CycleBanter.com - View Single Post - Divorce Your Car --and get into a relationship with a Bike!

**Pat**

David Kerber wrote:
In article om,
says...
An interesting but very incomplete analysis of the true costs of
commuting by bike.

Inaccurate, too. See below...

Take the average commuter that lives 20 miles from work. To make an
8-4 work schedule that commuter will have to get up at 4:00 to begin
riding at 5:00 to arrive at work by 8:00. The commuter then does the
same in reverse and arrives home at 7:00 The times assume he is able
to find a lot of flat and downhill both ways with few traffic and
stoplights.

3 hours for 20 miles? Even at a "no sweating allowed" speed, that would
only take me 2 hours. More typical speeds would be 90 - 100 minutes.

Incremental cost: New bike every year plus repairs $2,000; Medical
expenses from road injuries $2,000

Why a new bike every year? I've put more miles that on my bike every
year for the last 3 years, and it still runs like new. Only needed 1
set of new tires, chain and cassette, for a total of about $200 over
that time. And medical expenses would likely go down, not up: I haven't
had a cold since I started riding all year around 3 years ago (I'm not
claiming it's cause-and-effect, but it's still true), and it didn't cost
much to buy band-aids for the 1 case of road-rash I got last year (and
that was in my one race I entered last year, not commuting or riding for
recreation).

When it snows, or rains the commuter is either off work and not paid
because he cant make it in, or he is forced to get a hotel room close
to work because he can't ride home in inclement weather.

How about just working from home? It's an option for many IT people.
Or keep a car around for just such emergencies. It doesn't cost much to
run, repair and insure a car which is only driven 3000 miles per year.

Incremental cost: Lost wages $5,000; Hotel rooms $1,000

Tiring of those exceedingly long riding days and days missed with no
pay the commuter decides to shorten his commute by moving closer.
After some research he determines that to reduce his commuting distance
by half he will have to pay twice as much for the same house because he
is much closer to the big city now.

What big city? The one I live in is bigger than the one I work in.

Incremental Cost: $200,000

The commuter works in sales and he is asked to make a presentation to
two potential clients, one located 90 miles south on the coast and the
other 45 miles west in the mountains. The commuter presents his boss
with the proposed 6 day ride to cover both potential customers and is
promptly fired.

Another good reason for an emergency car. Or rent one if the beater
you
drive in bad weather isn't appropriate for going to a sales
presentation

.... but the premise was "divorce your car", sort of like divorce your
wife. The problem with the comparision is that in most states, you
have an "emergency wife" or rent one if you need one. And while it's
always good to rent your car using a credit card, it's probably a bad
idea if you are renting a "wife" for the evening.

Incremental cost: Annual salary $100,000

Before the commuter has a chance to shorten his ride, his wife sues for
divorce because he is gone so long from home that she became lonely and
had an affair with the cable tv repairman.

Incremental cost: Alimony and child support for the next 20 years.

If it's the wife who has the affair, then the husband won't be paying
alimony.

...

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