A six-week trial on converting to public transport.
My progress on removing private transportation from my life.
So it’s been two weeks since I have totally abandoned my 2008 SUV in favour of commuting entirely via public transit in Melbourne. I committed myself to a six-week trial of public transport, and I am heavily leaning toward not renewing my rego (expiring on November 30).
So far, it has been great. Really, it has — and here’s why.
In 2023, I spent $5,403 on car maintenance, rego (including insurance), and $4,661 on fuel, plus $41
in parking tax. So that’s around $10,000 per year — $833 per month, $416 per fortnight.
While in 2024, car maintenance, rego, etc. was $347, and fuel was $2,976.1
As I am too broke, I always pay 3-monthly on rego — $235 ($80-something per month) and fill up the tank by half each time — $60 a pop every 5 or so days.
On average, I spend at least $4,000 per year on my car.
The last straw was when I arrived back home from Vietnam to a flat car, despite spending $300 on a Powercrank battery (the “elite” battery, he said). Elite my fucking ass. The kicker is that I made sure all interior lights were off, the headlights off, and the car locked. I even triple-checked it — ask J.
The car still fucking went flat, and I needed her for work (22 km from home each way, 20–40 minutes per trip depending on other idiots on the road — and funnily enough, I always arrived with a fist full of rage).
As I was saying, I thought I needed her — what a joke that was.
Anyway, I had work in a couple of days, so either a new battery or rely on Melbourne’s grand public transit system.2
So tram, train, and bus it was.
Fast forward to now — it has been two weeks since that day, and I think it’s working. I’ve travelled in the morning, arvo, and night, Monday to Sunday, and I always made it to work on time.
It takes me 90 minutes each way on a typical day and longer at night due to the slowdown of public transport, but on a good day, I’ve made it in 60 minutes. I typically take either two trains (5 minutes’ walk from home to a small train platform, and transfer to the next train at Flinders Street) or take a tram to Flinders and change there.
Now fares — well, it costs me $5.50 per way or $11 there and back. I am now exploring the monthly pass, which is $198 for a 30-day period — that’s $9.90 there and back for my typical monthly work schedule of 20 standard working days (40 hours a week, 5 days a week × 4 weeks = 20 round trips per month). They also have a yearly option, which is $2,145 per 365 days (20 round trips per month × 12 months = 240 round trips per year), so $2,145 ÷ 240 = $8.90 per round trip.
So $8.90 per round trip on a yearly basis.
So in theory, without car expenses, I should only spend $2,376 per year on transport instead of
the $4,000 with a car.
Why didn’t I ditch it earlier? If I had and invested that into a standard ETF with (let’s say) a 7% per year return, I would have been rewarded with $166 per year in returns — and remember the compounding theory — a further 7% on the return and the initial amount. Do you see it? Mind blown, right?
Tell me that makes sense, right?
What’s that I hear — “but you are wasting your precious time”? Sure, but I am utilising it for better use. Just because I am on public transit DOES NOT MEAN I stare at the next person or outside the tiny window.
I bring my noise-cancelling headphones, slap on some F.I. resources while jamming out posts, reviewing my budget in the YNAB 4 Classic app (fuck off YNAB subscription — suck my hairy balls, you money-greedy piece of shit, preying on budget-conscious people. Oh, but they have sync to your bank! SURE — not in Australia, even though we get charged for it in the subscription).
/RANT over — where was I? Totally went off track.
Umm.
Oh, and I jam out on my computer, reviewing my budget and net-worth spreadsheet, checking on stocks/ETFs and current bullshit news to find the next buying opportunity when they say the market will crash. I am waiting for the next crash. Market, please crash, so I can buy more. Pretty please.
Also, I work on this site and generally further myself to become F.I.R.E. — Financially Independent so I can retire from my on-my-feet career.
So yeah, so far, so good.
And the car — well, I am thinking of scrapping it for parts or selling it off cheap to recoup some of my stupidity tax for thinking I am entitled to a PRIVATE CAR.