Bicycle commuting saves money — a LOT of money.<\/h2>\n
Just look at the numbers from AAA and the Sierra Club: your car costs you about $8,900 a year, thanks to fuel, maintenance and insurance costs. Traffic jams alone cost commuters more than $700 in wasted fuel burned while idling. Compare that to a bike, which only costs $310 a year to maintain:<\/p>\n
“If\u00a0American drivers were to make just one four-mile\u00a0round trip each week with a bicycle instead of a car,\u00a0they would save nearly 2 billion gallons of gas. At $4\u00a0per gallon, total savings would be $7.3 billion a year.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The bicycle commuting tax credit: get paid for taking your bike to work.<\/h2>\n
You not only save money with bicycle commuting, you can earn some too, thanks to the bicycle commuting tax credit. Uncle Sam will reimburse you up to $20 a month for\u00a0expenses\u00a0just for regularly taking your bike to work instead of your car. Get the details at the\u00a0National Center for Transit Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n
You inhale less exhaust when you bike to work than when you drive.<\/h2>\n
File this bicycle commuting fact under “who knew?” It’s\u00a0counter-intuitive\u00a0 but it turns out that you inhale more harmful fuel\u00a0emissions\u00a0 driving than biking. According to environmental news blog \u00a0The Grist<\/a>, the reason is location, location, location: drivers are “very close to sucking on the tailpipe of the MES just ahead of them… bikers and pedestrians are on the outskirts.”<\/p>\n
Do you bike to work? Have some tips for newbies looking to get started? Share your advice on bicycle commuting in the comments.<\/p>\n
Sources: Business Insider, The Weather Channel, Grist<\/a>, National Center for Transit Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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