Frugal Village Forums banner

Transportation Frugality

2K views 15 replies 15 participants last post by  eofelis 
#1 ·
How often do you walk? How often do you ride your bike? Are there any transportation alternatives available to you besides a vehicle?

I drive a truck, but recently ive began walking, skateboarding, and now have purchased a bike. I began biking on the streets [and obliging by street rules] just a few weeks ago, and woah is that ever a workout. Not to mention I have noticed the savings since I have not been visiting the pumps for gas.

I am interested in all the different options for transportation throughout the planet. Where do you live, and what do you use for transportation to save money?
 
#2 ·
I have a pickup (that I have to use for my work to haul all the crap around)
I have a moped that I buzz around the town on (small town living here)
I use my legs a lot too
I do have a bike - though I have not used it in a few years

Everything is close here - we have a little bus funded by the city (that stays within the city) that folks without vehicles can ride for $1. But we have no other transit system, or taxi cabs or anything like that. There is a lot of walking that goes on in the town.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Debbie-cat
#3 ·
Where I live in the city it is not safe to walk outside our neighborhood, and sometimes not in the housing area either. People drive too fast, carelessly, and there are no sidewalks many places. Bicycles would be dangerous too. We have many bike trails here, but they don't go anywhere, they are all in parks.

It's not feasible for DH to bike to work because of the distance and the dangers. Our weather hits both extremes and gives us maybe two months in spring and in fall when being outside is not unpleasant. This time of year it is 80 already when he leaves in the morning and 90-100 when he comes home. I think cycling would give him a heart attack.

I'd walk more when weather is tolerable, if the road was safe, but there's really no place around here worth the trip. I don't shop for much other than groceries, and I need the car to get it home.

I walked a lot more when I was younger. I didn't even own a car until I was 25.
 
#4 ·
Well around 'town' I pretty much walk or cycle. For longer distances I take the train. Not for frugality reasons though, I think it would be approximately the same as by car. However by car takes a longer time sometimes (if I don't need to take another train) and it produces less CO2.
 
#5 ·
We are about 15 mins from the Rails that can take us into the city or the train if we want to go to DC. The local buses are adequate but their paths are into and out of the city. We don't have any local transport to shopping/grocery areas that is organized. The suburbs. :\
 
#6 ·
Wish I live some place walkable I live in millstone twp NJ and there are no sidewalks and no stores Closest supermarket is at least 7 miles away in Freehold I miss walking places when I lived in a planned community I walked to the bank and stores I miss that I also walked for exercise I moved here and joined a gym and bought a treadmill I love my privacy I live on 3 acres but i do miss a town guess you cant have everything
 
#7 ·
I live in the country, yesterday I walked to my neighbor's house (1.4 miles away) to pick blueberries. Sometimes I walk to the PO (1.7 miles away). I try to go for a walk everyday, so it's just a bit of a stretch to go a little further.

I do wish I had a bike though, I have had them in the past and gave them away or sold them. Now I could use one.
 
#8 ·
Our town doesn't have public transportation, taxis or anything else, so it's the car to work. I could walk to the grocery store, but stop on the way home. The tiny town my Dad lives in (& where we will be moving) has no public transportation, the library is literally next door and the small convenience stores are a block away & the church is across the road, so walking there is okay. Not safe to walk to the post office alone, maybe with someone else. DD's house she's moving into is within walking distance from my Dad's.
 
#9 ·
Where I live I am set for alternative transportation if I wish. Walking, bike riding, Bus, taxi.

Walking - we can get almost anything we need by walking. It is common to see people walking with bags. Hubby has walked to work for the past 9 years rain, shine and snow ( he once asked for a ride home when there was a sudden rain that flooded the streets. His shoes would have been ruined. When the children went to the local elementary we waked to school everyday. We can walk to the grocery store, dollar general, salvation army thrift, eye doctor, jewelery store,church, post office, restraunts, convenience store, pet store, craft store, music store, book store, drug store, the university,bike shop, library, parks, and some I can't think of now. The hospital/doctors offices are in walking distance but not if you were feeling poorly.

Riding bikes - this is common in our town too. Drivers are use to sharing the road with bikes even young riders.The town is getting some bike lanes. they have bike racks all over downtown to chain up your bike.

Buses - there is a city bus with regular routes. It goes to all the grocery stores, walmart, the mall, goodwill, salvation army, doctors offices, hospital, social security office, health department. I can catch the west route one street to my west and the east route one street to me east. LOL perfect spot to live. You can pay one way ( $1.25)or get punch cards or buy unlimited passes. Family passes are $60 a month unlimited rides for all in the family. Children under 5 are free as they need a caregiver Children over 5 may ride by themselves.

School bus - picks up for free any child living more that 1 1/2 miles from school. My children can ride the bus to school, however Buddy's cello can not we would have to find alternative transportation for it on Mondays to school and Fridays home. I do know one girl that got special permission to have her cello ride in the luggage section on the bus. I sure that had to be prearranged and get special permission to do so. ( the school has also been know to provide a cello to use at school that way you can keep yours at home.) The school bus also has late buses for after sports practice and other after school activities. The bus also makes a special round on school dance nights to take students to the dance and back after the dance. Our school district doesn’t want any students missing out because they can't get a ride.

