Is car ownership in the city still worth it?

The problem with cars

Allow me to paint a picture that is hopefully not too far removed from reality. You are a young couple, maybe you have a dog or even a little kid already, and you need to figure out a way to move through the city with the whole entourage. Obviously your initial thoughts are to take the car. And why wouldn’t they be? Afterall, everyone takes the car nowadays. But is this truly the best option at your disposal? Using the car as your main form of transportation is becoming increasingly expensive. On average, the monthly costs related to owning and driving a car are about €470, and these can increase to up to more than €600 if you are unlucky. That is equivalent to the rent for a student room in the very centre of Rotterdam, a pair of Gucci shoes, or a brand new Samsung 4k smart-tv, every single month. And we haven’t even taken the purchase price of your vehicle into account yet. Furthermore, cities are becoming increasingly ‘car unfriendly’. Just to name an example, Rotterdam is planning to turn Westblaak into a ‘pedestrians paradise’ soon, making it infinitely more difficult to take the car into the city. 

The solution

Now, it would not be fair to tell you this without providing you with a realistic alternative to the car. This is where BAQME comes into play, the electric cargo bike that will take you and your family anywhere you want to go. Our month passes cost €195 and give you full access to any of our cargo bikes at any time. You also will not have to worry about inconveniences such as maintenance. Let’s imagine a worst-case scenario in which you indeed pay €600 a month for your car. This would mean that you save a good €450 every month by simply using a BAQME. By choosing the car, you will have thrown away €900 by the 1st of March, just in 2022 alone. By the first of april, 3 months of driving your car will have cost you as much as a full year of taking the cargo bike. On an annual basis, your car usage will cost you €7.200 in this example, while BAQME will only cost you €1.800, a difference of €5.400 a year. In other words, by choosing the car you will waste enough money every year to fly to LA and back with 5 people in the middle of summer (or to buy 10.000 diapers, for the parents among us). On top of this, at BAQME there are no long-term commitments. If you don’t like our monthpasses, you can get rid of it the very next month without any further issues. You can even use our bikes with a day pass or on a single-ride basis, to ensure maximum flexibility for you.

If you are not yet convinced, find one of our bikes in the streets and try it out for yourself. Make sure to be quick though, as we only have a limited amount of monthpasses.

We hope to see you riding our bikes through the city soon!