Cycling Costs versus car ?

[ohnovino]

As a very rough estimate, I usually assume 2p per mile for my bike, but there's a very large margin of error on that. It's hard to be accurate because there are lots of costs that aren't 100% cycling related (food, clothing that can be worn off the bike, tools that can be used for DIY), and it also doesn't take into account any indirect savings made (like not needing to pay for gym membership).

But at 2p per mile, five week's commuting by bike costs me the same as one day on the bus

 

[subaqua]

cycling active did an article about the cost of commuting. will see if i can find it online

 

[Davidc]

It is an obvious point, but it always seems to be missed; the cost of food. Energy has to come from somewhere, and I eat a LOT more when I have been cycling more than usual.

Some of us eat the same amount - we just get fatter if we don't use the bike.

 

[MacB]

Food - I'm not so sure on, being a naturally greedy, fat, git I reckon my eating went down significantly when I was doing a long commute. I also craved healthier foods and reduced on takeaways and suchlike.

Exercise - some people try to offset gym costs against cycling which is only fair if you previously went to a gym and then stopped.

Capital costs - bikes or cars can be done cheaply here but I'd say, if you want to have everything you need, and be comfortable, then an inital £2k budget is about right:-
£1200 - hub gear bike, with disc brakes, dynamo front hub and front and rear lights
£200 - rack, mudguards, panniers, saddlepack, bar bag
£150 - stock of spare tubes, basic toolkit and a set of Winter studded tyres(bike needs to have clearance for these)
£450 - cycling clobber and shoes to cover all the seasons and allow you to wear fresh stuff next to your skin daily, or even per commute if lengthy.

Yes you can go a lot cheaper but I'm thinking of someone starting out, lacking the knowledge to make wise 2nd hand purchases and to know what works with what and how to put it together. Personally I'd add another £600 to that to have a general back up bike that could fill in as a commuter in case of mechanicals.

Running costs - you don't have to eat as much as you think for fuel, a hub gear and dynamo lights will greatly reduce running costs. If you replace chains quite regularly, just using cheapo ones, you'll gets tons of life from chainring and sprocket.

Externals - I've already said about gym membership not being needed but there're lots of others. You get to feel smug, you no longer have to worry about not doing any exercise and you get to feel green. Most importantly for me I felt a lot better all round, my mind seemed sharper and more alert at work and I seemed to have a lot more energy in my free time. Even at Dells 20p a mile level I consider all of that an excellent return on investment.

 

[subaqua]

Some of us eat the same amount - we just get fatter if we don't use the bike.

I know that feeling

 

[mgarl10024]

Some of us eat the same amount - we just get fatter if we don't use the bike.

And that drives up petrol costs....

 

[gbb]

For me the calculations simple...if i drive, circa £10 weekly for petrol ( i dont work that far away).
So thats £520 annually. Doesnt include..
VED, say £5 weekly, (all rough costs, but somewhere near)
Insurance say £6 weekly,
Servicing costs, say £3 weekly
Batteries, tyres, exhausts etc ..difficult to factor in but say £1 weekly.
Breakdown cover £1 weekly
Depreciation...crikey...wouldnt dare factor that in.

£25 a week give or take. £1300 PA. Some of those costs arent directly accountable to commuting, but you can only do so much.

Jesus, i moan because ive got to buy a chain for my bike ONCE maybe TWICE as year...sod maintaining the bike, i can afford to buy a new one, and a bloomin good one every year.

 

[gbb]

At another level, i berated a colleague for not maintaing his chain etc...and he paid £100 to replace the transmission after just less than a years cycling on a new bike...he said ' i used to spend a LOT more than that on public transport....i'm still laughing all the way to the bank'

 

[gaz]

Lets not forget the food you have to eat. I have to eat nearly twice as much food when i cycle to work. That costs money.

 

[leemo]

I estimate a while ago to cost me something like 10p a mile. That doesnt include wearing out clothing though or food - its just the bike

Im using an 8-speed bike and paying for a shop to do repairs.

Doing the repairs yourself obviously makes it cheaper. If you have a singlespeed that makes it cheaper too.

 

[pshore]

Don't forget the extra beer, cos you don't have to worry about drink driving, mmmm, oh and the extra lunchtime trips to the restaurant instead of the sandwich shop because you've earned it.



But more seriously, a few years ago when I moved job to the city centre, I costed up annual all-in costs for getting to work (7 miles away):

2nd-car=£1400 (depreciation, servicing, insure, tax, petrol included, no parking fees)

bus=£700 (annual season ticket)

Bike, I would estimate an average of £500 maybe more, but that is running a commute bike and serious mtb.


When it's your transport, gym and hobby the bike seems rather good value.

 

[al78]

It is an obvious point, but it always seems to be missed; the cost of food. Energy has to come from somewhere, and I eat a LOT more when I have been cycling more than usual.

Bear in mind that the human body is not a static machine, but has the ability to adapt to stimuli, so that when an otherwise sedentary person starts cycling, the cardiovascular system will increase in efficiency and there will likely be some weight loss, both of which offset at least some of the extra energy requirements of the cycling.

For me, the extra food required amounts to roughly half a packet of fruit, nut and seed mix that I get from Tesco at about £2.70 per packet, and that is for a 19 mile round trip with some significant climbs. Those who do much shorter cycle commutes may well be able to get away with not consuming any extra food.

 

[MacB]

Bear in mind that the human body is not a static machine, but has the ability to adapt to stimuli, so that when an otherwise sedentary person starts cycling, the cardiovascular system will increase in efficiency and there will likely be some weight loss, both of which offset at least some of the extra energy requirements of the cycling.

For me, the extra food required amounts to roughly half a packet of fruit, nut and seed mix that I get from Tesco at about £2.70 per packet, and that is for a 19 mile round trip with some significant climbs. Those who do much shorter cycle commutes may well be able to get away with not consuming any extra food.

I'd go with that, I was doing 20 miles each way and found I needed nothing beforehand in the morning and would eat a breakfast of cereal or porridge at work. Then I'd have a lunch, normally leftovers from home, but I did find I needed some fuel before the return trip. I tried energy bars and stuff but found that a bowl of cereal worked best for me, then eat normally in the evening. I did have a spell of slipping into eating more, cakes and things as snacks at work, but found that wasn't helping.

This may change if I ever hit a decent weight, maybe I'll need more constant fuelling.

 

[crumpetman]

+1 on the food. 12 miles each way, no breakfast before, eat at work. I eat fruit and bad snacks during the day and have lunch out or take some soup or sarnies with me then have dinner when I get home. I eat no more than I used to before cycling. I could get away with eating less but I like to eat which is one of the reasons I started cycling!

 

[buggi]

I cover around 2,000 miles per year and this year, i had to replace a lot of parts on my bike and the service was in the region of around £250 ish. So i suppose if you take that as your worse figure and the initial cost of the bike, then compare that to how much petrol, mot, tax and insurance you would spend and you should get a reasonable idea of the cost saved.

O yea... add extra money to feed your hungers pains!

A few of us in my company have a bit of a cycling league going and we pitted ourselves against E.on this year. Between us all (National Grid and E.on) we covered enough miles to equal:

over 3 times around the world
a saving of 16 tonnes in carbon emissions
£14,000 worth of fuel.