how cycling saves alot money

[shootingstar]

I get really mad if I see those places where you can not by any means go without a car. Towns where you could hardly leave your house without a car. Or those huge, huge parking spaces with no place to walk and not even a little space to lock up you bike. What are they thinking?

It's true that you can save a lot of money going by bike. Also, you can save a lot of time - while others sit somewhere in the traffic jam.

There are also downsides. Some things are hardly doable without a car. It can be difficult to transport large things. With public transport, small distances can become very very time consuming - I am not seeing my family as much as I would like because the 30-min trip to my parents takes me about 2 1/2 hours by train and bus. Train tickets for longer distances are really expensive. I haven't been skiing or hiking a lot lately, because I always have to find someone who is willing to accompany me who owns a car.
I think a lot of those things could be overcome, if there would be a larger lobby for people without cars - but as of today it's still very unusual not to own a car.

It's highly noticeable --places that don't have a sidewalk.

In this city, the 2 main groups for outdoor hiking/snowshoeing and another place associated with the university, always arrange for carpooling at an city transit train stop. It's really great the cost sometimes includes the shared car ride in a nice van, plus an experienced guide..which the in winter is highly recommended in the Rockies. We are 150 kms. south of the Rockies.

Cities of Vancouver and Toronto have car-share, car-cops. I have a friend (a transportation analyst for the province there) who has used one for past decade. For stuff like building supplies, whatever. She only needs a car for afew hrs. every few months.

She has her own home solo. Near the subway. She bikes alot. Takes public transit. She is like me...sees family once a year in another province, travels out of province for other types of vacations.
She is looking buying into a 2nd place with a sister of hers.


When I get a car ride, I appreciate it if it's a long distance over 50 kms. I don't have children so it is easier for me to live this lifestyle.

[smilingcat]

If you are in a situation where you only need a car one day a month or even two days a month, it may be cheaper to forgo car ownership and rent a car for those one or two day out of a month. You would need to pick up the insurance from the rental... but this would be a lot cheaper than owning a car.

If the rental is $80/day or even $100/day this is only $160 to $200 for the two days you need. Car ownership is still more expensive.

example:

assume you buy a new car at $20,000. You own the car for 10 years. At the end of 10 years, you sell the car at $4000. Then your monthly depreciation rate is around $134/mo.

And if you own a car then there is the maintenance, the insurance... So for the luxury of owning a car for the two days you really need, its going to cost you more than renting a car. or even hiring a taxi.

Taxi is cheaper than even renting a car for the one or two days...

[Crankin]

This is true... many people in the city here use Zip Car.
I just took a job where I have to drive to my clients' homes or schools to see them. It will all be in a specific geographic area, not too far from where I live. I will have to go to the corporate office once a week (24 miles). I am not thrilled about this aspect of the job, but it's a very good entry level clinician position and it gives me the flexibility to plan my day. I get reimbursed for mileage at a decent rate and the rest I will write off on my taxes. While I had dreams of working at the clinic 5 miles from my house, it didn't happen, but once I get my license to practice (2 yrs.) I will be able to cut my hours and find something closer to home. Since I need this job to get the hours for my license, I am going to have to get used to putting gas in my car, because right now, I only do that once every 10 days to 2 weeks.
I did wonder how it would look if I rode up to my clients' homes on my bike, but I have a feeling my bosses would not like that (although they are very wellness oriented).

[shootingstar]

I get reimbursed for mileage at a decent rate and the rest I will write off on my taxes. While I had dreams of working at the clinic 5 miles from my house, it didn't happen, but once I get my license to practice (2 yrs.) I will be able to cut my hours and find something closer to home. Since I need this job to get the hours for my license, I am going to have to get used to putting gas in my car, because right now, I only do that once every 10 days to 2 weeks.
I did wonder how it would look if I rode up to my clients' homes on my bike, but I have a feeling my bosses would not like that (although they are very wellness oriented).

Great to get reimbursed Crankin. Guess your have to earn your stripes first before adding abit of your own style later.

Cycling to client meetings. Guess it depends who the client was, how close and if you could cycle in semi business streetwear. Wouldn't most counsellors be advocating some daily exercise for their clients...as part of road to better mental health? You could provoke more envy among your clients than you realize. Only a tiny portion of the whole solution of course.

