3 ms·

I remember reading (but don't have the link handy) about a gentlemen who did lots of analysis about his switch from car commuting to bike commuting. His conclus

by jonemo 14y ago

I remember reading (but don't have the link handy) about a gentlemen who did lots of analysis about his switch from car commuting to bike commuting. His conclusion was that bike commuting is more expensive for him, because he ends up eating more to compensate for the calories burnt during the ride. The cost of additional food was higher than the cost of gas saved (as someone below already pointed out that food energy is more pricey than gas energy). The guy with the data analysis nevertheless decided to stick with the bike because he suspected that this decision will have positive long term health effects saving him a lot of money in future. I am inclined to agree but in my case the parking fees at work make the decision a no-brainer anyway.

jiggy2011 14y ago
I bike a lot and I don't notice that I really eat more on days when I bike. And if I do it just means that I eat a slightly bigger portion of whatever I was eating anyway so the cost difference is negligible. Also the price of gas is relatively fixed whereas with food you can economize by eating ramen instead of steak.
plorkyeran 14y ago
Bicycling is surprisingly expensive once you don't want to lose weight. At 200 calories per dollar (i.e. about $10 per day for a sedentary diet) and four dollars per gallon of gas it comes out to the equivalent of 25 mpg. There's obviously a whole bunch of other relevant factors, but personally it hadn't even occurred to me that food would be my primary bicycle-related expense until I started riding a lot.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  It's a lot more pleasant to eat a meal than it is to pump gas into your car.
  - andrewflnr 14y ago
    Indeed. Go ahead and get the BIG slice of chocolate cake.
- rdouble 14y ago
  Brown rice is about 8 cents per 200 calories.
- WildUtah 14y ago
  I bike 15,000+ km per annum and my premium ice cream and imported chocolate budgets alone would easily make several car payments.
- mistercow 14y ago
  200 Cal/$? Maybe if you are eating out a lot, or you eat a lot of cheese and meat? My food comes in closer to 500-1000 Cal/$, depending on how hard I'm trying.
  - MaysonL 14y ago
    Reasonably good Cheddar is $10/kg ~ 400kc/$, and butter ~ 1000 kc/$.
lambda 14y ago
I find that very hard to believe. When I bike, I really don't eat that much more than when I don't. Yeah, my appetite increases a little, but I can usually supplement my diet with some pretty cheap calories, or a lot of time just finishing more of what's put in front of me. American portions are fairly large, I usually have a calorie surplus. And even when I do buy more, a few dollars a day isn't all that much. Now, gas for my commute also wouldn't cost much; at 10 miles a day, that's less than $2 a day. But gas isn't the only cost of owning a car. There's the price of the car itself, and depreciation, maintenance, insurance, taxes, parking. Heck, at my last job, it would have cost $200 a month just for parking alone. My bike has maybe had $1000 put into it for original cost, accessories, maintenance over the past 5 years I've had it, and I've had to put none of those other costs in.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  You'd have to bike at a resting heartrate to come anywhere close to not needing any more food.
  - schrodinger 14y ago
    That's assuming you don't normally eat more calories than you need. Probably an incorrect assumption for most people.

by jonemo 14y ago

jiggy2011 14y ago

I bike a lot and I don't notice that I really eat more on days when I bike. And if I do it just means that I eat a slightly bigger portion of whatever I was eating anyway so the cost difference is negligible. Also the price of gas is relatively fixed whereas with food you can economize by eating ramen instead of steak.

plorkyeran 14y ago

Bicycling is surprisingly expensive once you don't want to lose weight. At 200 calories per dollar (i.e. about $10 per day for a sedentary diet) and four dollars per gallon of gas it comes out to the equivalent of 25 mpg. There's obviously a whole bunch of other relevant factors, but personally it hadn't even occurred to me that food would be my primary bicycle-related expense until I started riding a lot.

jiggy2011 14y ago
It's a lot more pleasant to eat a meal than it is to pump gas into your car.
- andrewflnr 14y ago
  Indeed. Go ahead and get the BIG slice of chocolate cake.
rdouble 14y ago
Brown rice is about 8 cents per 200 calories.
WildUtah 14y ago
I bike 15,000+ km per annum and my premium ice cream and imported chocolate budgets alone would easily make several car payments.
mistercow 14y ago
200 Cal/$? Maybe if you are eating out a lot, or you eat a lot of cheese and meat? My food comes in closer to 500-1000 Cal/$, depending on how hard I'm trying.
- MaysonL 14y ago
  Reasonably good Cheddar is $10/kg ~ 400kc/$, and butter ~ 1000 kc/$.

lambda 14y ago

I find that very hard to believe. When I bike, I really don't eat that much more than when I don't. Yeah, my appetite increases a little, but I can usually supplement my diet with some pretty cheap calories, or a lot of time just finishing more of what's put in front of me. American portions are fairly large, I usually have a calorie surplus. And even when I do buy more, a few dollars a day isn't all that much. Now, gas for my commute also wouldn't cost much; at 10 miles a day, that's less than $2 a day. But gas isn't the only cost of owning a car. There's the price of the car itself, and depreciation, maintenance, insurance, taxes, parking. Heck, at my last job, it would have cost $200 a month just for parking alone. My bike has maybe had $1000 put into it for original cost, accessories, maintenance over the past 5 years I've had it, and I've had to put none of those other costs in.

sliverstorm 14y ago
You'd have to bike at a resting heartrate to come anywhere close to not needing any more food.
- schrodinger 14y ago
  That's assuming you don't normally eat more calories than you need. Probably an incorrect assumption for most people.