Here's how much money I had saved because I biked

When I bought my bike a year ago, I intended to use it primarily to join duathlon (bike + run) events. And I have—thrice, over the last 12 months. But what I didn’t realize was how much I would use my bike for utility purposes (i.e. running errands like going to the bank), instead of bringing a car or taking public transport.

So as my hybrid bicycle turns one, I make a rough estimate of how much money I had saved in transportation because I biked. This only includes the instances when I purposely brought out my bike in place of taking mass transit.

First things first, the bike details. The bicycle cost P23,000, including the helmet and several accessories. Since I bought it, I’ve never done any major repairs, except when I encountered a flat tire—twice, while on the road.

Having said that, here goes my loose computation of the money I had saved:

• In the span of one year, I used my bike to go to BGC (for meetings, attending media events, meeting friends, etc) around 8 times. A ride from my place in Makati to BGC (thru a cab or Uber) costs around P180 one way (P360 for round trip), depending on traffic. So the eight instances when I pedalled saved me P2,880.

• For the past three months, I had used my bike to go to our Thursday Volleyball game in Pasay (at the old DFA building). Without my bike, I would need to take two jeepney rides (P14 for both rides) to get there. That’s P28 back-and-forth. Assuming I had taken my bike to our volleyball games 10 times, I had saved P280.

• Not less than 10 times I had brought my bike to eat out (usually in Sinangag Express in Malugay or McDonald’s in Makati Cinema Square…they have free Wi-Fi there…. ha!) or go to the mall (yes, they have bike racks in Greenbelt). With the caveat that going to Glorietta or Greenbelt can either be by jeep or bus, I estimate collective savings for these instances at around P100.

That’s a total of P3,260 saved in transportation cost. With that kind of savings, I had already recouped 14 percent of the initial cost of the bicycle. Assuming this kind of saving continues, it would take seven years before I can recoup the cost of my bike.

Again, let me stress that we’re talking only on economic terms. The value of my bike goes beyond these transport cost savings. 

I cannot put a price on the calories I had burned because of biking; nor the happiness I feel whenever I bike (especially when going downhill … oh the wind on my face!). Not even on the environmental impact of not driving a car.

There’s also the three times that I had joined duathlons. Say I didn’t have a bike and needed to rent or borrow one to join these events, then I would have “saved” P3,000 (assuming it costs P1,000 to rent out a bike. I have no idea. Ha!).

In any case, getting a bike was one of the best decisions I had made. Nothing compares to the exhilaration I feel when I bike, with the purchase made more sulit because of these savings. If this sounds good to you then maybe you should start biking, too! :)