Chryss: Now it's unhelpful to be too ideological about it. Now that I live in Alaska, I have my own car, and it's a big one (for me -- a small 4WD SUV). I balk at some of the cost, the low fuel efficiency (compared to what I'm used to), but living 25 miles outside Fairbanks, in a place that gets really difficult road conditions several times a year, this is appropriate right now. It's of course a choice to live that far out. Fairbanks itself is, for an American city, surprisingly cyclable. There's an acceptable network of bike path and a lot of intrepid cyclists, the university has a bike lending scheme (and offers excellent bike maintenance classes, which I'm currently taking) etc. But the temperature falls below -20°F/-30°C every winter for stretches of time, so only the most intrepid will cycle then. So I do see somewhat less serious cycling-for-transport (to the stores, with a child trailer...) than I would in a similar-sized place in Germany, even though it has its fans. Instead, it's easy to find organised club rides at non-racer level.

Very interesting about Fairbanks, AK.
Like you I don't cycle in winter time,...it has dropped to -25 to 30 degrees C for several days this past winter in Calgary. I haven't and don't plan to invest in studded bike tires to try it out. The cycling infrastructure isn't set up to protect a person totally for an entire ride. So I walk through a series of interconnected indoor pedestrian walkways ...it's helpful for really cold days. You will find more people from Alberta (and probably other prairie provinces where it's dry, cold winters and higher wind across flatter land) to have worked in the Arctic, because they already lived for awhile in much colder winters than other southern parts of Canada.

Personally I think it's too bad our city's light rapid transit train system is aboveground/at grade not underground to protect riders from waiting in chilly winter temperatures. I mean it can get very COLD. Not like what I experenced at all when I lived in Toronto.


If at least the article makes a person consider whether or not to get rid of a 2nd or 3rd car in the family at the right time in life...

[cthoops]

We were unable to go "car-free", but we did go "car-light" when we went from two cars to one, plus two scooters (and multiple bikes of course!). Car free isn't really an option for us (although I would love it), but even just dropping down to one car saved us a lot in insurance, property taxes, gas, etc. It certainly helped that we don't have children or pets, though!

I wasn't sure how one car would work out for us in the winter, but it was fine and now it's been three years. As long as my job situation doesn't change, we will never have two cars again.

[chryss]

I lived in European capitals for 15 years and got rid of my car after the first few. It was more of a burden than a positive contribution to my quality of life. My bike certainly amortised itself... and not even against the potential ownership of a car, but simply against public transport, which is good but expensive in London. The last years, I subscribed to a car share club scheme that let me take out a small car whenever I needed one for a very reasonable price and rented one if I needed one for a few days at a time, or for a trip outside the country. Easy.

Now it's unhelpful to be too ideological about it. Now that I live in Alaska, I have my own car, and it's a big one (for me -- a small 4WD SUV). I balk at some of the cost, the low fuel efficiency (compared to what I'm used to), but living 25 miles outside Fairbanks, in a place that gets really difficult road conditions several times a year, this is appropriate right now. It's of course a choice to live that far out. Fairbanks itself is, for an American city, surprisingly cyclable. There's an acceptable network of bike path and a lot of intrepid cyclists, the university has a bike lending scheme (and offers excellent bike maintenance classes, which I'm currently taking) etc. But the temperature falls below -20°F/-30°C every winter for stretches of time, so only the most intrepid will cycle then. So I do see somewhat less serious cycling-for-transport (to the stores, with a child trailer...) than I would in a similar-sized place in Germany, even though it has its fans. Instead, it's easy to find organised club rides at non-racer level.

[skhill]

Great post-- thanks, shootingstar!

May was the first month ever where I racked up more mileage on my bikes than my car. And most of those bike miles were transportation, pure and simple. I wish I could see a way to getting rid of the car entirely, but at least once a week I'm going someplace I can't get to by bike, or carrying a load my bike won't handle. Like taking my elderly dog to his vet appointment--even if I had a suitable trailer, I doubt he'd cooperate...

But all y'all who can make it work car-free, way to go!

[tangentgirl]

From Shootingstar's Blog:

Bought my own home—mortgage-free.

Holy guacamole.

[Geonz]

When I got tired of having to say "I'd have gone on the bike, but I had to bring..." I got an Xtracycle.
Little over a year later, my car was my brother's taxicab and my garage is full of bikes now.
Not many would call this place urban -- even better, it's a University town (wth a few hospitals), with a very good bus system.