I bike commute 8-9 months of the year, but currently am ubering both ways during this wet El Niño winter we are having as I live without a car.
I estimate my Ubers this year will work out to around
($20/day for uber * ~60 winter work days) = $1200
Most people with modest vehicles will see a total cost of car ownership costing them somewhere in the $5-10k/year range. So I could double or triple my already heavy reliance on uber and come out ahead.
TLDR: For those with short commutes, a heavily uber-assisted bike commuting plan is a huge financial win. And this is not even considering the downstream value of the productivity and health benefits resulting from regular exercise. Or the value of the time I can now spend reading instead of driving.
I'm assuming you're in the SF Bay Area -- there have only been a handful of days when I've had to break out the rain gear so far this season (today was one of them). Maybe 5 days max.
If a person is willing to bike to work when it's dry in the morning (even if it might rain on the way home) there's probably only around 20 - 30 days when they'd need Uber, so that'd cut the Uber expenses by 1/3 to 1/2.
Totally. I'm the first to admit that I'm a lazy bike commuter and with a little grit could greatly reduce my commute costs.
The point I was trying to illustrate for anyone reading is that uber is cheap, not expensive, when used to obviate the need for private vehicle ownership.
I estimate my Ubers this year will work out to around
($20/day for uber * ~60 winter work days) = $1200
Most people with modest vehicles will see a total cost of car ownership costing them somewhere in the $5-10k/year range. So I could double or triple my already heavy reliance on uber and come out ahead.
TLDR: For those with short commutes, a heavily uber-assisted bike commuting plan is a huge financial win. And this is not even considering the downstream value of the productivity and health benefits resulting from regular exercise. Or the value of the time I can now spend reading instead of driving.