daughter's cars so I don't bother to insure it for anything more than liability. I'll just pay cash for another if needed.
12-15-17, 06:57 PM
#63
On Holiday
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 1,014
Bikes: A bunch of old steel bikes
Mentioned: 14 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 394 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 14 Times
in
12 Posts
At 3 bucks a gallon $60 gets you about 400 miles on your truck, assuming 20 mpg. At 250 work days per year that works out to 1.6 miles per day, round trip. Your work is less than a mile from home? How did you come up with $60-$70 figure for fuel?
Am I missing something?
Am I missing something?
12-15-17, 07:10 PM
#64
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,341
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 959 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
12-16-17, 04:42 AM
#65
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: A2, MI
Posts: 132
Bikes: hopefully a Sun Traditional Trike
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 50 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
The bad part of changing fields and not moving...
12-16-17, 10:17 AM
#66
On Holiday
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 1,014
Bikes: A bunch of old steel bikes
Mentioned: 14 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 394 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 14 Times
in
12 Posts
Didn't really plan it that way. When we first moved to this city we rented a place about 6 miles from where I worked, while looking for a house somewhere within a 25 mile radius. We never found the right house and so convinced our landlords to sell the rental house to us. Then I changed jobs to a closer employer. Then, with the same employer, I was compelled to switch office locations 3 times, every time was closer to my house. The nearness is only an advantage for driving though. To avoid crazy drivers maneuvering in above average traffic, my cycle commute is much longer, varying from 10+ miles to the 3 mile short route when I'm running late. I let the weather and whim define what route I choose.
12-16-17, 10:28 AM
#67
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: A2, MI
Posts: 132
Bikes: hopefully a Sun Traditional Trike
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 50 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Didn't really plan it that way. When we first moved to this city we rented a place about 6 miles from where I worked, while looking for a house somewhere within a 25 mile radius. We never found the right house and so convinced our landlords to sell the rental house to us. Then I changed jobs to a closer employer. Then, with the same employer, I was compelled to switch office locations 3 times, every time was closer to my house. The nearness is only an advantage for driving though. To avoid crazy drivers maneuvering in above average traffic, my cycle commute is much longer, varying from 10+ miles to the 3 mile short route when I'm running late. I let the weather and whim define what route I choose.
