Transportation

On Monday, I filled up my car, a Honda Civic, with gas. It cost about $43.00. "Wow," I thought. But at $4.09 a gallon, it gets expensive really quickly. I'm thankful to have a small car that is pretty fuel efficient, because as we all know, it could be worse.

The gas prices aren't hurting me as much as it's hurting others. However, some of it has to do with the lifestyle changes I've made. Since I started the new job in April, I've been riding public transportation and carpooling with a coworker. These things have made a huge impact on how much gas I use.

They've made such a big impact that I couldn't remember the last time I filled up with gas. A quick look at the bank account indicates the last time I bought gas was on May 19. That means I almost went a whole month on one tank!

I've decided to do a little math about my transportation costs. This probably isn't interesting to anyone except me and Chris. MilesPerGallon.com helped me calculate my price per gallon ($.13).

Bus - $2.50
Car through town (28 miles) - $3.64
Car on highway (44 miles) - $5.72

When I drive by myself, I typically take the "through town" route. When I carpool, we take the highway because we get the benefit of driving in the HOV lane and missing all the traffic. I didn't realize there was such a discrepancy in the distance therefore the cost.

Time is definitely a part of the equation as well.

Bus - one hour
Car through town - 35 minutes
Car on highway (with carpool partner) - 25 minutes

While the bus takes considerably longer, I like the fact that I can read. Getting to dedicate two hours to reading is pretty wonderful. (Getting all the books for free at the library is even more wonderful!)