bomber991
09-16-2008, 03:27 AM
Well, the other day I was driving and went by the gas station, premium fuel back up to $3.93. Come home and read some news, opec wants to cut production to keep oil above $100 per barrel. I pretty much feel like I'm getting screwed here.
I'm really thinking about riding the bus again. Right now I'm driving about 260 miles a week for school.
Yes on mondays and wednesdays, I got a nice 55mile round trip commute, leave at 9:30am and get back home at 2pm, and then I leave again at 5pm and get home at 9pm with another commute, but only 25 mile round trip for that one. So I'm driving roughly 80 miles each monday and wednesday.
Tuesdays and Thursdays I get to leave the house at 6pm and get back home at 9pm, for a class that goes from 7:05 till 8:20. Just one class. 50 mile round trip.
So yeah, that's all about 260 miles in a 4 day period. I looked into riding the bus but I'm not too sure how well it would work on the monday/wednesday schedule. For those days I'll probably be driving to the close school, and then riding the bus to the far school, and the ride the bus back to the close school, then just eat and study for an hour or two before my 5:40pm class starts. That could cut 110 miles out of the commute.
For Tuesdays and Thursdays, since that campus is located downtown I can take the express bus there and back from the park and ride. It's about a 13 mile round trip to the p&r, so that cuts about 74 more miles out of the commute.
So doing this, I can drive 184 miles less, but there's gotta be a better way. I mean I'm still driving 76 miles a week. Sure, getting 35mpg makes the fuel cost only be 2.17 gallons, but at $4/gallon thats still $8.68 wasted. Plus I've got my little sheet with the maintenance services the dealer does, added them together with the cost of gas driving comes out to be at a minimum 20 cents per mile in my car. So really it's costing me more like $15.20 to drive 76 miles a week.
Anyways, I like the idea of doing the p&r thing, but i'd like it more if I didn't have to drive at all. So I was thinking of doing somthing like this hub conversion from ampedbikes.com. (http://ampedbikes.com/buynow.html) Comes out looking like it'll be roughly $500 to get the hubmotor and the batteries. Looks like $400 for the hubmotor shipped, and $100 for the batteries shipped. So if the batteries only last for 2 years like I suspect, or maybe even just 1 year, it's only gonna be like $100 to replace them.
From what I understand, it sounds like the cost per mile of the electric bicycles comes out being about 1 cent per mile, which is a lot better than the 20 cents per mile for my car.
I know I can cut 26 additional miles per week out of my commute by biking to the p&r, so thats like $5.20 saved per week, but it might be possible for me to just go to the p&r all 4 days of the week. I'm not too sure about mondays and wednesdays because I get out of class at 9pm, and its on the north end of town and I need to go northwest. It looks like it might actually take 20 more minutes to get to the P&R from there than it does to get there from all the way downtown. But would it be worth it riding on the bus for an hour and a half to not drive another 25 miles? Probably not, but the idea of driving 0 miles a week for school instead of 76 at a minimum or 260 at a maximum, it's neat.
So yeah, I think this would pay for itself pretty quick if I used it 4 days a week. Thirteen miles a day on the E bike, 4 days a week, thats 52 miles a week. Plus I'd use it on the weekends for when I want to go to subway or jack-in-the-box, really the only two fast food places within biking distance. Anyways, 52 miles a week would cost $10.40 in the car. Looks like it would take a year for it to pay for itself if I was only saving $10.40 per week, but if I'm driving a whole 260 miles less per week then I'm saving $52 per week at 20 cents per mile. Seems like a monthly bus pass is gonna increase to $36 a month though, so thats like $9 per week about for the busses.
Alright sorry for the long post, but im sleepy and thats whats going through my mind right now.
I'm really thinking about riding the bus again. Right now I'm driving about 260 miles a week for school.
Yes on mondays and wednesdays, I got a nice 55mile round trip commute, leave at 9:30am and get back home at 2pm, and then I leave again at 5pm and get home at 9pm with another commute, but only 25 mile round trip for that one. So I'm driving roughly 80 miles each monday and wednesday.
Tuesdays and Thursdays I get to leave the house at 6pm and get back home at 9pm, for a class that goes from 7:05 till 8:20. Just one class. 50 mile round trip.
So yeah, that's all about 260 miles in a 4 day period. I looked into riding the bus but I'm not too sure how well it would work on the monday/wednesday schedule. For those days I'll probably be driving to the close school, and then riding the bus to the far school, and the ride the bus back to the close school, then just eat and study for an hour or two before my 5:40pm class starts. That could cut 110 miles out of the commute.
For Tuesdays and Thursdays, since that campus is located downtown I can take the express bus there and back from the park and ride. It's about a 13 mile round trip to the p&r, so that cuts about 74 more miles out of the commute.
So doing this, I can drive 184 miles less, but there's gotta be a better way. I mean I'm still driving 76 miles a week. Sure, getting 35mpg makes the fuel cost only be 2.17 gallons, but at $4/gallon thats still $8.68 wasted. Plus I've got my little sheet with the maintenance services the dealer does, added them together with the cost of gas driving comes out to be at a minimum 20 cents per mile in my car. So really it's costing me more like $15.20 to drive 76 miles a week.
Anyways, I like the idea of doing the p&r thing, but i'd like it more if I didn't have to drive at all. So I was thinking of doing somthing like this hub conversion from ampedbikes.com. (http://ampedbikes.com/buynow.html) Comes out looking like it'll be roughly $500 to get the hubmotor and the batteries. Looks like $400 for the hubmotor shipped, and $100 for the batteries shipped. So if the batteries only last for 2 years like I suspect, or maybe even just 1 year, it's only gonna be like $100 to replace them.
From what I understand, it sounds like the cost per mile of the electric bicycles comes out being about 1 cent per mile, which is a lot better than the 20 cents per mile for my car.
I know I can cut 26 additional miles per week out of my commute by biking to the p&r, so thats like $5.20 saved per week, but it might be possible for me to just go to the p&r all 4 days of the week. I'm not too sure about mondays and wednesdays because I get out of class at 9pm, and its on the north end of town and I need to go northwest. It looks like it might actually take 20 more minutes to get to the P&R from there than it does to get there from all the way downtown. But would it be worth it riding on the bus for an hour and a half to not drive another 25 miles? Probably not, but the idea of driving 0 miles a week for school instead of 76 at a minimum or 260 at a maximum, it's neat.
So yeah, I think this would pay for itself pretty quick if I used it 4 days a week. Thirteen miles a day on the E bike, 4 days a week, thats 52 miles a week. Plus I'd use it on the weekends for when I want to go to subway or jack-in-the-box, really the only two fast food places within biking distance. Anyways, 52 miles a week would cost $10.40 in the car. Looks like it would take a year for it to pay for itself if I was only saving $10.40 per week, but if I'm driving a whole 260 miles less per week then I'm saving $52 per week at 20 cents per mile. Seems like a monthly bus pass is gonna increase to $36 a month though, so thats like $9 per week about for the busses.
Alright sorry for the long post, but im sleepy and thats whats going through my mind right now.