Monday 14 January 2013

The Transportation Issue

So, no car was the decision (see yesterday's post for an explanation of the why.)  The question today is what to do about transportation.  Let's break it down by destination shall we?

Work

Got that covered already.  My monthly bus pass will get my to and from reliably.  Since I travel during rush hour it is even more convenient since I can catch the rush hour bus, which cuts my commute to 15 min.  The cost of my monthly bus pass is $68.25.

Parent's House

I greatly enjoy spending time with my parents.  Actually, since they've gotten back from overseas I've probably spent 95% of my weekend with them.  The freedom to pack a backpack and go see them is one of the things that I will miss most.  However, now that I've become a home owner I expect that I will see them less frequently and spend more time in my own home.  Still I will be wanting to see them.  Fortunately I can get a round trip to and from my parent's place on the local train for $51.98.  The cost of gas for the van there and back was about $50.  Hopefully any vehicle I get in the future will be a bit more fuel efficient then the van.  For now the train will suffice and is more economic then a car.

Groceries

This is the most problematic.  The closest grocery store is a 20 min walk away.  I did the walk today, with a relatively small load of groceries.  Let's just say that my bad knee was pretty achy by the time I was done.  I was lucky in that I didn't have any standing chores to do (like shovel the drive way or clean the house) because if I had, it wouldn't have gotten done.  There is no way that I can do the trip multiple times in a week and I dread the idea of a trip that has a number of heavy things (like milk, and potatoes, and flour . . . ).  The solution . . .



Yes, you are looking at a wagon!  I'm still shopping around for a deal since my brother will be in town next week and can drive me to the store.  What better way to get a big load of groceries home?  I can lock it up on the bike rack in front of the store when I shop and then drag it home.  Don't get me wrong, an hour on my feet will still hurt, but that's life.  The wagon will help with the worst of it.

Fun Stuff/Extracurriculars

I hope to be out of the house at least once a week.  The bus will get me to most of these events, unfortunately the bus system pretty much shuts down at 6pm not to start again until 6am.  So getting home is a bit of a challenge and all my destinations are too far to walk.  That means that I'll need to take a taxi.  The estimated cost for a taxi from downtown to my house is $20.10.

Summary

Transport budget - $538.20

Bus Pass - $68.25
Train (to my parents twice a month) - $103.96
Wagon - None (besides the initial investment)
Taxi - $80.40

Left over - $285.59

If I set the extra money from my transportation budget aside every month I'll have $9,000 cash to buy a car in a year's time.  At that point I can reassess the situation and decide if it makes more sense to buy or not.  Hopefully I'll prefer not to buy and that will free up almost $300 a month to use as I see fit.

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