I recently went through a bunch of work (OK, not that much work) in order to pat myself on the back a little about taking the bus to work. I figured out that I save around $60 per month by taking public transportation rather than driving, paying for gas and paying for parking.
I asked Dan Schneider if he could help me build (OK, build for me) a car vs. bus calculator that would enable you to easily do the same thing I did — determine the difference in cost of you taking public transportation or driving to work.
Here are some resources to help you fill in the blanks, too:
- Gas prices — Check regular, midgrade, premium and diesel costs in your ZIP code.
- Public transportation costs — Check RTD costs for daily, weekly or monthly passes (or yearly).
- Distance — Use the Get Directions feature of Google Maps to determine the distance of your commute by car. (You can also use the same feature to see how Google Maps would recommend using public transportation to get from one place to another — and learn how long it would take.
I know folks will ask about the other costs involved — the time of waiting for a bus or a transfer, the other costs of car ownership and all kinds of other things.
For the purposes of this calculator, let’s assume you’re really good at using the bus schedule and rarely wait longer than a couple of minutes for the bus — and that you’re not going to sell your car just because you commute to work by bus.
For me, saving is made easier by a couple of things, including that I like to read on the way to and from work, rather than pay attention to traffic and that my office and home are both fewer than three blocks away from bus stops.
Furthermore, the bus route that I take has its own bus lane at rush hour, which is great! So commuting by bus is also faster than commuting by car for me.
Finally, let it be said that if you pay for neither bus or car commuting — by walking, biking, unicycling, whatever — you’re obviously in better shape, physically and financially.
I like calculators like these, but they do have their limitations. And doing the math yourself can teach you a lot of things. You might find savings somewhere else while you’re working it out.
