How I Get 152 Miles per Gallon in the City
How good is the mileage on your car? I just did the math, and I travelled 2,288 miles in the past 4 months on 15 gallons of gas, so I’m getting 152 mpg. And I don’t even drive a hybrid!
How is that even possible? Here’s how I did it.
My last fuel purchase, according to my financial records, was on October 17th 2014. Today is February 7th 2015. I put 15 gallons of gas in my car today. Every time I fuel up, I set my trip counter so I can calculate my mileage at the next fuel up. I have driven 245 miles since my last fuel purchase 113 days ago.
“Wait,” you’re probably saying, "you haven’t bought gas in 113 days? I fill my tank every week! What are you trying to pull here?”
It’s simple, friends. You see, I live in the city. My home is walking distance to public transit, and I ride the train to work every day instead of driving. My home is also walking distance to the grocery store, pharmacy, local restaurants, dry cleaners, and almost everything else I need. So I almost never drive my car.
According to the app on my (allegedly smart) phone, I have walked an average of 3.4 miles per day over the last 4 months. Multiply by 113 days, and we find that I have walked 384.2 miles since my last fuel up. That’s about 50% more walking than driving.
During that 113 days were some holidays, some vacation time, and a few work-from-home days, so I commuted to work and back 58 times. The distance between the two train stations, if I drove it, would be 14.3 miles. So at 28.6 miles per day, I commuted 1658.8 miles getting to work and back by train.
That’s 245 miles driving, 384.2 walking, and 1,658.8 by train for a total of 2,288 miles on 15 gallons of gas, or 152.5 miles per gallon.
So if you think urban living is bad for the environment, think again. Density and public transit make urban life far more sustainable than the suburban alternative. Save the planet, move into the city!