Saving Money: Taking the Bus or Subway

If you've been living under a rock, you might not have noticed that gas prices have gone up a bit lately. (gasbuddy.com)And if you're like most of us Everymen, you need to drive to work. Fortunately, you have options! In my case, I save a whopping $12.93 PER WORK DAY.


If you've read this far, you can see the astronomical amount of money that I save each year by riding the bus. And this does not include even more benefits:

• Less stress - rather than sitting in white-knuckle traffic, I'm nice and relaxed, both when I get to work, as well as when I get home to my wife.
• More time - not only is the commute shorter when you ride the bus (buses can run on the shoulder of the road!), I also have more time to read/listen to music or podcasts/take a nap/etc.
  
• Entertainment - let's face it: public transportation can be interesting. Mind you, I ride in from a suburb that is relatively well-off. But the stories still abound! From the lady who attempts to sing along to her imaginary headphones, to the one who always tries to short-pay her fair with a new driver (plays the "can't speak English" card), there's always something happening on the bus!

I know that some of you don't have the option to take mass transit. There are other ways to save money on transit, however, and I'll touch on those in a future post.

If anyone wants to use my spreadsheet with their own numbers, let me know and I'll send it to you.

Everyman has to get to work. How much you save on the way is up to you!