How much do you save??

TheMightyHet

I worked out that by cycling to work five days a week and avoid the horrors of the bus I can save £18 a week which works out at £936 a year. How much do you guys and girls save by cycling??

Kieran_Burns

Oddly enough about the same as you...

However I am catching the train one way and cycling home. I use about a gallon a day in the car (V6 2.8l....) so even the one way trip is saving a significant amount.

I'll be going two way once the stamina and fitness allows... I can't do 29 miles a day 5 days a week just yet

fizz

Honestly I dont reckon I save anything, The money that I would have spent on petrol I spend on bike stuff instead :shock:

JoeSoap76

With the parking and the petrol that I don't pay for, I save around £50-60 a week.

But what really clinches it for me is the combination of a poor memory and working in a service industry. Even when I do remember that I need to go an put more pennies in the parking meter, I'm often stuck on the phone or in meetings and don't make it in time. My bike has been in the shop this week so I've been stuck in the car again... and on Tuesday I got my 15th parking ticket in as many months. At £30 a pop, that's £450 down the drain. What a waste!

jstutters

£15-20/week depending on how many days I leave the bike at home so I can drink after work. I worked out that if I can cycle 3 times a week minimum I'll save slightly more than the salary sacrifice for the bike-to-work scheme and I can safely delude myself that the bike's free .

TheMightyHet

Well with the exception of lights I'm resisting the temptation to buy loads!! Thankfully I have a nice girl friend who keeps buying me stuff like Cycle computers!! lol That helps also!

steve-t

I try to justify cycling as a £100 a month saving, but in the last 2 months I've snapped a trek fuel frame and had to replace that, bought new gloves and shorts and ordered a new bike on the cycle to work scheme. I still need lights for winter and some warmer gear so i think this year Im about £600 down. Really its just for the pleasure of arriving home stress free i do it, but the route is all countryside trails so no traffic to maintain the days stress.

neslon

I reckon a tank a week, so thats <insertlatestoilbarrelshock> left over to spend on kit!

singlespeedexplosif

around £30 per week, but then you have to subtract the cost of 2 bananas per day from that!

marcba

fizz wrote:

Honestly I dont reckon I save anything, The money that I would have spent on petrol I spend on bike stuff instead :shock:

I am happy not to be alone in that case.

CiB

Costs me a sodding fortune - Aldi have a special so have to go there and buy some stuff, had to - really did have to buy a pair of carbon aerobars to replace the steel scaffolding that the prev bars were made of, my saddle broke in half in August so had to be replaced, and to cap it all twice this summer my glasses have fallen out of my pocket on the way home and been run over; house ins excess makes it an additional cost to me so about £400 on bi-focals so far. Plus the 20 mile commute has to be powered somehow so I end up spending as much on food as the gallon of fuel would have cost.

It's still a free journey to work in my eyes though.

Eat My Dust

I save at least £1000 a year on train fares and another £600 (ish) on not having a gym membership. By the time I get home tonight I will have done 158 miles of commuting this week, god knows how much this would have cost me in a car!

Clever Pun

fizz wrote:

Honestly I dont reckon I save anything, The money that I would have spent on petrol I spend on bike stuff instead :shock:

pretty much that... but cycling is a hobby travel is a necessity so it's still a saving of sorts

Nick6891

i do save in bus fares and stuff but not as much as i probably should do and when you take out the costs of all the equipment for cycling it takes a while to get you money back lol

i tend to spend more on my lunch now i cycle than what i used to do

cee

I don't really think about the money I save....or spend in a different direction...or hell i don't know.

Fact is...I arrive at work awake and ready for a great big bowl of porridge and a busy day.

I arrive home with the day sweated out and a clear mind, ready to relax for the evening (when I get to take the other bike out for some wholesome muddy fun!)

Brilliant!

AndyManc

singlespeedexplosif wrote:

around £30 per week, but then you have to subtract the cost of 2 bananas per day from that!

I'm not going to ask :oops:

lost_in_thought

I save the tube fare from me to work and back, so £30 a week, and I am queen of bargain cycling, queen I tell you!

But to be honest I actually commute by bike because I really, really enjoy it.

Wrath Rob

I don't think I save anything at all. However, I justify to the wife that I'm saving £110 a month on a tube ticket, although I have to pay £50 a month to have my shirts laundered at work. On top of that there was the cost of the bike, £540. I already had the rest of the kit from riding my MTB but since then I've also bought puncture proof tyres, new lights, cycle computer, new pedals and had the bike serviced. I'm about to buy a new jacket for the winter (Gore Paclite I think) and my helmet smells funny (fnar) so I'm toying with buying a new one.

