Have you seen those ads for apps that help you find hidden subscriptions? There is no bigger hidden subscription than the car. The amount of money you will save by driving less, sharing a car with a partner or friend is astounding --and calculable.
The sad truth is that we Americans don't use our cars -modern marvels of engineering- on sweet off-roading trips or unforgettable family road trips. We use our cars for mundane trips to get groceries, commuting to work, dropping kids off at day care. Considered this way, our culture demands that we buy forty-thousand dollar space-age marvels to do simple things around town.
When you chose to cycle, walk or ride transit to accomplish life's daily logistics chores, you're saving your vehicle (and money) for more meaningful things. Cars and trucks a great for moving heaving things, going long distances fast, and creating a sense of togetherness amongst the 5-9 passengers they can typically carry.
Leaving the Car at home Saves Big Bucks
Those burrito-runs, grocery trips, and commuter miles are much more costly than you imagine. The US gathers a lot of statistics on car usage and costs. On average, adult Americans drive about 13,000 miles per year and spend about $13,000 a year on car ownership and use. It doesn't take a math whiz to see that on average, the cost each mile is about $1. Leaving your car at home, does not get rid of the overhead cost of car ownership, insurance, registration, storage, etc, but it greatly reduces wear, thus lowering the cost and increasing it's longevity. Even the IRS pegs the deduction for car usage near $0.69 a mile.
Cycling's fast
In urban settings the bike is as fast as cars for trips equal to or less than 3 miles. At aboyt 5 miles, depending infrastructure variable, biking is about 20% slower than driving. The reason this is true is because bikes navigate through traffic and traffic signals more easily than cars. Any small blockage in the road stops cars and trucks. In many US cities, there's more and more biking and pedestrian infrastructure giving cyclists a further benefit.
Cycling is more efficient
If living a long and healthy life is important to you, then maybe you can see why cycling is so efficient. Even with e-assist, you'll move a lot more cycling than pressing the gas pedal. a thirty minute commute by car, burns plenty of cash almost no calories. Cycling to the train or bus, (or the whole way there) many take an extra 15 minutes each way, but it's time well spent. Cycling to the gym means that your cardio's done by the time you get there. Throw on a pair of NON-SOUND-ISOLATING headphones (for safety reasons) and you can listen to your favorite podcast. The neat thing about cycling, is that pulling over to dial a phone or change podcasts takes mere seconds and inconveniences no one. Doing it in a car is a pain in the donkey and can easily get you or someone else killed.
Because you cycled you're now "getting in your steps", catching up on a story that matters to you AND getting to work (or wherever you're going).
Resources:
Here's my favorite pair of USB-C non sound isolating headphones:
Google Wired Headset USB Type-C Phones - AMAZON LINK
Here's a link to a Frontier Group article that touches on some of the ideas discussed above
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