a slightly different set of numbers

A facebook friend posted a link to Mr. Money Mustache's blog post on "The True Cost of Commuting." The post opens with a vignette about a couple who decide they want to move into the author's neighborhood, based on its charm. They decide that they can justify the forty-minute commutes both will have to make getting to work and getting home--nineteen miles or so of mixed-highway and -surface street travel.

The couple thought it wasn't so bad. The numbers tell a different story.

If I use my car for work, the IRS allows me to consider $.51 per mile as the vehicle use cost as a work expense. Since my 1994 Ranger was paid off within a year of my purchasing it at the end of 1999, my cost per mile is probably a bit lower. Offset that benefit with the fact that my fuel economy is not very good, though, and I could pick a random number of about $.45 per mile.

I have almost six thousand miles of "riding instead of driving" this year--I expect to reach that number early next week, and keep riding the rest of the year when I can. Six thousand miles at forty-five cents per mile is $2700 I haven't spent on keeping a car on the road.

Sure, I've used much of that elsewhere. I've eaten more, since I burn a few more calories riding than I would driving. I've bought a new bike this year, and outfitted it to be a pretty nice commuter rig. There are costs associated with biking to work--wear and tear on clothing I might not otherwise buy, the occasional replacement inner tube, and so on--but nothing that totally offsets that $2700.

Just think: For two or three years' worth of riding instead of driving, I can finance a velomobile like the FAW+!