Vegetable Oil Road Trip

Wired has an interesting article examining evidence that as bicycle ridership increases, per-rider accidents with cars decreases, causing a virtuous cycle. As riding increases, safety increase, so more people ride.

Also, I have a bit of catching up to do for costs:
My previous total was $171.06.

Since then, I’ve spent:
$20 to the CTA for an occasional L train ride.
$45 to Working Bicycle Co-Op for a guest helmet and U-Lock (they gave me a free blinky red light, too)
$30 to a woman named Julia for a yellow Schwinn Continental Tourist (for guests)
$39.27 to BicycleTires.com for fresh tires and tubes for the Schwinn.

This brings my total commuting and bicycling costs up to $305.33 since April 28, 2008.

Here is the second (and final, for now) tale of trucks in Chicago:

Monster Truck for Rent:
“It’s not going to fit.”

“Sure it will,” I say with false bravado. We lift the dresser and start waddling out towards the street and towards the too tiny car. We pop the trunk, and lift again. There’s no way the dresser’s going to fit.

We turn to the seller, she needs to get rid of it before the next day. “Ok, looks like it’s not going to fit, we either need to borrow a truck or do something. We’ll give you a call if it turns out we can get it from you.” She looks crestfallen as we carry the dresser back inside and drive away in the too tiny car.

…
Later that evening, do some brainstorming and call the building supply store about their truck rentals. “Sure, it’s 19.95 for the first 75 minutes, and you pay for gas.”

…
The following evening, we rent a Ford Super Duty truck with a gigantic steel bed. It’s a monster truck. In Chicago.

Right away, we notice the reverence other drivers give to this huge beast with sharp corners. Changing lanes is suddenly easy: turn on your blinker, and the waves of traffic part cleanly – no one wants to be between you and where you want to go.

Giddy with power, we cruise through quiet evening streets, picking up and delivering furniture, and returning well within 75 minutes and 0.3 gallons of fuel.

Monster trucks for rent – I love it.

image: Gunslinger from wikimedia commons

As more people decide not to buy $4-a-gallon gas and start pedaling to work, road rage seems not to have been left behind. This NYT article, “Moving Targets,” covers the increasing Car v Bike tensions.

I hate to admit this, but I have had my own share of taxi-induced road rage.

Be safe out there…

I have two stories to tell about trucks in Chicago:

1. Red Menace

Pedalling down Grand Avenue, I feel a whoosh of air as a large, red Chevy pickup passes within inches, its engine roaring as it accelerates past.

It changes lanes quickly, the driver aggressively muscling through traffic. I lose sight of the truck as it passes over the freeway overpass.

At the Grand and Milwaukee intersection, I slide between stopped cars. I chuckle to myself as I ride past the stopped red Chevy truck.

As soon as I reach the crosswalk, the light goes green, and I pedal through. Three blocks down, the pickup passes me again, thankfully in the far lane this time. I again lose sight of the truck when it passes over the Chicago River bridge leading into downtown.

I turn North on Des Plaines, I’m about a mile from my appointment. Near Division, I get passed again by the red truck – traffic is looser here so it changes lanes more frequently, pushing to go as fast as possible. The truck pulls over and parks near North Avenue, and I cruise past just as the driver gets out.

All that frenetic driving, just to arrive at the same time as a guy on a bike? Sad.

image: Chevy Silverado from wikimedia commons

Since moving here, I have truly fallen in love with this city – everything is so convenient to my apartment – shopping, work, entertainment are all but moments away.

Recently a friend came to visit with her car. She wanted to explore and join me for some errands (plus, I’d been dying to make a run to Costco). So, we hopped into her car and took off for (I thought) a quick round of shopping followed by some sightseeing and dinner. We quickly slammed into a different Chicago – gridlocked traffic, terrible drivers. Everything suddenly appeared inconvenient and far away from my apartment.

“Why are all the shops in the opposite direction of where we want to end up?” my companion groaned. I was frustrated and annoyed. What happened to my easy-to-get-around city, where miles slide away beneath my wheels? Why is my blood pressure so high?

Every time a bicycle slid effortlessly through traffic, I followed them jealously with my eyes.

Is this what Chicago looks like to people with cars? I don’t think I could handle it.

I can’t believe how different my attitude is after only a few months without owning a car.

image: wikimedia commons gridlock.svg

To help deal with the loss of Minnie, I spent a little time figuring out the cost of driving versus biking. This analysis helped me get through my mourning period pretty quickly.

According to AAA’s Your Driving Cost pamphlet from 2007, the average cost of owning a (new) small car in 2007 was about $8,000/year (SUVs were around $11,000/year). I tweaked the numbers a bit to account for $4/gallon gas, short (5 miles per day) commute distances, parking costs, the fact that I’d buy a used car (used cars depreciate significantly more slowly), etc. and came up with about $3,500 per year if I were to purchase a small used vehicle for commuting in Chicago.

After some hunting around, I found that the cost per mile for commuting on a newer bike is about $0.08 to $0.12 per mile (by comparison, cars range from $0.374 to $0.596 per mile). I chose to use $0.12 per mile, though I know my ancient bike is probably well below this.

I assumed that I’d only use the bike for about 2/3rds of the year (this is Chicago, after all – I’m not going to ride a bike on ice), so for 4 months, I’ll buy monthly CTA passes ($75/month), and probably use the bus sporadically during the spring-fall due to rain, etc ($1.75/ride).

I came up with about $370/year if I commute by bike and bus.

So, the total savings are about $3,230 per year.

Things ignored by my analysis:

• Airfare for long-distance trips (I wouldn’t drive for long distance trips anyhow, so this is a wash)
• Car rentals, train tickets, and bus fare for medium-distance trips and the occasional visit to Ikea, but I also didn’t take into account the cost of driving those trips in a car either.
• Increased healthcare costs associated with a sedentary lifestyle vs riding a bike to work nearly every day.
• The opportunity cost of not investing the extra $3,230 per year.
• The fact that all money I pay for bus passes during the winter will be taken out of my paycheck as pre-tax dollars (that saves me about 40%).

Next steps:
I’m going to track my biking and commuting expenses for a year and see what my true costs are.