Does Cycling To Work Save You Money?

[SkipdiverJohn]

More like nonsense. Fact is cycling to work saves you money. You are new to it, so won’t realise that benefit just yet.

Not a fact at all. Like any activity compared against any other activity, the relative expense depends how you go about doing it. Some people buy expensive bikes and keep changing them so are paying multiple lots of VAT and losing multiple lots of depreciation. They also buy, expensive cycling kit, are too lazy to repair punctured tubes, farm out all their maintenance to the LBS - and quite possibly might spend more per year on average than I spend running a car.

 

[screenman]

Not a fact at all. Like any activity compared against any other activity, the relative expense depends how you go about doing it. Some people buy expensive bikes and keep changing them so are paying multiple lots of VAT and losing multiple lots of depreciation. They also buy, expensive cycling kit, are too lazy to repair punctured tubes, farm out all their maintenance to the LBS - and quite possibly might spend more per year on average than I spend running a car.

Those people like myself often do not ride to work, vat and tax goes to provide services we all use.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Those people like myself often do not ride to work, vat and tax goes to provide services we all use.

That's fine if you don't mind giving the government a load of your money so they can waste it on all sorts of shite that doesn't benefit the ordinary citizen, but it doesn't alter the fact that cycling ceases to be a cost-effective means of travel if you don't keep tight control of what you spend on doing it.
The marginal cost of me driving ten miles rather than riding them is pretty low if I've already laid out fixed expenses like road tax, insurance etc. It's basically just the fuel and a tiny bit of wear & tear. Very few people run a bike as their only means of travel, the majority will still have a car and may even be paying out for season tickets or bus passes.
When I started work I wasn't old enough to drive, so it was ride 8 miles a day or 2 buses a day and a walk at each end. If the bus turned up the minute I got to the stop, the bus and the walk was marginally quicker than the ride. If I had to wait 10 or 15 minutes for the bus, the ride was quicker and more consistent. Once I was old enough to drive, I used to ride if it was nice out and drive if the weather was crap. Petrol was about £1.80 a gallon, and the fuel cost was about £2 a week, roughly the same as a weekly bus pass.

 

[screenman]

That's fine if you don't mind giving the government a load of your money so they can waste it on all sorts of shite that doesn't benefit the ordinary citizen, but it doesn't alter the fact that cycling ceases to be a cost-effective means of travel if you don't keep tight control of what you spend on doing it.
The marginal cost of me driving ten miles rather than riding them is pretty low if I've already laid out fixed expenses like road tax, insurance etc. It's basically just the fuel and a tiny bit of wear & tear. Very few people run a bike as their only means of travel, the majority will still have a car and may even be paying out for season tickets or bus passes.
When I started work I wasn't old enough to drive, so it was ride 8 miles a day or 2 buses a day and a walk at each end. If the bus turned up the minute I got to the stop, the bus and the walk was marginally quicker than the ride. If I had to wait 10 or 15 minutes for the bus, the ride was quicker and more consistent. Once I was old enough to drive, I used to ride if it was nice out and drive if the weather was crap. Petrol was about £1.80 a gallon, and the fuel cost was about £2 a week, roughly the same as a weekly bus pass.

I do not mind paying tax, I just wish everyone else paid their share as it would make the country a better place. When I started work like you it was 2 buses or walk, seeing as I was racing at the time the ride was non brainer and would always be faster than the buses, mind you 30 years later I was still racing but no longer riding to work. I would certainly do it now if my business suited it as I cannot understand people wanting to do a short journey in a tin box.

 

[Lovacott]

Have you ever noticed how people who are keen to explain what irony means almost always then show they haven't a clue what it means. There ought to be a word for that. Um...

You've lost me there...

 

[Lovacott]

More like nonsense. Fact is cycling to work saves you money. You are new to it, so won’t realise that benefit just yet.

If you say so...

 

[screenman]

I can put my hand up and say in 54+ years of cycling I have never done it to save money.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Not a fact at all. Like any activity compared against any other activity, the relative expense depends how you go about doing it. Some people buy expensive bikes and keep changing them so are paying multiple lots of VAT and losing multiple lots of depreciation. They also buy, expensive cycling kit, are too lazy to repair punctured tubes, farm out all their maintenance to the LBS - and quite possibly might spend more per year on average than I spend running a car.

But those aren’t the costs of commuting by bike. They are the costs of chopping and changing bikes every year. A different cost benefit model.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

If you say so...

Well I do have somewhat more decades experience of the matter than yourself. I have a somewhat longer term view of actual costs than yourself.

 

[Archie_tect]

Well I do have somewhat more decades experience of the matter than yourself. But don’t let experience get in the way of your view 😂😆😂

YB give the lad a break- he's kept up commuting to work despite all the challenges and ribbing - he deserves a pat on the back.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

YB give the lad a break- he's kept up commuting to work despite all the challenges and ribbing - he deserves a pat on the back.

We do need to challenge this notion that commuting by cycle has similar costs to doing the same by car. It may not be the primary reason, but it is much cheaper.

 

[Archie_tect]

We do need to challenge this notion that commuting by cycle has similar costs to doing the same by car. It may not be the primary reason, but it is much cheaper.

Agreed!

 

[Lovacott]

That's fine if you don't mind giving the government a load of your money so they can waste it on all sorts of shite that doesn't benefit the ordinary citizen, but it doesn't alter the fact that cycling ceases to be a cost-effective means of travel if you don't keep tight control of what you spend on doing it.

What makes the water a bit muddy is the fact that most cyclists also run a car and the costs of car ownership are very tangible (Tax,Insurance, MOT, Servicing, Parking Permits, Petrol).

Bike costs are a bit more fuzzy. Is the cost of a cycling helmet or a can of 3-1 part of the price of cycling?

Is having to pay £3 a day to leave my car at home when I cycle to work, a cost of car ownership or a cost of cycle commuting?

Like the majority on here, I don't consider cost as a major driver of my cycle commuting habit.

 

[WesternBikingGirl]

When I was riding to work it was under 10 minutes by car or bike. Kind of a no brainer which to use.

 

[Drago]

On average a cyclist will live almost 7 years longer than a sedentary person, which is a very, very worthwhile saving.