According to a recent article in The Simple Dollar is really is cheaper to ride the bus. They had a question from the public wondering if it really was cheaper to ride the bus. The questioner was balancing the cost of the daily fare (to and from work) with the cost of gas per mile and distance to work. Well, when you’re only balancing gas versus bus fare it’s tough to assume that the bus is cheaper – but once you step back you realize that gas isn’t the only cost in driving a car, even if you don’t pay for gas.

Here’s the word from The Simple Dollar…

First of all, your car costs a lot more than you think. Gas is just the start. You also have maintenance, tires, insurance, license, registration, taxes, depreciation, and finance charges (if you have a car loan). According to AAA’s estimates on driving costs, if you drive a medium sedan 10,000 miles per year, the cost per mile figuring in all of those factors is 70.2 cents per mile

For course they also note…

Of course, if you’re going to own a car anyway, the cost per mile for a medium sedan goes down to $0.39 (according to those AAA statistics, adding together maintenance and depreciation per mile).

But either way you slice it – the bus is cheaper.