https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/06/the-true-cost-of-commuting/  is an excellent blogpost that resonated with me right away. It reinforced my plan to rent a home in Jersey City and work in JC or NY midtown or downtown. Despite the rising home price of JC, I can still rent.

— They brushed off the potential commute, saying “Oh, 40 minutes, that’s not too bad.”

Most people, even smart middle-class young professionals like the featured couple, actually think this way.

Yes, actually it IS too bad! — Pete lamented

— $0.17/mile minimum

MMM biked to work while keeping a car for occasional use. Why minimize usage? He wrote

If you buy the right car for $5,000, you might be able to squeeze 100,000 miles out of it with no major repairs. In this case the car depreciation is 5 cents per mile.

• Gas, at $3.50 per 35 miles (assuming 35MPG), is 10 cents/mile
• Tires, at $300 per 50,000 miles are 0.6 cents
• Oil, at $25 per 5,000 miles is 0.5 cents
• Miscellaneous things like wipers and occasional maintenance visits: $200 per 20,000 miles = 1 cent

So the ultimate cheap driving in a paid-off economy car still costs at least 17 cents per mile. In contrast, IRS estimate of total driving cost is $0.51 per mile.