I'm not even going to talk about saving money on gas

[jere7my]

Because I was riding my bike to work, I stopped buying MBTA monthly passes in June of this year. I just bought one for November. They're $59, so I ordinarily would've spent $295 on public transportation during that time. I actually spent $145 (because I do still sometimes take the bus / T).

My bike saved me $150 this summer!

Comments

What, me anal?

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

Actually, let's do this properly. (Translation: I did it in my head on the bus this morning, so let's write it down.) When I was in bike-riding mode this summer, I spent $29/month on pubtrans¹, or about $1/day. When I'm not riding my bike (and have no pass), an average week costs me $24, or about $3.50/day. So, for me to save money over a $59 T pass in a 30-day month, the equation is:

$1 * D + $3.5 * (30 - D) < $59

Where D is the number of days I ride my bike. Solving for D gives me

D >~ 18.5

So I'd have to expect at least 19 days of good biking weather in November, in Boston, to make it a better deal than buying a pass. I don't like those odds.

¹This is almost entirely because of Mondays, when, because I wear my kilt and K gives me a ride home from dance, I take pubtrans to work instead of my bike, to the tune of $5.45.