My wife is trying to get her employer to designate a motorcycle parking area. She has done a cost analysis of diving her jeep, her motos,
her bicycle, or the bus. So far no parking for motos but I thought the group would find her analysis interesting. It is only a 7 mi commute one way
but riding her bike is a big savings. Sorry that her excel spreadsheet did not translate well into this formate. I fixed it up the best I could.
Commuting Cost/Benefit Calculation
Raspberry Road - 6.7 miles from Federal Building
Gallons used Cost Commute Calories
over per week Time Burned
13.4 mile Minutes **
Daily Trip 5 Day use One Way One Way
price of gas
mpg $3.50 $3.70
93 Jeep 13.7 0.98 4.89 $17.12 $18.09 25 53 10 minute walk parking to building (.5 mile)
SV 650 44 0.30 1.52 $5.33 $5.63 15 0 (assumes on-site parking, otherwise same as car)
DR 650 50 0.27 1.34 $4.69 $4.96 15 0 (assumes on-site parking, otherwise same as car)
Bicycle *0 0 0 $0.00 $0.00 5 341 on-site parking
City Bus--- 0 0 $24.50 $24.50 50 106 1-way fare = 1.75, 20 minutes walk to busstop & building
*Bicycle: 5 miles per cookie
**Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH) (http://hin.nhlbi.nih.gov
155 lb woman, brisk walk
bicycle speed = 5-10 mph
93 Jeep Cherokee - 4WD automatic 13.4 mpg city, 20mpg highway
SV 650 Suzuki - sport motorcycle
DR 650 Suzuki - dual-sport motorcycle
Conclusion - motorcycle use can save both time and money.
Only 90K on the Jeep - but look into a higher mpg vehicle
Bicycling is also a good choice, on days when there is time.
Other Factors -
Walking downtown is nice but slightly hazardous - traffic, I pass 3 construction sites, alleys
Late arrival at home in the afternoon (bicycle, bus) produces marital strife, because of calorie deficit in spouse, worstened by snacking
Mondays and Thursdays I have aerobics class after work - the bus route could work with this, but I would get home late.
The feds will pay bus fare.
Say, I have a good ending to this story. My wife won. Her spreadsheet and arguments were strong enough to convince the Vogons to grant
the MC riders some parking places [cheeky]
Nice work! wt:
Nice. The county I work in has free moto spots in their lots, cars gotta pay and I'e spotted some one street reserved moto spots. Unfortunetely, the county I live in doesn't share the same views on motos, or parking them for free. Oh well
But good on you wife for winning that battle. Maybe I need a little excel action for my home town and get some spots too!
Very cool. I have a similar spreadsheet going. I've been riding my bicycle for the last 10 days to work. 12.5 mile round trip. I may have been on my bicycle for 9.5 hours so far, but compared to saving over 8 gallons of gas for my Silverado, it is starting to be worth it. Of course I'm calculating the worth of my personal time at $0. Compared to my S4R however, 3 gallons in savings isn't all that impressive. I'm using 15mpg for my truck and possibly lowballing the S4R at 40 mpg. No matter what, two wheels seems the way to go.
I haven't gone so far as to spreadsheet it out, but I have similar commute distance and my seat-of-the-wallet testing results in a big + for the moto. Here in my very congested little Northern California hamlet, my F150 pickup will easily blow through $40 or more per week in gas vs. the moto (S4RS, Multistrada or 900SS) at about $14 per week in commuting gas costs. A definite no-brainer for me. Luckily my work lets the motorcycles park nice & close to the building. Heck, the owner here rides so it's all good! Good job your wife did there, here's hoping more places adopt such forward thinking philosophies.
Did she have to listen to any Vogon poetry?
Another good argument for others in her position to employ is that motorcycle or bicycle parking (along with walking & public transit) saves the company money, if they encourage them sufficiently. Parking lots don't grow on trees, you know! Probably the best time to make the argument is when the company is looking at building or expanding parking; look on sites like the League of American Bicyclists or other bike advocate sites, where you should be able to come up with figures for how much it costs per space to build new parking. Put three motorcycles in that space, and you've just saved a decent chunk of change.
Riding a bike in the bay area saves even more time and money if you cross the bridges. We can split traffic, so if is way faster than sitting in traffic burning fuel. We also dont have to pay tolls during commute hours. 5 days a week across the Golden Gate bridge will run you $25 in a car. Add that to your savings in gas milage and that is a lot of money over the corse of a year! $1300 just in tolls!
Quote from: c_rex on May 09, 2008, 03:36:38 PM
Did she have to listen to any Vogon poetry?
Well if what that means is having to hear mid level managers say things like, "we don't have a policy for that" or "We are concerned what the car poolers
will think about this preference" or "We'll need to develop some new forms to cover that." or "We'll have to clear this with purchasing and
safety." or "I'll have to discuss this with the assistant regional director of parking." Then yea, she heard lots of that kind of poetry. Frankly, I am shocked that she
was able to pull this off while she was still young. I'm damn proud of her ;D
Quote from: c_rex on May 09, 2008, 03:36:38 PM
Did she have to listen to any Vogon poetry?
Gotta love the Hitchhikers Guide reference ;D
I listened to the BBC radio production of HHGTTG several times as a kid. When the movie came out I hadda have it. Mos Def did an amazing bit of acting- really surprised me.