So on the year I'm probably even. Next year should be better as I'll not be paying ofr another bike. Or will I? However, I'm less stressed and much fitter and that's something you can't put a price on.

demBones

Hi everyone,
Been lurking for a while and enjoy the SCR thread (except the darker posts about near misses, crashes etc which have helped my awareness)

Been commuting for 3 months on a scott speedster s30 fb hybrid (14 miles roundtrip) daily to nearest mainline station (Staleybridge) and get the train to leeds

Used to drive M62 and hadn't ridden a bike for about 20+ years before this.

Saving about £200 a month on petrol and parking.
Costs me £10 a week shirt laundry as well

But I am already a wiggle platinum customer 3 months in and I didn't get my bike from there.

So still in the red but feel much better for it.
Was ok fitness before running, spinning etc but the bike is helping me get to another level.

Sadly rarely see a cyclist going the same way on my route except for a hi-viz construction type on old mtb who i regularly overhaul but not much competition.

FCN 8

Littigator

Savings on tube fares £100
Payments on bike bits £lots
No tube or bus journeys packed in like sardines and being sneezed on....PRICELESS!

spursn17

I save no money whatsoever, I get free travel as I work for the underground.

Spend loads on cycling though!

woodford2barbican

£25 per week tube fare.
£18 per week gym membership

£2136 per year. (taking 11 off 4 weeks holiday & this no tube fare) which is the same as a £3726 pay rise if you add the tax back on!

I spend about a £1K a year on cycling & I have had 6 bikes in the last 3 years.....!

TheMightyHet

Well the money I'm saving is most probably either going to go on a lovely shinny new (Expensive) MTB or road bike! Possibly even both!! Cycling bug has bitten hard!lol

singlespeedexplosif

singlespeedexplosif wrote:
around £30 per week, but then you have to subtract the cost of 2 bananas per day from that!


I'm not going to ask

that's the fuel for my commute. Train = £30 per week. Bike = 10 bananas per week.

chuckcork

If I was getting the bus in to work it would be £30 a week.

Getting the bike into work though I reckon costs me closer to £60 a week instead, which is made up of replacement tyres every couple of thousand miles (at 28 miles a day it comes around pretty quick), new parts as they get worn out, new wheels ditto, more and more clothing to allow me to ride more often, tools, vanity purchases and so on.

It isn't a cheap hobby, but I can leave home when I want (10-15 minutes later than if I had to get the bus, which means I can have breakfat with my young daughter), and leave work when I want, without worrying about missing the bus and having to wait around.

I don't have to sit in cramped uncomfortable seats next to fat people talking on mobiles, and don't have the depressing trudge to and from the bus stop a mile away from where I live, on a bus journey that in total travel time that would be just a long as my cycle anyway, and I get to enjoy some pretty nice scenery for all that I'm riding next to a busy dual carriageway.

That extra cost is worth it, I don't even factor in not going to the gym.

linsen

It saves me the hassle of sitting in queues of traffic wondering if I'll be late

It saves me around £5 a day in fuel

It costs me a ton of kit to keep myself safe / see where I'm going in the dark

Overall I'm definitely out of pocket so far (esp if you include the £900 bike), but ....

I LOVE IT!!!

andy83

dont think i save anything as im always getting bits and bobs for bike and also saving up for a second bike.

as many have said its not about saving money its getting back from work stress free and feeling good bout not sitting in traffic. some days i can be driving a lot at work so nice to jump on bike to come home

although on odd occasion i have to get bus feel really bad it takes longer to get to work walking to bus stop and getting bus than on bike. so glad i work 12 hour shifts though, leave at 7:10am and leave work at 8pm so miss stupid drivers who cant see cyclists, hate it if im coming home in rush hour

janm399

Cycling to work is definitely more expensive for me. It's not just the cost of the bike & bits, but the food. Work is only 8 km away, so if I drive, I'd need very little fuel.

When I ride, I usually take the scenic route, which is about 20 - 30 km, which makes it about 50 km every day, which explains all the food that I scoff during the day.

But as someone else said here -- it's not about the money, it's about the freedom and the fact that I arrive to work fully awake and that I can clear my head on the way home. I would not go back to driving, even if it were free.

fonty1978

fizz wrote:

Honestly I dont reckon I save anything, The money that I would have spent on petrol I spend on bike stuff instead :shock:

seconded.. funny how that works isn't it

girv73

I don't save anything as Mrs. G. still takes the car in to her place of work more or less right past my office :roll:

It costs us ~£40 per month on petrol for the commute, maybe £50 for one person by bus.

biondino

Definitely don't save anything. This year I've spent well over two grand on bike and peripherals and I've also bought lots of train and tube tickets on non-biking days...