Does Cycling To Work Save You Money?

[MontyVeda]

Although I no longer cycle to work, I've mostly cycled to work for the last 20 years... so considering the cost of twenty years of insurance, VED, MOT, fuel, repairs and the actual cars... vs one bike costing a few hundred and twenty years of brake blocks, chains, tyres, wheels, cassettes and chain sets... I reckon I've saved a bit.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I'm retired now, but when i was working I cycled to and from work for over 30 years, and was car free for most of those years, it started out as a money saving exercise, I had a new girlfriend, wanted to get married and buy a house, I hadn't long passed my test in a car but realized I could afford the car or afford the mortgage I couldn't afford both so I went with the mortgage and cycled to and from work. I recon I saved a fortune over those 30 years by not running a car. In the last three years before I retired I was running a car but still cycled to work.

 

[screenman]

I'm talking about the club cyclists with all of the kit and the three grand road bike.

I'm not one of them. My bike is a shitty old 20" Apollo hard tail MTB with a few inexpensive upgrades and a fair bit of fine tuning.

While they may whizz up the hill past me in the summer months, they are strangely absent since it got dark and wet in the evenings?

Meanwhile, cheap as chips me will continue to build leg strength and stamina over the winter ready to whoop their arses in March.

Like I said earlier, it's not about the money.

That reads like a huge lot of green eyed going on there. Fine if you do not want a £2000 bike but not need to knock us that own them.

 

[DCLane]

I've not been able to commute by bike since March as my university's made me work from home. But when I do I'm faster into work by about 5 minutes and about 5-10 minutes slower back on average: I'm commuting into Leeds and the traffic there can be bad. So I've 'lost' about 150-200 commutes, which would be another £1500-2000 saved as a minimum.

The 'saving' is taken as parking plus petrol and maintenance costs. If I park at work it's now £16 a day (reduced from £25) but £8 if nearby and a 15-minute walk (which would mean I'm always quicker by bike). Plus petrol costs for the 20 mile round trip and maintaining the car.

The bikes I use I've put together myself for about £300 each and they've done thousands of miles, paying for themselves. Generally I'll replace a tyre every 2-3000 miles and chains every 600 (winter) 1500 (summer). Other issues are rare but I've had the odd puncture and cable to repair. Oh, and I got blown over once, damaging a frame beyond repair. My bikes are aluminium-framed road/cross frames for summer/winter as it's a road-only commute.

For me it's about fitness. But it also allows me to be less stressed and plan or reflect on the day and that's been commented on at work and home.

I've got the clothes so they're bought and paid for and buy parts ahead and often in bulk: I've got a year's worth of chains bought plus I'm working through a bulk purchase of tyres. Once you've made the major purchases it's done.

 

[biggs682]

From what I see locally, you can't be considered a cyclist unless you have at least two grands worth of bike underneath you.

That's just a load of tosh I have a garage full of bikes and the most expensive one cost less than £300 .

Yes you can save money

Well said @DCLane

 

[Lovacott]

I've not been able to commute by bike since March as my university's made me work from home. But when I do I'm faster into work by about 5 minutes and about 5-10 minutes slower back on average: I'm commuting into Leeds and the traffic there can be bad. So I've 'lost' about 150-200 commutes, which would be another £1500-2000 saved as a minimum.

The 'saving' is taken as parking plus petrol and maintenance costs. If I park at work it's now £16 a day (reduced from £25) but £8 if nearby and a 15-minute walk (which would mean I'm always quicker by bike). Plus petrol costs for the 20 mile round trip and maintaining the car.

I hear you and I fully understand that long term, ditching the motor and cycling to work is way much better for your wallet, your health and your sanity.

The point of this thread was to play devil's advocate but there is also a grain of truth in my argument.

Short term, there is no financial gain in cycling to work (which is what many at work seem to think I am after).

One of our lorry drivers said last week (after I'd pedalled through the gate in torrential rain), "Christ mate, you must be hard up riding a bike in this weather". The fact is, little did he know that I'd spent the best part of £100 in the last seven days keeping my bike on the road.

The last thing on my mind when I started cycle commuting was saving money.

 

[Lovacott]

If I park at work it's now £16 a day (reduced from £25) but £8 if nearby and a 15-minute walk (which would mean I'm always quicker by bike). Plus petrol costs for the 20 mile round trip and maintaining the car.

Back in the 1980's, I rented a two bedroom flat in Kingsdown in Bristol for £13 per week.

It was five minutes walk from the city centre and perched atop a hill with sweeping views towards the Cotswolds.

Something has gone wrong in this world.

 

[I like Skol]

The question should be "Does cycling to work make you a God amongst men?"

The financial side may or may not work in your favour depending on how you do it, but the inescapable truth is that it pays dividends for your health. In my experience, by far the strongest riders are the regular commuters. Non-commuters have to work long and hard, training to match the gritty stamina and strength of the hardened, all year round commuting cyclist.