And if all those fail you then you can all call a taxi.
 
#10 ·
I live in the heart of a major city. As a matter of fact, I live in one of the central neighborhoods in my city - so I get to bike anywhere I wish. It is often a very dangerous form of transportation though, as nobody who drives respects bikers in our city, and I have had a few close calls this week alone :S.
 
#11 ·
I live on the coast of north east England.

British public transport is a joke; however, I am a mile and a half from a railway station (an end-of-the-line station, from where it's possible to get connection to main line services). As I am in the correct age bracket, I can buy an annual saver card that will get me up to 1/3 off the normal price of most rail tickets. However, I only use the train for long-haul journeys (to London, to pick up an international flight, for example).

People aged 62 and over are entitled to free public bus travel in England: this doesn't apply in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, where residents have their own system. I live 150 metres from a bus stop, and so in principle can catch a bus every half hour to the nearest towns - and from there, even further - at no cost to myself. I say above that our public transport is a joke and it is. The published timetables are a work of fiction, in most cases. Asking a bus driver, when he eventually drives up, if he's driving the previous bus on a late schedule or the bus due, running early, is not appreciated.

Only a mile and a half to walk to the nearest town, which has a supermarket; so I do. However, for heavy loads, I will drive or take my wheeled shopping-bag. One of my music teachers also lives in that town, so I always walk to my weekly lesson, whatever the weather: and in winter, stand around and wait for a bus, to come home (see comment in the previous paragraph about bus reliability).

I also have a bike but since this area is very hilly, with rift valleys cutting between villages and small towns, it's not practical to bike to the supermarket and then try to load up the panniers and expect to ride back up the hill. Bikes are for excursions and exercise, not for collecting shopping.

As for walking greater distances, I'm a National Park Ranger and have to do foot-patrols, when I'm on duty: that's an average of 12 miles a day; however - I do have to drive to my duty point as there's no public transport that could get me there in time - I'd have to set off the evening before!!
 
#12 ·
Me and my twin 3 year old boys walk to work/daycare. To be fair, we live a 7 minute walk from there :p We are blessed to live in a big military base housing complex- so from our front door, there are fourteen (yes, 14) different playground we can easily walk to. When they were younger, I'd push them in their ginormous double stroller to do some light grocery shopping- commissary is about a 25-30 minute walk from our front door.

There is a German bus stop outside our base, but my twins are way too crazy to try to use that. My husband drives our one vehicle- a minivan to work since he works at a different base that's a 20 minute drive away.

When we lived in North Yorkshire, England, I used public transportation regularly. The bus system there was frequent and very safe- so I'd use it to ride to the bus stop for the military bus to take us to base for work. I also lived in the town center so I could easily walk to the British grocery stores or go to the pub to meet friends.
 
#13 ·
I live in Denmark where gas is $8 - $9/ gallon. I drive only when I absolutely have to, which is out of town to work, visit friends, etc. I've managed to set-up a carpool for people who work in my company, so they pay me a set amount per ride which just about covers the cost of gas on my commute.

In town for Dr. appointments, haircuts, grocery shopping, visiting friends, going to cafes, etc. I walk or take my bike, unless the weather is horrible.

Unfortuantely, public transportation is as expensive, if not more expensive in many cases than driving.
 
#14 ·
I often walk to the (tiny) downtown area in my smallish town that is less than a mile away.

For work my large employer has a fleet of very comfortable busses with stops all around the area. The busses are for employees only and are free. I will drive to the park-n-ride about three miles away then take the bus in to work. From the work bus stop there is a set of shuttles that takes everyone to their buildings. If we need to go from one building to another for a meeting we can call for a shuttle that will take us where we need to go. Pretty neat system.
 
#15 ·
I walk to work. My other job isn't feasible to even bike, as there aren't any bike paths, across town with crazy drivers, no shoulders even. So I try not to go to that one as often but work more hours when I go to that one to offset driving to it. I'm starting to bike more, even attempting a few shopping trips . Otherwise, if I'm off, I find stuff to do around the house to keep me occupied as to not need gas as often. It's working pretty good. :)
 
#16 ·
I ride my bike to work almost every day. 4.5 flat miles. I can park my bike right in my own office at work.
I have a decent car (2001 Subaru) that I drive once a week or so. I drive less than 5000 miles/yr.
I actually have 7 bikes! My SO also has 7 bikes. Road bikes, mtn bikes, touring bikes, commuter bikes.
With what we've spent on bike stuff maybe we really aren't saving much money. We do shop for deals on our bike gear and have gotten many things super cheap.
But bikes are our recreation, transportation and exercise.

We live in town and can walk to a good grocery store. I often walk there with a backpack and pick up a few things at a time.
This store (Albertsons) often has good stock up sale prices and sometimes I do take the car out and do a shopping expedition there for loss leader sales. I try to combine that with other car errands too.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top