Walking & Cycling Savings Calculator
See what swapping short car trips for walking or cycling could really save you a year — fuel, wear-and-tear and parking — plus a rough calorie bonus and what the saving could grow to if invested.
Estimate only. These are estimates based on the figures you enter — actual fuel economy, fuel prices, running costs, calories burned and emissions all vary. This is not health, environmental or financial advice.
Cost per mile driven: 31.2p
A rough estimate only — actual calories burned vary hugely by pace, terrain, weather and your own body weight.
An approximate figure using an average UK petrol car — not a certified measurement.
Redirecting £20/month into an investment growing at your chosen rate could add up to:
Grown from £2,437 paid in, plus £717 in growth.
| Years | Paid in | Total value |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | £2,437 | £3,154 |
| 20 | £4,874 | £8,348 |
| 30 | £7,312 | £16,903 |
Illustrative only, not investment advice — growth isn't guaranteed and this doesn't account for charges or tax.
- Under-2-mile trips make up around a third of all UK car journeys — walkable or cyclable in 15-30 minutes for most people, and often quicker door-to-door once you factor in parking.
- Short trips are disproportionately expensive to drive: a cold engine uses more fuel per mile until it warms up, so your real cost per mile on a 1-2 mile trip is usually higher than the average this calculator's mpg figure implies.
- If your local short trips fall inside a Clean Air Zone, Low Emission Zone or ULEZ, swapping them for walking or cycling avoids the daily charge entirely, not just the fuel and parking cost.
- E-bikes and cargo bikes make longer or hillier "short trips" — like the school run or a big shop — far more realistic to swap, without needing to be especially fit.
How the saving is worked out
The cost of driving a short trip is your fuel cost per mile (from your car's mpg and the fuel price, the same formula as our Fuel Cost Calculator) plus a wear-and-tear allowance per mile — the AA's rough running-cost guidance suggests around 15p/mile for tyres, servicing and general wear, on top of fuel. Multiplying that combined rate by your round-trip distance, trips per week and weeks per year gives the annual saving from swapping the trip for walking or cycling, plus any parking you'd no longer pay for. The calorie and CO2 figures are rough, illustrative bonuses on top of the money saved — not health or environmental advice.