efficient personal transportation devices ever created. According to the American Automobile Association, the average annual cost of operating a sedan for 15,000 miles in 2010 totals $8,487; for an SUV, it’s $11,085. Vehicle costs include depreciation, finance charges, fuel, maintenance, tires, tolls, insurance and taxes. Given the latest U.S. median annual household income of $52,029 reported by the Census Bureau in 2008, the cost of car ownership exceeds 15 or 20 percent of the typical household’s income. A quality bicycle, which can be purchased for the price of about one car payment, will never need fueling, is inexpensive to repair and has an operating carbon footprint that’s next to nil.
Bicycle commuting is
surprisingly time-efficient, too. Federal Highway Administration statistics show that nearly half of all trips in this country are three miles or less. More than a quarter of all trips are less than a mile. A three-mile trip by bicycle takes about 20 minutes; in a busy city, traveling the same distance by car can take longer. Add in getting a car out of a parking space, into traffic, through lights and congestion and parked again, and for many urban and neighborhood trips, bicycles are simply faster from point to point.
Making a good thing even
better, bicycle commuting saves time that would otherwise be spent at a gas station, car wash, automobile mechanic, department of motor vehicles and even traffic court. Plus, without the large cost of operating a car, it’s just possible that bicyclists might even save the necessity of time spent at a second job. As yet another bonus, there’s next to no time spent sitting in traffic.
Paul Dorn, a writer and activist in Sacramento, California, is co-author (with Roni Sarig) of The Bike to Work Guide: Save Gas, Go Green, Get Fit. He is a former editor of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition newsletter, former executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition, and a League of American Bicyclists certified instructor.
WWW.NAJAX.COM July 2010 35
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