Anyhoo- as much as I love the fact that I can use my cycle in HOV lanes and we can park 2x-3x as many in a single parking lot, I just realized that my mpg isn't all that great when I'm really enjoying my cycle. Don't tell Mrs. akmstr's boss that! I've thought about getting a scooter or something to commute on to make up for it but in the meantime my carbon footprint looks like Paul Bunyon's between my bike and car. :o
interesting compilation of data. And congrads to the wife for winning her battle!
this would be interesting for me to look into, though my options are quite limited :-\
After some calculations I was disappointed to find out I only save $4 a day commuting on my 695 versus the car, the car gets 30 mpg and the bike 42-45 mpg. The commute to work somedays is an absolute joy, so much so I sometimes ponder what would happen if I missed my exit ;D. Most of us own motorcycles for the joy they bring us when riding so any cost savings we might get is just a bonus.
only $4 a day - over a month thats like $80 or more. Not quite chump change to me.
I don't look at it as saving money - when you factor in tires, 6k service etc. But you do save gas, and every bit everyone can do to use less is a noble effort.
My choices are Bus, Bicycle, Scooter or Monster
Bus takes 45 minutes, costs $3
Monster takes 15 minutes, costs $3 ($1 in gas, $2 in parking)
Scooter takes 15 minutes, costs $2.50 ($0.50 in gas, $2 in parking)
Bicycle takes 30 minutes, costs $10,000
Okay, the $10K is a guess as I'm not sure what the bail for "brandishing a firearm in order to keep from being run off the *^%$#! road" is.
I've been considering putting the old Norton 850 back on the road for the 50 mi. round trip to work. With its' 50 mpg and believe it or not, its' silky smooth ride, it really is good cheap transportation.
K-81 tires that are so cheap by comparison they're like free and $100 a year insurance too.
An expensive Ducati is definitely not the best tool for conservation. [moto]
LA
I ride my moto everyday to work that its nice out overall it keeps me happier during my 45minute commute, not to mention the twisties i can hit on the way there or home ;D. The gas savings is great but with service and tires it comes really close to the cost of running my car. Also on the way home i tend to take different back roads every time and explore a bit. So im probably killing my savings [moto] It does make work worth driving to though now
I don't own a car (used to have an Acura Integra GSR I loved until it got stolen, damn NJ) so I decided to just stick with two wheels (until winter??).
Love riding bicycles (I have 5!) and bicycle to work 15miles one way as much as I can. The other days I ride my Ninja 250 with an advertised 72mpg but I get around 65mpg. Bicycling/Motorbiking to work is a great way to save money, save the env. and keep in shape (bicycles ;))
I am glad she took the initiative and was successful. Like someone else suggested here there are a lot of websites that will help anyone make a case for this issue at work and provide literature/facts etc...
It really is the way of the future with gas prices heading the direction they are in now. Just take a quick look at Motorcycle/bicycle/scooter/public transp. use in Europe
BTW ---- It is bike to work week this week
www.bikeleague.org/programs/bikemonth/
Keep riding to work [moto]
Of course what makes my wife's figures so dramatic is that her cage is a Jeep 4X4 gas hog and her bike is a Suzuki DR650 that gets 50mpg.
The tires on that thing are cheap and there is not much to the Service. Our Ducati gets 60mpg with the FCRs on it, but with the cost of tires
and maintenance of the valves I prefer to ride my BMW F650. The Beemer gets 50mpg but I put the miles on it and save the Duc for
fun and spirited riding. I believe that almost all of us on this forum ride because we love it but I am meeting new riders that are saying they are
getting into it to save on gas. Maybe that is what they had to tell their spouses and are now just in the habit of telling everyone that same line [laugh].
I'm planning to do the push bike to work this week, if it stops raining.
I truly envy those of you who have the option of riding to work. As I own a small renovation business, All of my tools have to be transported in whatever I'm driving, and my destination changes on an irregular basis. I'm currently running a '02 Dodge van that gets 11 MPG. :(
Count your blessings.
Quote from: LA on May 12, 2008, 06:50:28 AM
I've been considering putting the old Norton 850 back on the road for the 50 mi. round trip to work. With its' 50 mpg and believe it or not, its' silky smooth ride, it really is good cheap transportation.
K-81 tires that are so cheap by comparison they're like free and $100 a year insurance too.
An expensive Ducati is definitely not the best tool for conservation. [moto]
LA
OMG. I've wanted a Norton Commander since they were new. I'd encourage you to put it back together but get an old rat bike to commute with.
Save that Norton as a family heiloom (or sell it to me [cheeky]).
Tomorrow will be the first day my wife gets to park in one of her new parking spaces. We should celebrate, Ice Cream - Cake - Donuts
(no booze, this is work and she is riding her bike) [beer]
I ride my S2R 1K to work about 3 days per week (some days I need to run an errand or take one of my kids someplace before or after work and need the cage). I get about 50mpg on my Duc since alot of my commute is highway. I have a few official and unofficial "motorcycle" parking spots near my office that I can use. I always keep her covered to avoid attracting unwanted attention and it also provides sun, wind, rain protection. I save alot on gas compared to driving my car 5 days a week. I dont think that the cost of tires or maint. is that much and riding is alot of fun. [thumbsup]
I use my vespa for major commuting,monster for nice weather riding,my suv? in the garage.