#CarFreeFamily: How Much Does it Cost?

I love riding my bike & there are so many reasons why. I'm happier & healthier when I ride regularly. I feel more connected to my community & I've gotten to know my city so much better because of biking. But living in such an expensive city, the money we save from using our bikes as our main form of transportation is a big factor.

On Twitter recently, I came across this, which inspired me to open up a spreadsheet & tot up our transportation costs for the year too.

Transportation costs for #carfree family of 4 (all old enough to pay bus fare) in 2018- Bus fare, carshare, bike repair for 6 bikes (I don't do much maintenance or repair myself), parking and one new bike. In Ottawa, Canada where it is winter 18 months a year. $3375.

— bikeyknit (@BikeyKnit) January 8, 2019

After about an hour of logging into online banking, sifting through my email for Square receipts, checking each of our Compass card usage records, browsing Modo invoices, & calculating ferry fares, I came up with a good picture of our transportation costs for 2018.

Photo Credit: damiengabrielson.com Flickr via Compfight cc

Here's the summary for you:

Bike repairs, parts, & accessories: $1357
Modo car sharing: $1213
Car rental, insurance, gas: $400
New (used) bike for Linnaeus: $300
Ferries: $238
Poparide ride sharing: $207
Transit: $105

Total: $3820

This transportation includes the daily commutes to work & school (when I take transit or use carsharing to work it's paid for by my employer, so that isn't included in the above), all the errands & socializing, appointments, recreation, & whatever else we do around the city. It also includes three camping trips, three trips to the Okanagan to visit family, plus a road trip to Seattle & Portland during Spring break.

*Womp womp* flat tire #2 on the bakfiets

The bike repairs & parts total was higher than I expected, but this is for four different bikes, including paying to get flats fixed four times. I will sometimes fix my own flats, but it just isn't practical a lot of the time. When I'm on the road with the kids, I can't really keep them safe while concentrating on changing a flat. Our cargo bikes are a bit more complicated than a regular bike when it comes to flat fixes. With the bakfiets, we have a dynamo hub & disc brakes on the front, roller brakes & an internal gear hub on the back. If I can just pull the tube out & patch it, it wouldn't be too bad, but we usually need to replace the tube, which means half disassembling the bike.

We spent less than I thought we had on transit--this total represents an average of one round trip each per month. Our Modo bills are a little higher than previous years because used car sharing for two of the road trips, but we spent less on car rentals because of this. Overall, I think we spent less on car travel than previous years, & less than half what we spent per year than we did when we owned a car from 2006-2008.

It's hard to say exactly what our costs would be if we owned a vehicle. The average vehicle in BC costs $9,500 per year, according to CAA, but we tend to drive less than the average family. I used the CAA car cost calculator, assumed we owned something like the Honda Fit that we often drive from the Modo fleet. Looks like we'd be spending around $5000 annually in payments, gas, maintenance, insurance, parking, etc. However, owning one car wouldn't cover all our transportation needs. I assume we'd still make at least some trips by bike & transit, plus the occasional Modo booking to use larger vehicles or when we need a second car. My guess is we're saving $3000-4000 per year by not owning a car.

Have you ever sat down & calculated every cent of your transportation costs for the year? I highly recommend it--you may be surprised at what you find!

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Some Inspiration for Winter Biking

Our brief winter back in December

This winter in Vancouver wasn't as cold as last year, thankfully, so we only had to deal with snow & ice for a week or so.

But the rain.

OMG, the rain.

January was brutal for rain & I am glad to see February is slightly better. But there are definitely fewer cyclists out there on the roads & I get a lot more comments about how "heroic" or "hardcore" I am for riding every day in the rain.

The thing is, I don't really have a choice. We don't own a car & picking up a carshare vehicle for the school run would be a hassle, honestly. Plus, driving to get Linny to or from school actually takes longer than biking: while the trip takes ten minutes for either mode, finding parking around the school takes a few minutes longer in a car. Transit from where we live to where his school is means several blocks of walking on each end, or a bunch of transfers. Not worth it.

