Commuting by bicycle, the maths.

[Theseus]

My options are either the bike or a bus. The numbers don't matter.

 

[StuartG]

Stuart-interested in why you never saw cycling before as a leisure activity?
Was it wrong bike/wrong clothes/level of fitness/other?

Dawes Galaxy, proper gear as recommended by Richard's eponymous epistle. And I ran marathons ...

No - it was the traffic, the fumes, the frustrations, well just the aggro. I see it still in commuters and is, I believe, partly responsible for aggressive cycling in retaliation today. Then, it was only motorised traffic one had to cope with. Today at commuter time half the problem is other cyclists trying to scalp me, beat me to the lights, pushing through if they don't or ignoring them altogether. If you need that aggro its a lot easier to get it driving! I preferred to read a book.

Hence I saw cycling in a negative way. Necessary, even healthy but unpleasureable. Its also probably a problem dissuading people from cycling or giving up today. Remember those that do commute are the exception - a tiny exception. There is a message that this, and the perceived danger, is evidently stronger than the economics of cycling for the majority.

 

[Dan_h]

My commute is about 13 miles each way. I can do it in 25 - 30 minutes in the car if I get the traffic right, If I am a bit late leaving then it can easily take up to an hour in the car. The bike always takes about 45 - 50 minutes (depends on wind, how I am feeling etc). I use the bike for 3 main reasons,

1) Any extra time taken is okay as it means I don't have to worry about doing some other form of exercise after I get home.
2) Our family now only needs one car saving quite a bit of money.
3) Cycling is just way more fun!

 

[MissTillyFlop]

My commute to work is 11.5 miles and takes;
By car.......................25 mins there 45 mins home = 70 mins total
By motorbike............20 mins there 25 mins home = 45 mins total
By bicycle.................45 mins there 35 mins home = 80 mins total

But also bear in mind that I don't mind actually getting out of bed a bit earlier, so the only 'real' wasted quality/family time applies on the ride home. Therefore, making comparisons against the bicycle, if I took the car it would cost me 10 mins, the motorbike could save me 10 mins a day. Also factor in that without the cycling exercise, I would either be significantly less fit OR I would have to waste a heck of a lot more time and money by exercising in another way, ie going to the gym/playing sport etc.

Oh, and with the 35 quid a week saved in petrol/maintenance etc. I'm just about to buy a very nice new bike.

I know it's not me, but I wonder who on here actually saves the most time and/or money by cycling in to work?

I save £34.80 a week by cycling instead of getting the train to work:

London overground: 1 hour 5 mins door to door both ways = 2hours 10 total
Bicycle (on shortest route): 40 mins there 50 mins back = 1 hour 30 mins total

 

[simon.r]

Those of you comparing cycling to cars - how much do you save per mile?

Fuel costs are easy enough to calculate, but what about everything else? Assuming I'm going to own a car, some costs are fixed (e.g. VED, insurance (may vary very slightly with reduced mileage?), and MOT), but some are variable (e.g. tyres, maintenance). Depreciation will be less if I use the car less, but it's still going to be a year older this time next year!

Anyone done the maths on this, or is it one of those things that just has too many variables to come up with a sensible answer?

 

[Archie_tect]

Just over half a mile to walk, house to office through park. Takes about ten minutes.
Mile to drive by road but in morning it'd be during a school run so I suppose it could take up to twenty minutes to queue up at traffic lights and mini roundabout!
Couple of minutes in by bike but with a 'detour' takes as long as I feel like going home!

 

[gb155]

Car both ways 35 mins each way on average

By bike on average 21 mins there - 26 mins home

Win !!!

 

[doog]

Its all great but anyone fancy working out the real cost of commuting by bike?

ie the cost of the bike, the gear that you specifically buy to commute, the upkeep of the bike etc, the clothing, The fact it got me into cycling / touring...GPS / panniers / wheels /lightweight tents / lightweight everything / tyres / lights /ferries / planes with bikes/ France / Spain .....and the list goes on.

Commuting by car without getting me into this cycling lark would have been so much cheaper.

 

[400bhp]

Its all great but anyone fancy working out the real cost of commuting by bike?

ie the cost of the bike, the gear that you specifically buy to commute, the upkeep of the bike etc, the clothing, The fact it got me into cycling / touring...GPS / panniers / wheels /lightweight tents / lightweight everything / tyres / lights /ferries / planes with bikes/ France / Spain .....and the list goes on.

Commuting by car without getting me into this cycling lark would have been so much cheaper.

See above. My 10p per mile includes most things I have bought for cycling. I have also split my costs as best I can for commute/non commute. The costs are almost the same as most things I buy are used for both commute and leisure cycling.

 

[400bhp]

Those of you comparing cycling to cars - how much do you save per mile?

Fuel costs are easy enough to calculate, but what about everything else? Assuming I'm going to own a car, some costs are fixed (e.g. VED, insurance (may vary very slightly with reduced mileage?), and MOT), but some are variable (e.g. tyres, maintenance). Depreciation will be less if I use the car less, but it's still going to be a year older this time next year!

