Figuring out the Cost of a Commute

[Barkeep49]

I am fortunate to live in a suburb, but work at a job where I have a variety of transit options. I am trying to figure out what the gas price would have to be for it to make economic for me to take the train. I have found several formulas, online, but they all tell me that there is an approximate cost of 46 cents a mile driving . However, these seem to be sunk costs for me, as it seems to be things like insurance and paying off the car (I can't go completely without a car where I live). So do I need to just set this to zero? Or are some of these costs actually variable and something I should account for?

[Alan T]

I am fortunate to live in a suburb, but work at a job where I have a variety of transit options. I am trying to figure out what the gas price would have to be for it to make economic for me to take the train. I have found several formulas, online, but they all tell me that there is an approximate cost of 46 cents a mile driving . However, these seem to be sunk costs for me, as it seems to be things like insurance and paying off the car (I can't go completely without a car where I live). So do I need to just set this to zero? Or are some of these costs actually variable and something I should account for?

If you have to have a car, I assume you have to have insurance as well, so that isn't really a cost that you can factor into the savings or spending of driving I would think. (if you could totally get rid of your car and insurance then yes you probably could). The only savings I could think of is this year I'm aiming to try to drive less than 8000 miles by working from home a bunch which would lower my insurance costs.. If yours does something similar, then I think you could factor that in at least if it seems like you would be able to reach that savings.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I am fortunate to live in a suburb...
OK, you pretty much lost me right here.

;)

[lurker]

The only savings I could think of is this year I'm aiming to try to drive less than 8000 miles by working from home a bunch...

This is something I've seen a lot of people say and I don't get it. If it was okay for you to work from home, why wouldn't you already be doing that? Was your employer not okay with it until you brought up the gas and insurance savings?

Maybe I'm just antisocial and hate my coworkers, but I'd love to work from home more.

[lurker]

And Barkeep, I assume some of that 46 cents a mile cost is including deterioration on your car and the eventual cost to repair it.

[Alan T]

This is something I've seen a lot of people say and I don't get it. If it was okay for you to work from home, why wouldn't you already be doing that? Was your employer not okay with it until you brought up the gas and insurance savings?

Maybe I'm just antisocial and hate my coworkers, but I'd love to work from home more.


I find working from home to be more distracting and less productive. Since my job is not a 9 to 5 job, it doesn't really matter to me how productive or effecient I am, I still have the same work load regardless if it takes me 30 hours or 90 hours to finish. So it is not always cut and dry for me to say working from home is always better than working from work.

Anyhows, I didn't start working from home because of money or gas or insurance costs or anything sorry if I was misleading on that fact. The actual reason I started working from home more was because of my wife's medical condition. The goal of trying to keep my car under 8000 miles by working from home is still there, but I'm also trying to not drive it a bunch of needless places for this goal. (ie: we use one of our other cars for most of our weekend driving or family trips).

[Barkeep49]

OK, you pretty much lost me right here.

;)
I like living where I do for a variety of reasons, so you can taking your suburb hating elsewhere :).

This is something I've seen a lot of people say and I don't get it. If it was okay for you to work from home, why wouldn't you already be doing that? Was your employer not okay with it until you brought up the gas and insurance savings?

Maybe I'm just antisocial and hate my coworkers, but I'd love to work from home more.
My job (teaching) mostly ties me down, but does offer me some flexibility of where I work (i.e. lesson planning & grading) and I am simply less productive at home than at work.

And Barkeep, I assume some of that 46 cents a mile cost is including deterioration on your car and the eventual cost to repair it.
The formula I'm using which seems to be a good one, counts those costs at 6.5 cents per mile and as separate from the other 46 cents. Depreciation though would matter were I not leasing my car.

[digamma]

Are you trying to make this precise enough to factor in the cost of your time, if there are material differences between the time each commute takes?

[Barkeep49]

Are you trying to make this precise enough to factor in the cost of your time, if there are material differences between the time each commute takes?
No. The time the train takes vs the car is negligible and I consider the time walking to and from the train (about 5 minutes on both ends) to be good for my health.

[Honolulu_Blue]

No. The time the train takes vs the car is negligible and I consider the time walking to and from the train (about 5 minutes on both ends) to be good for my health.

Don't forget that the time on the train is your time. You can read, work, or what have you, whereas when you're driving you're pretty much driving. Or, at least, you should be.

[Barkeep49]

Don't forget that the time on the train is your time. You can read, work, or what have you, whereas when you're driving you're pretty much driving. Or, at least, you should be.
I listen to audio books in the car, which is quite important professionally, so time on the train would have to replicate this (in the form of books, obviously).

The auxillary benefits o the train, such as the relaxation of not driving, and even doing the small bit of walking, don't escape me, but it has seemed like the train was substantially more expensive, which is a shame.

[JediKooter]

Don't forget that the time on the train is your time. You can read, work, or what have you, whereas when you're driving you're pretty much driving. Or, at least, you should be.

Or he coud do what Charles Haley did...

[RendeR]

The 46 cents a mile quoted is based on the government allowance for travel that 99.99% of companies go by when paying their workers or personal travel expenses. it has since been raised to 53 cents per mile if I recall a recnt article I saw.

How much are you looking at for say a monthly pass on the train BK? When I was out there I was impressed with the costs of a 2 day ticket (9 bucks) for unlimited travel over those two days. I would imagine a monthly pass or even an annual pass would be even cheaper and allow as many trips as you would want/need?

[Barkeep49]

The 46 cents a mile quoted is based on the government allowance for travel that 99.99% of companies go by when paying their workers or personal travel expenses. it has since been raised to 53 cents per mile if I recall a recnt article I saw.

How much are you looking at for say a monthly pass on the train BK? When I was out there I was impressed with the costs of a 2 day ticket (9 bucks) for unlimited travel over those two days. I would imagine a monthly pass or even an annual pass would be even cheaper and allow as many trips as you would want/need?
The site I'm looking at has it at 53 cents as well, but it's broken down into two parts (8.6 for maintenance and 46 for the rest). A monthly pass is $63.45, but I would be more likely to use 10 Rides, which are $20, since there will be some days where due to work schedules at other jobs that I will have to take a car.

[RendeR]

Hrm, yeah if you're only using it for that little bit I'm not sure it'd be worth it for you.

[CU Tiger]

I think its .58 now as of Aug 1.
The cost is fairly easy to calculate
MPG/$per gallon

Cost of oil change in your area / miles you go between oil changes realistically (most arent 3k)

Cost of 4 tires/ miles on a set of tires

Avergae annual repair cost/ divided by avg miles driven per year

Also most insurance companies will lower your rate if your commute shortens.

Car replacement cost figures in there somewhere...but that is personally negotiable.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

As Honolulu Blue stated, public transit offers you many options of what to do with your time. For example, the other day an attractive young lady dressed in shorts & a "wife-beater" tank top stood in front of me for about 10 minutes. I was seated and eye level was at around mid-stomach. She had a very nice shape... not too skinny, but not too thick. She unconsciously started running her fingers around her tummy (just a little one, which was sexy.) I did not get much reading done.