£550

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slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
I've lost thousands of pounds since commuting by bike rather than on four wheels. My company van didn't cost a single penny to buy, tax, insure, fuel etc. It's not a taxable benefit either. It's free. The thing is, I don't use it at all unless I have to, and I certainly don't have to take it to work every day. The bike is so much more fun.
 
I was totting up my cycling expenses the other day and was shocked. I just started cycle commuting this year so there was amount of start up expenses which I never anticipated. After half a year of accumulating all the seasonal gear, a basic set of tools, workstand etc, I have somehow blown a whopping £2500 and this figure is still rising. There are another 5 x £58 deductions to come from my wage for the C2W scheme. I now however have two bikes in nearly perfect shape and the car rarely leaves the drive. I should be handing the car back soon too as we no longer need to run two in the household.

Strava tells me I did 1725 miles since I started commuting in July. So far my cost of commuting by bike is £1.44 per mile. I could argue that approx £500 of that was money spent for leisure/fitness purposes (buying kit for cycling club, track days, coffee stops, sportive entry fees etc) so it is artificially inflated, however I cannot remove these from the calculations without getting out old receipts etc which I cannot be bothered with (cycling is supposed to save time and make life more interesting, not less!). Running a lease car for my commute was costing me 60p/mile which was fairly cheap, given my sensible 2012 VW Polo 1.4 Ltr.

On the face of it, it seems cycling is costing me twice as much per mile, however as my mileage increases this should fall rapidly. I don't foresee any more steep outlays, and as I expect to my total mileage to rise to 6,000 by the end of the year, the total cost of cycling should drop closer to the 50p/mile by the end of 2015. I have spent a lot on tools etc so I should be able to keep maintenance fee's down to a minimum by avoiding the LBS and buying components on the cheap.
 

mustang1

Guru
Location
London, UK
I reckon any savings I have made have been eaten up by spending on cycling stuff and then some more, but I am fitter, healthier and a lot happier so sod it
I save some money but most of it gets eaten up in new experimental purchases (I wonder what this jacket is like, let's try this bike lock, and so on).
 

Truth

Boardman Hybrid Team 2016 , Boardman Hybrid Comp
Location
Coseley
I reckon I only save about £300 a year (cycle in just over 100 times per annum) after services and parts but it means when I get home thats it , I don't have to go for a run or do anymore exercise, its been incorporated into my commute.
 

Hip Priest

Veteran
I probably save a few hundred quid in bus / Metro fares, but the benefits to my mental & physical health since taking up cycling are priceless.
 

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
Strava tells me I did 1725 miles since I started commuting in July. So far my cost of commuting by bike is £1.44 per mile. I could argue that approx £500 of that was money spent for leisure/fitness purposes (buying kit for cycling club, track days, coffee stops, sportive entry fees etc) so it is artificially inflated, however I cannot remove these from the calculations without getting out old receipts etc which I cannot be bothered with (cycling is supposed to save time and make life more interesting, not less!). Running a lease car for my commute was costing me 60p/mile which was fairly cheap, given my sensible 2012 VW Polo 1.4 Ltr.

Not entirely sure you are equating like for like here, did you include the purchase cost of the bike in that running total? And if so did you include the cost of the car in the same way? I'd have expected the lifetime cost of the bikes to be substantially lower than the car, given initial capital outlays.
 

Truth

Boardman Hybrid Team 2016 , Boardman Hybrid Comp
Location
Coseley
My personal calculation is based on a very conservative guesstimate! :laugh:
My train costs £7.50 and my petrol,when the cars not being used by the wife, would be about £6.50.
I just say that each ride saves me roughly seven quid and then I deduct what i spend in a year on it
As I say its just my way of making a sometimes horrible wet and cold commute seem worthwhile.:thumbsup:
I am positive I actually save more in truth, probably about £400
 

Simontm

Veteran
I wrote this on the commute thread yesterday:

Every Wednesday I have to pick my daughter up from school so every Wednesday I am reminded of why I commute by bike:

Four days a week: 7: Leave house
7.50-8: Arrive Croydon
8.15: Showered and sitting at desk with coffee

Wednesdays: Leave house at 7;
7.15-7.25: Stand on platform for 5-10 minutes hoping that the train isn't late. Sit next to woman with elbows out as she does her makeup or a bloke who legs cannot possibly be able to spread that far surely and have his shoulders grown?
7.35-7.40: Check watch to see whether I should jump out at Wimbledon and get tram or risk the change at Clapham Junction. Bloke is now doing splits and is accompanied by someone who hits me round the back of the head with a rucksack.
7.55: Clapham Junction. Give up trying to be polite and force my way off the train and pass the idiots on the platform who don't realise that people do actually need to leave the train. Leap up the stairs, dodging ditherers and standees. Down the next platform steps, glaring at those coming up who don;t seem to realise that some people actually need to get onto platform.
7.58: Get train/ 7.59: Miss train and wait 12 minutes for next one
8.15: Still waiting for a spare platform for the dedicated London Victoria-East Croydon train.
8.20: Arrive at East Croydon
8.30: Arrive at office
8.35: Sitting at desk with coffee.

If raining -
Four days a week: Arrive at desk in nice dry clothes
Wednesdays: Sit in wet trousers, hoping they'll be dry soon.

At that ladies and gentlemen is why I bike-commute! ^_^
 

iwantanewbike

Über Member
I only live a few miles from work and the town centre and whilst I still have to pay tax, MOT, insurance etc. the car is relatively unused.

The fuel savings amount to a good £900/year and then there's the extra bonuses:
- Travelling to and from Palace home games by train from Sussex is expensive, yet if I cycle a few miles to Gatwick airport and start the return from there I save almost £6 on the fare (£114/year).
- No need for a gym membership, as I do enough commuting and sport on the field, so that's another £600/year
- No parking charges when nipping into town
- Less wear and tear on the car in general (tyres are expensive but then so are bike tyres I suppose)
- Dare I say that I avoid paying about £12 worth of taxi fares each week when going for a couple of pints (the route to town is totally off road so there) - £624/year

In total I reckon that's at least £2200/year.
 
Not entirely sure you are equating like for like here, did you include the purchase cost of the bike in that running total? And if so did you include the cost of the car in the same way? I'd have expected the lifetime cost of the bikes to be substantially lower than the car, given initial capital outlays.

Yes, I include all cash expenses, including what it has cost to buy the bike, so it's the real costs of running the car vs running the bike. I am leasing the car, so there was no upfront cost to purchase, just monthly payments (perk of NHS fleet hire). I totted up the cost of the car for the duration kept so far and all expenses (just fuel in all honesty as serving, repairs. tyres etc are included in contract, not that I needed any with a new car). It's not like for like as I am counting cost per mile to date, over time cycling will fair much better, but the point is, initial outlay can be substantial, especially if you have to buy all the equipment and don't have a garage stocked up with cycling specific tools, bike stand for home repairs, helmets, accessories and clothing, jackets, high vis bands/rucksack cover etc.

I did point out that the money spent also includes leisure activities, it would be too troublesome to separate these out for a quick forum post, but estimate this only comes to around £500 of the total spent on cycling, so you could reduce the cost to cycle for purely transportation by a 1/5th, factoring out them as hobby expenses rather than purely transport, but it's kidding yourself really as you wouldn't have this expense without the bike, it's a bit like saying I wouldn't factor in a £180 fuel bill for a trip to North France, as it's not part of the cost of owning a car.

It would have been far easier to keep initial outlay down by sticking with a £200 bike, not buying anything beyond bare essentials (helmet, lights, pump, 2 x tubes and hex keys) and have LBS deal with any more complex issues, but that = time and hassle and greater expense over the long run. My £45 rear hanger alignment tool paid for itself after 2 crashes and dropping the bike incident as it's £20 a pop at the LBS.
 
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