"Christ mate, you must be hard up riding a bike in this weather"

FTFY

 

[Lovacott]

As far as workmates go, they have given up trying to understand why I cycle in when it's lashing outside and I've given up trying to explain it. Just enjoy your own journey and every now and again pity them for theirs.

It turns out that the other 30 people at work have been running a book on me. A sweepstake where the winner is the one who most closely guesses the number of days I cycle to work before throwing in the towel.

The longest guess was 200 days which is the barrier I broke through yesterday morning so they did the pay out to the winner yesterday afternoon. The winner was my boss and I suspect that the 200 day guess was him being diplomatic?

Some of them had put their fivers on me only lasting a week with the majority thinking I would give up once it started to get dark in the evenings.

 

[Archie_tect]

I have free parking at work but not at home. There are 10 residents parking spots in our street of forty houses and all of us pay for permits to park.

Trouble is, that it's not often that you can find a spare spot and most weekdays, I have to leave the car in the town centre car park for £3.00 per day.

So most days I cycle to work, it costs me £3.00 before I even put my backside on the saddle.

Of course cycling is cheaper than driving, but only if you give up the car altogether and just use the bike.

For my ten years spent living in London, I never once owned a car (pointless in London). It was bike for work, bus, tube or walk for football or nights down the pub. I probably saved a fortune on car ownership but that was not my reason for not owning a car.

Living in Devon though, you kind of need a car (things are very far apart down here).

For me, saving money was never a motive when I recommenced cycle commuting eight months ago.

I just wondered if I could do it and to answer my own question, I did it.

That's pretty much it.

I have the prefect answer Lovacott... leave your car at work with free parking during the week and save on the £3 a day parking at home... £15 a week saving right there on parking and £12 a week on fuel saved! + you have your car at work for business trips when you can recover 28p/mile. You have the car anyway so you aren't saving on the car's annual service, insurance, VED and running costs. [28p a mile is unreasonable ,your firm will be charging that out at the HMRC rate, which is still 45p a mile I think].

 

[DCLane]

Back in the 1980's, I rented a two bedroom flat in Kingsdown in Bristol for £13 per week.

It was five minutes walk from the city centre and perched atop a hill with sweeping views towards the Cotswolds.

Something has gone wrong in this world.

Agreed. My student houses were £17 and £10 a week for a nice house by a beach in N. Ireland. Son no. 1 pays £400 a month for similar at the moment in Lincoln. And no, I'm not that old.

It turns out that the other 30 people at work have been running a book on me. A sweepstake where the winner is the one who most closely guesses the number of days I cycle to work before throwing in the towel.

The longest guess was 200 days which is the barrier I broke through yesterday morning so they did the pay out to the winner yesterday afternoon. The winner was my boss and I suspect that the 200 day guess was him being diplomatic?

Some of them had put their fivers on me only lasting a week with the majority thinking I would give up once it started to get dark in the evenings.

Well done. You'll find it makes you fitter without realising. Even when wet and cold. Colleagues will have a new-found respect for their nutty co-worker.

My colleagues did the same, with one saying he'd not timetabled me for September's teaching because I'd be dead by the end of the summer having started on May 31st.

Several others now ride into work by bike . It does help that we've secure and dry underground bike storage - now doubled from 10 years ago - and a workshop we can use a few days a week, plus showers and lockers. Or we did have before Covid made them shut it all.

 

[Archie_tect]

It turns out that the other 30 people at work have been running a book on me. A sweepstake where the winner is the one who most closely guesses the number of days I cycle to work before throwing in the towel.

The longest guess was 200 days which is the barrier I broke through yesterday morning so they did the pay out to the winner yesterday afternoon. The winner was my boss and I suspect that the 200 day guess was him being diplomatic?

Some of them had put their fivers on me only lasting a week with the majority thinking I would give up once it started to get dark in the evenings.

You should have had an arrangement with someone to share the winnings... basic error! 😊

 

[MichaelW2]

I recon on sending about £100/year on cycle maintenance for premium tyres, transmission parts etc. My 12 yr old bike cost about £800.
Total car costs are usually much higher than people estimate. Before you put any fuel in you have probably spent £2000 on tax, insurance, mot, tyres, servicing and parking.
Many people by cars on credit or lease which costs a fortune (£4000/year?)

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Saving cash has never been a primary motivation for me to cycle to work but a happy consequence.

Driving into Glasgow takes over 45 minutes and the cost of parking makes it prohibitively expensive. The cheaper option of public transport takes about an hour and costs £1000 per annum.

Cycling takes 30 minutes and for over twenty years I did that on an old mountain bike that cost me £400 new. Even if I spent the crazy amount of £100 a year in cycle maintenance etc, I’m still quids in by a huge amount over the other transport options. When you take into account the life-extending health benefits, reduced burden on the NHS and the environmental benefits as well, it’s crazy that people are choosing not to cycle.

 

[sleuthey]

And in the last five weeks, I've spent way more than sixty quid on my bike.

I know people who have put their car through an annual service with MOT and added a zero to your figure. I know someone who had the engine rebuilt on their Seat Ibiza and added two zeros to your figure.