Banana Republic of Spring Lake Park
Sunday, May 22, 2005
The Strib's Fuzzy Math
The linked article talks about a St. Paul bike shop donating bikes for people to use to commute the work and, by extension, extols the virtues of riding a bike to work. In the article, reporter Matt McKinney cites a claim by the Green Guide at the Univeristy of Minnesota.
Well, $3,500 a year caught my attention. I commute about 50 miles a day and i don't spend near that much.
So a little math was in order:
10 mile commute
Twice per day = 20 miles
5 days per week = 100 miles
50 weeks per year = 5000 miles
Gas milage - assume 20 miles per gallon (your mileage may vary) = 250 gallons
Price of gas - Assume greedy oil companies = $2.00
Total cost of the commute = $500
Whoa there. That's a far cry from $3,500. Hmmmm I says to myself, I must be missing something. Let's try again:
10 mile commute
Twice per day = 20 miles
5 days per week = 100 miles
50 weeks per year = 5000 miles
Gas milage - assume Gas sucking Hummer (2.8573 miles per gallon) = 1,750 gallons
Price of gas - Assume greedy oil companies = $2.00
Total cost of the commute = $3,500
Aha, got it. Now I went to the Green Guide's web site to check my answer. I really felt I nailed this one. To my horror, I wasn't even close (follow link to see the guide's author's numbers):
Direct Cost of Transportation = $0.35 per mile
Cost of Parking = $0.15 per mile
Cost of Pollution = $0.20 per mile
Total Cost of Commute = $0.70 per mile
5000 miles * $0.70 = $3,500. Brilliant!!! Of course, only $2,500 of that is paid for by the commuter. The Green Guide doesn't indicate who pays for the other $1,000.
The one thing that caught my eye was his analysis of light rail:
Direct Cost of TRansportation = $1.02
Cost of Pollution = $0.16
Total Cost per Mile = $1.18
Total Annual Cost = $5,900
Directly Paid by the Commuter = $750
So the commuter pays $750, we don't know who pays the pollution cost, but it's $800 per year. That leaves $4,350 subsidy to the commuter.
There is a lot faulty with the author's calculations. But to boil it down, it's metro-centric: For one, people who don't commute downtown usually don't pay for parking. Second, the author includes amortized vehicle purchase cost, maintenance and repair, fuel and a portion of insurance cost but excludes the cost of roads. But there is no supporting information with respect to vehicle cost, gas mileage, etc...
But the feds figured that out by providing $0.345 per mile vehicle usage allowance ( I think that is the correct amount. I'm not a certified tax preparer so it may be off a bit.)
5000 commuting miles * $0.345 per mile = $1,725. That covers everything. Gas, maintenance, a new pine tree smellbie for the rearview mirror. So that is half of our author's costs. All in all a dubious claim to promote their idea of a utopian society.
More interesting stuff on the Green Guide in the days to come.
Their study showed that a 10-mile commute by bicycle costs $150 per year, while the same commute can cost up to $3,500 for someone who drives alone. The study estimated a 40-minute commute for the bicyclist and a 27-minute ride for a car driver.
Well, $3,500 a year caught my attention. I commute about 50 miles a day and i don't spend near that much.
So a little math was in order:
10 mile commute
Twice per day = 20 miles
5 days per week = 100 miles
50 weeks per year = 5000 miles
Gas milage - assume 20 miles per gallon (your mileage may vary) = 250 gallons
Price of gas - Assume greedy oil companies = $2.00
Total cost of the commute = $500
Whoa there. That's a far cry from $3,500. Hmmmm I says to myself, I must be missing something. Let's try again:
10 mile commute
Twice per day = 20 miles
5 days per week = 100 miles
50 weeks per year = 5000 miles
Gas milage - assume Gas sucking Hummer (2.8573 miles per gallon) = 1,750 gallons
Price of gas - Assume greedy oil companies = $2.00
Total cost of the commute = $3,500
Aha, got it. Now I went to the Green Guide's web site to check my answer. I really felt I nailed this one. To my horror, I wasn't even close (follow link to see the guide's author's numbers):
Direct Cost of Transportation = $0.35 per mile
Cost of Parking = $0.15 per mile
Cost of Pollution = $0.20 per mile
Total Cost of Commute = $0.70 per mile
5000 miles * $0.70 = $3,500. Brilliant!!! Of course, only $2,500 of that is paid for by the commuter. The Green Guide doesn't indicate who pays for the other $1,000.
The one thing that caught my eye was his analysis of light rail:
Direct Cost of TRansportation = $1.02
Cost of Pollution = $0.16
Total Cost per Mile = $1.18
Total Annual Cost = $5,900
Directly Paid by the Commuter = $750
So the commuter pays $750, we don't know who pays the pollution cost, but it's $800 per year. That leaves $4,350 subsidy to the commuter.
There is a lot faulty with the author's calculations. But to boil it down, it's metro-centric: For one, people who don't commute downtown usually don't pay for parking. Second, the author includes amortized vehicle purchase cost, maintenance and repair, fuel and a portion of insurance cost but excludes the cost of roads. But there is no supporting information with respect to vehicle cost, gas mileage, etc...
But the feds figured that out by providing $0.345 per mile vehicle usage allowance ( I think that is the correct amount. I'm not a certified tax preparer so it may be off a bit.)
5000 commuting miles * $0.345 per mile = $1,725. That covers everything. Gas, maintenance, a new pine tree smellbie for the rearview mirror. So that is half of our author's costs. All in all a dubious claim to promote their idea of a utopian society.
More interesting stuff on the Green Guide in the days to come.