Anyone done the maths on this, or is it one of those things that just has too many variables to come up with a sensible answer?

It's not difficult to work out costs for consumables etc. It's usually easier to work out the total costs in a year. you could stop there and compare cost v bike or do something a little more detailed, e.g. pence per mile, or cost per day. As long as you are consistent with the thing you are comparing it against then there are various ways of working out

 

[Orange]

12.5 miles each way
Car - 40 minutes there; 60 minutes back (includes walk from/to car park)
Bike - 65 minutes there; 55 minutes back (but +20 minutes packing bag, getting changed, unlocking garage & bike, fitting lights and rack bag and 25 minutes locking bike & cycle shed, taking off lights and rack bage, walking to changing rooms, showering, getting changed and it all reversed on the way back).

So no time saved at all really but overtaking queues of cars for the first couple of miles on the way back makes up for it.

Cost? Still need the car, so it's just the diesel I save - about £2.90 a day. Nowhere near earing back the money I've since spent on lights, rack, bag, pedals, shoes etc - though I probably would have bought the shoes and pedals anyway. Still months away from just breaking even on the lights though.

But.... makes me feel a whole lot better!

 

[Sobrique]

My commute to work is 11.5 miles and takes;
By car.......................25 mins there 45 mins home = 70 mins total
By motorbike............20 mins there 25 mins home = 45 mins total
By bicycle.................45 mins there 35 mins home = 80 mins total

But also bear in mind that I don't mind actually getting out of bed a bit earlier, so the only 'real' wasted quality/family time applies on the ride home. Therefore, making comparisons against the bicycle, if I took the car it would cost me 10 mins, the motorbike could save me 10 mins a day. Also factor in that without the cycling exercise, I would either be significantly less fit OR I would have to waste a heck of a lot more time and money by exercising in another way, ie going to the gym/playing sport etc.

Oh, and with the 35 quid a week saved in petrol/maintenance etc. I'm just about to buy a very nice new bike.

I know it's not me, but I wonder who on here actually saves the most time and/or money by cycling in to work?

I'm justifying expenditure through a cycle to work voucher.
In straight financial terms, my 10m each way, is a nice easy number to work, as it's a full tank of diesel each month - £70-80.

Secondary to that, I've been thinking in terms of my fitness regime - time spent at the gym (none at the moment, but used to be near 5 hr/week working out, and probably nearer 10 when I factored in changing, and abusing long hot showers).
And gym membership fee (again, none at the moment, because I've moved, but would be £25/month, if not £50).

So given that, my 10m journey - by car - at the moment takes about 30m each way, and a chunk more if I hit the 'leaving work surge'.
Going by bike, I'm _hoping_ I'll make it 'door to desk' in an hour (including shower/change). At least, after a while doing it at least. Given it's been a while since I last cycled, I expect it to near kill me the first few times.

But therefore I reckon I'm 'saving' £100/month by cycling, and by consolidating an hour a day commuting, with an hour a day gym time, I'm still saving a couple (up to 5) hours per day that way too.

Now I'm just hoping I can hold on to that thought when it's cold, wet and miserable...

 

[Sobrique]

It's not difficult to work out costs for consumables etc. It's usually easier to work out the total costs in a year. you could stop there and compare cost v bike or do something a little more detailed, e.g. pence per mile, or cost per day. As long as you are consistent with the thing you are comparing it against then there are various ways of working out

Hard to do directly - some parts of owning a car just for owning it:
VED, Insurance, depreciation (loan repayments)
MOT and a service (annual services recommended).
'wear and tear' slowly.

But then you've got 'operating costs' of:
Fuel
Additional servicing.
Tyres.
Mileage depreciation
And 'wear and tear' at a faster rate.

Hard to estimate exactly how much it costs per mile, so I tend to work on two numbers - cost of fuel, which is £80 for 500 miles.
And 'cost my employer would pay in expenses' which is 45p for the first 'some' miles, and 20p thereafter. (Those are numbers the taxman uses, so I reckon it's at least a reasonable estimate).

So yes - my commute to work is _not_ spending £80 per month on diesel, so that justifies a £1000 bike budget each year, and still gives me ammo to throw at my partner for 'saving money'

 

[gaz]

I don't even want to know how long it would take to drive to work!

 

[ManiaMuse]

My commute is relatively short by standards here, only about 4 miles.

By bus/walking ....... 25 minutes there 25 minutes home = 50 minutes + £2.70 per day
By bike ........15 minutes there 15 minutes home = 30 minutes + a bit of cash on inner tubes/cables/accessories every now and then
By car ......... don't drive but would be even longer than the bus because of the bus lanes

By bus it would cost me £13.50 per week and get me there and back slower on a crowded bus where I probably won't get a seat and have to walk a fair bit anyway

£13.50 works out at about the cost of replacing 2 1/2 inner tubes every week. I think I would be fairly unlucky for that to happen on a weekly basis.