Drive less, spend less

Ride your bike

A decent bike can cost about $300 and last 10 years or more. A helmet costs about $40 and should be replaced every three years. Add in $125 worth of recommended gear (lock, lights, tire pump) and assume they’ll all last five years. With a tune-up every other year at $90, the cost to own and operate a bike is only $9.44 per month.

Walk

You probably have shoes and a coat. Maybe even an umbrella. So that puts the cost per month of walking at $0.

Take the bus

CCTA passes cost only $50 for a month of unlimited rides, or $12 for 10 rides.

Join CarShare Vermont

With CarShare Vermont, members only pay to use a car when they need one. They also tend to develop a good sense of when they actually need to drive (or could just as easily walk, bike, bus, or hitch a ride instead), so they drive much less than the average person.

Here are a few examples of what CarShare Vermont members spend to drive each month (all of the estimates below include gas, insurance, CarShare Vermont’s membership fee, and VT sales tax):

A Light User

Any combination of trips that total 8 hours of driving and 56 miles per month
(Four 2-hour trips, for example)

$77.90 per month

An Average User

Any combination of trips that total 16 hours of driving and 112 miles per month
(For instance, four 2-hour and two 4-hour trips)

$143.30 per month

A Heavy User

Any combination of trips that total 46 hours and 314 miles per month

$274.65 per month

An Ultra User

Any combination of trips that total 100 hours and 676 miles per month

$488.29 per month