The Relative Costs of Transit

There is an interesting article here, that looks into the cost of transport in terms of BTU/passenger-mile, suggesting that driving your car might be an improvement over taking the train. What needs further looking into is the cost/passenger mile. Gasoline produces125,000 BTU/gallon, diesel produces 139,000 BTUs, or about 12% more, at about 20% more dollars/gallon. Motorcycles are carried on the chart as getting 60 mpg. Mine does more like 40, and burns premium to boot. Most bikes are happier on the higher octane stuff, but to each his own. My truck gets better mileage on mid-grade, enough so that it costs me less to drive using mid-grade than bottom-shelf regular.

Scooters famously get some 80 mpg, but many are 2-strokes that require oil be mixed in with the gas. The special oil adds up to $1.50 or so per gallon to the fuel costs, which suggests that driving costs are 80 miles per $5.50 or $.06875/mile. If your fuel only cost $4.00/gal from the pump, you could burn it at 58 mpg, as you would with a middle-sized (350cc) 4-stroke motorcycle, for the same price, and be legal on the freeways.

The electric bicycle looks pretty good in this study, but the fact that it is limited to very short hops between charges is not factored in.

There is an extensive discussion of the equivalent costs of walking versus riding a bicycle, vs. driving a car here, some of which gets a bit silly. After all, wouldn’t you burn more calories in your car if you were listening to a heavy metal/thrash station and fidgeting/banging your head energetically along with the music while you drove?

Commentary on the original article is here. Feel free to jigger up your own figures supporting whatever Uniform Standard Dollars Per Mile your favorite mode of transport costs.