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Liz Littman saves a tank of gas a month, about $45,
since she parked her station wagon this spring and started biking
the three miles to her job at Zoo Boise in Boise, Idaho.
Earlier this year, Robert Lorie parked his van and
spent $300 on a small used scooter to save money on his commute
across Miami. After just five weeks, he broke even on gas alone,
saving $60 a week. "Now it's a lot easier to make my bills," he
says.
As gas prices continue to rise, more commuters are
switching from four wheels to two.
"In a lot of places, transportation is the largest
single expenditure in a family's budget," says Eric Gilliland, executive
director of the Washington (D.C.) Area Bicyclist Association. "You're
not paying $40 to $80 to fill up your car every two weeks."
But the savings don't end with gas. A medium sedan
costs about 54 cents a mile to operate including gas, maintenance,
tires, finance charges, insurance, licensing, registration and taxes,
according to AAA's, 2008 report,
Your Driving Costs.
Actual costs will be even higher now -- AAA's numbers
were based on $3 per gallon gas, with gas accounting for about a
quarter of the total. By contrast, a bicycle costs about 6 cents
a mile to operate, says Patrick Kane, manager of BikeBeat in Virginia
Beach, Va. -- and a scooter costs about 30 cents per mile, including
maintenance and tires, according to Mike Mount, spokesman for the
Motorcycle Industry Council in Irvine, Calif.
Savings in insurance are difficult to calculate, since most people retain their car insurance when they begin commuting
some days by bike and scooter.
Using a hypothetical example, we break out some of the cost savings of commuting on two wheels instead of four.
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Savings on two-wheel commuting |
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| 50-mile commute, 150cc scooter |
20-mile commute, bicycle |
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