So on my bike I go, rain or shine, snow or sleet or hail. & it's okay--I haven't melted yet. & most days, I really enjoy it. Even on the worst days--with the exercise & fresh air & that feeling almost like flying--it's a net positive.

For those of you who have an easier way to get where you need to get--maybe you own a car, or the bus routes work better for you--here's a little more visual inspiration to go for it on two wheels. Check out this Flickr set of cyclists just getting where they need to go in wintry Montreal:

Velo d'Hiver, by Zvi Leve.

You'll see riders of all ages from toddlers in baby seats to seniors on trikes. Just ordinary people, just doing their thing. No big deal. :)

& if you're interested in even more intrepid winter biking, you should head over to visit Coldbike: Cycling With Kids, Sometimes in the Cold. Jim heads out on all kinds of adventures with fatbikes in the snowy wilderness. Definitely worth following Doug on Instagram too for a more regular dose of adventure.

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I'm on the Family Pedals Podcast!

A while ago, I was contacted by Sarah of Family Pedals to do an interview for her regular active transportation themed podcast. She lives in Bloomington, Indiana with her family & they get around by bike like we do. We have a lot in common & though we've never met in person, Sarah was really easy to talk to.

Sarah & I talked about how biking & carsharing works for our family here in Vancouver, as well as the work I do in promoting cycling for kids, families, & adults. If you'd like to listen, the interview is here: Active Transportation Advocacy with Lisa Corriveau.

Are you a car-free or car-lite family? If you're interested in being a part of the Family Pedals podcast, drop Sarah a line at kopper (dot) sarah (at) gmail (dot) com.

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Back on two wheels

Went to walk across frozen Trout Lake, along with most of Vancouver

Hello there & happy new year! Hope your holidays were fantastic, or at least not too stressful. We did a lot of sleeping in & eating sugary stuff. We also tried to take advantage of the actual proper Canadian winter that descended on Vancouver for the last five weeks & counting.

I am an all weather, all year round cyclist, partly because I like the challenge, but also because even when it's cold or wet, it's more convenient that transit & not painful like walking (on my arthritic hip) can be for me. But. Big but. We had to seriously cut back on biking once the fluffy, somewhat dry snow transformed into packed lumpy ice alternating with slush everywhere. #VikingBiking doesn't work that well here in Vancouver's wet winters. The iciness of the roads & the lack of control & respect from drivers kept even us off our bikes for most of December.

#BikeToSchool every damn day. Almost.

If I'd looked into the long term forecast in the beginning of December & imagined how what has turned out to be the longest cold snap in my lifetime would impact me, I'd have bought studded winter tires back then. But I didn't realize they'd be necessary until it was too late & they became a scarce commodity. Lesson learned for next year--I'm still hoping to find some near the end of the season for future use.

Aaaaaaaanyway, the winter seems to be fading a bit. It's still chilly today, but we haven't had a proper dump of snow  in over a week & the ice is finally melting on most sidewalks & side streets in our area. Which means we're back to riding most places again.

Thrilled to bike (not walk) this load home

This whole experience has really driven home how much cycling keeps me happy. I don't need to tell you about exercise & endorphins & all that--just the regular physical activity is obviously good for us. Biking keeps my body weight mostly off my hip joint, unlike walking, so it means a lot less pain, which has a huge impact on my mood. Getting out of the house, into the sun (vitamin D!) is beneficial just for a change of scenery. The bakfiets also makes getting groceries a lot easier--carrying bags of groceries while walking even a few blocks is a special kind of hell.

For a family, it's also a lot cheaper than driving or taking transit. For all of us to take transit on an outing now costs about $12, which really adds up if you're doing it most days of the week. tThen there's the kids' happiness to think about. Though they can walk quite far for their ages, the 6km round trip to Linny's school is too much for either of them. He seemed to enjoy the 45 minute walk with me the first day back at school, then day two? Oh, the whining. Too far, too cold, too fast, too slippery. If I can just pop him into the bakfiets & zip him to school in 15 minutes, we're all happier.

So here's hoping we won't have another month of actual winter & we'll get back to the balmy above zero dampness we're all used to here in Vancouver. See you on the bike paths!

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