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#12
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Divorce Your Car --and get into a relationship with a Bike!
"Pat" wrote in message oups.com... One last example for you to think about. What if you went hunting and got a deer. How would you bring it back to your house on a bike? He would cut it up into 132 pieces, eat 10, and bring the rest home 3 at a time. |
#13
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Divorce Your Car --and get into a relationship with a Bike!
"John S." wrote in message ps.com... An interesting but very incomplete analysis of the true costs of commuting by bike. 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. Incremental cost: New bike every year plus repairs $2,000; Medical expenses from road injuries $2,000 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. 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. 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. 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. Nah, just make your wife ride with you for her health!!!! |
#14
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Divorce Your Car --and get into a relationship with a Bike!
In article .com, Pat wrote:
Oh, did I mention snow storms. I can't imaging a bike on 6" of unplowed snow on a packed snow base when it's -20F and windy. Those car heaters sure come in handy then. In an urban environment, if there is 6 inches of snow on the ground you have a better chance of getting where you are going with the bicycle or with snow shoes for that matter..... Not because there aren't motor vehicles that could handle those conditions, but because the roads would be stop and stop gridlock with the drivers who cannot. |
#15
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Divorce Your Car --and get into a relationship with a Bike!
John S. wrote:
An interesting but very incomplete analysis of the true costs of commuting by bike. 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. Are you saying you can only average 6 to 7 mph on a bike? I'm not very fast, but I can average 15 mph on a bike. That means I can make the commute in about 80 minutes give or take. Incremental cost: New bike every year plus repairs $2,000 Properly maintaining a good quality bike will cost far less than $2000 per year. The bike will last quite a bit longer than a year as well. |
#16
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Divorce Your Car --and get into a relationship with a Bike!
On 17 Jul 2006 15:14:50 -0700, "Arif Khokar"
wrote: John S. wrote: An interesting but very incomplete analysis of the true costs of commuting by bike. 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. Are you saying you can only average 6 to 7 mph on a bike? I'm not very fast, but I can average 15 mph on a bike. That means I can make the commute in about 80 minutes give or take. Try 20 miles each way in Virginia today. 100 degrees out there. Incremental cost: New bike every year plus repairs $2,000 Properly maintaining a good quality bike will cost far less than $2000 per year. The bike will last quite a bit longer than a year as well. And maybe an expensive ride to the emergency room for heat exhaustion. Dave Head |
#17
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Divorce Your Car --and get into a relationship with a Bike!
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. ... -- Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the newsgroups if possible). |
#18
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Divorce Your Car --and get into a relationship with a Bike!
In article . com,
" writes: John S. wrote: An interesting but very incomplete analysis of the true costs of commuting by bike. 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 to go 20 miles?? When I ride to work (10 downhill & flat miles,) I like to give myself an extra hour or so in case of flats or mechanicals (haven't had anything like that happen yet, though,) and some dilly-dally time for a pit stop at McD's if I feel like it. I'm also that eager to ride. So I just get to work an hour early. That gives me a chance for an extra cup of coffee, and to chum around with my co-workers. cheers, Tom -- -- Nothing is safe from me. Above address is just a spam midden. I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca |
#19
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Divorce Your Car --and get into a relationship with a Bike!
In article om, John S. wrote:
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. You're nuts. My last job was 6 miles away. Time by car or bicycle was about equal. 17-20minutes by bicycle. 15-20 minutes by car. New job is 9 miles away, have to take a different route by bicycle. It takes 35minutes by bicycle, 25 minutes by car. About 5 minutes less for each coming back. Even if I had to go 20miles, I would still make it there in an hour if I faced stop lights every 1/2-3/4 of mile or so on average. Fewer lights and stop signs means reduced travel time. Incremental cost: New bike every year plus repairs $2,000; Medical expenses from road injuries $2,000 I have been riding since I was about 5 years old. I've been riding for 30 years. I can count injuries that needed banages on one hand. I think I've spent $5 on them if that. Since 1982 I have had 3 bicycles. They cost $150, $380, and $1200 in that order. I have yet to spend $2000 in repairs. In fact, if you added everything I've ever spent on bicycles together in the last 24 years, it probably wouldn't make $2000. Hell, my second bicycle, when it was worn out I ordered the one I ride now. However I needed to make a repair to keep riding the old one. The new parts cost me the huge sum of SIX dollars. 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. Who said one has to use a bicycle _every_ day? The rest just goes off the deep end.... |
#20
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Divorce Your Car --and get into a relationship with a Bike!
In article , Dave Head wrote:
Try 20 miles each way in Virginia today. 100 degrees out there. I just did 10 in chicago's similiar heat. I could probably do more. I remember going out for a ride one hot afternoon and noticed nobody was out. Nobody on the roads or on the bike trails... it was nice. I forget how many miles I rode, probably 20 or so.... came back home, turned on the TV and heard about people in the town droping over from the heat at a little league game... The heat doesn't really bother me that much when I ride. Now if I am sitting in a lot of traffic, then it gets irritating. |
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