Depending on where you live, knowing what the most cost-effective mode of transportation is for you could save you hundreds of dollars a month. But is that public transit, using a ridesharing app like Uber or Lyft, or actually buying a car? It depends—and there are tools to help you figure it out.
A recent report from SmartCapitalMind analyzed data to estimate the average people spend owning a vehicle, ridesharing, and taking public transportation. Their results found that to travel equivalent distances—around 15,000 miles annually or, in the case of public transit, take one round-trip ride per day—Americans would likely spend about $141 a month on public transportation, $915 a month owning a vehicle, and $2,632 a month on ride-sharing.
Clearly, there are a lot of factors to weigh here—someone who needs to travel 15,000 miles per year probably isn’t going to opt for ridesharing—that will give you a very different numbers depending on your situation. With that in mind, here are some tools that can help you calculate your own numbers and decide if it’s better for you to rideshare or own a vehicle.
Calculate the cost of ridesharing
Graphic: SmartCapitalMind MVDigitalPR
Unsurprisingly, ridesharing is the most expensive option on a per-mile basis—three times more expensive than owning a car, according to the report. Interestingly, Uber tended to be twice as expensive as Lyft, but both options were judged cheaper than taxis. Of course, you need to run the numbers for your own area, as costs differ by city.
Uber offers a price estimator to help you figure out the per-mile cost for your region. To do this, select a pick up location, ideally your house, and a common destination, like your job. Use Google maps to figure out how many miles that drive is and note that number for later. The app will automatically offer three options for different vehicle types and number of passengers, so choose whichever option you think you’ll use most often. Click the “i” next to the price and find the per-mile cost.
Next, you’ll need to calculate the average number of miles you’ll be traveling by rideshare in a year. If that means daily trips to work, use the number you grabbed from Google Maps earlier, and estimate any weekend traveling or after hours trips, too. Multiply that by your per-mile cost to get your estimated yearly ridesharing cost.
(For Lyft, you can use their price estimator tool to find the total cost of the same ride from Uber. Unfortunately there is no per-mile cost option, but you can just divide that number of miles you’re traveling by the cost of the Lyft ride to get your per-mile cost for Lyft.)
Calculate the cost of car ownership
Graphic: SmartCapitalMind MVDigitalPR
To find the cost of owning a vehicle in your region, first you’ll need to find the per-mile cost for your actual car, or the hypothetical car you would get. Use this cost per-mile of driving calculator to find your per-mile cost. Input the cost of gas from a local gas station, or use AAA’s average gas price tool for your area. Input your car’s miles per gallon—if you don’t know it, use the U.S. Department of Energy’s look up tool to find it. And finally, factor in the value of your car—either the monthly payment or, if you are able to pay for the car outright, the price divided by the number of months you expect to own it (most people keep their cars an average of eight years, according to a recent survey from The Zebra).
Once you have your per-mile cost for owning a car, multiply it by the number of miles you travel in a year (the same figure you used above when figuring your rideshare cost) and you’ll have a good idea of how much you’ll be laying out for the privilege of driving yourself around.
The bottom line
Obviously, none of these numbers will be exact. These calculations require a lot of assumptions and estimates, and even some gut instinct—would you be likely to take extra trips if you had a car? The quality of life boost you’d get from being able to more easily take sight-seeing trips on the weekend has value too—but hopefully they will get you to the starting line.
