Does Car + Bike = A Good Thing?

Besides gaining ultra-buff legs, many ‘part-time’ bike commuters end up with an extra  $12,400 at the end of the year.

Earlier this month, I wrote a piece about how Rush Hour can Save you Money, it compared a typical Silicon Valley commute using a car, and the same commute using a bicycle. At the end of the article, a breakdown of costs was provided.

A Twitter re-posting in several different languages followed the article, and many readers found it compelling proof that you don’t need to completely replace your car with a bicycle in order to see immense benefits. Part-time bicycle commuters come away all the better through increased health and cost-savings.

Today, we’re spelling the results out in visual form. The graph below illustrates the average cost of car ownership vs. bicycle ownership over the span of 1 year. We concede of course, that the average bike owner will also need a car on occasion, so we tack on the the bicycle-rider’s budget, around 5,000 miles worth of car rental travel through the ZIP Car service.

Perhaps surprising to many, the bike+rental car still come out on top by far…

The Cost of Your Commute | Car vs. Bicycle and Zip Car (illustration, Patrick Lydon | sociecity)

The Cost of Your Commute | Car vs. Bicycle and Zip Car (illustration, Patrick Lydon | sociecity)

How did we come up with these numbers? Check out Calculating the Savings.

Links

Can Rush Hour Save you Money? - sociecity
ZIP Car – urban car sharing / rental
Contact Your City Leaders - usa.gov
Map You Bike Route – Google Maps for Bikes
Physical Activity and Public Health – Journal of the American Heart Association
The Cost of Being Obese – USA Today

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Patrick Lydon

Author:Patrick Lydon

A student of art, technology, and the global community, Lydon received his early aesthetic, technical, and communicative training through a decade of designing, coding, and writing books for Silicon Valley technology firms. He has traveled throughout East Asia, Europe, and the U.S. both as a student and teacher, interacting with people, art, nature, and the urban space. In addition to sociecity, Lydon serves as an Arts Commissioner for the City of San Jose, and works with local and international artists on various projects to inform and further social change.

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