Uber vs Car: Seattle Cost Breakdown

Three months ago, my partner and I moved across the country from the East Coast to Seattle, Washington. In our three months, we’ve used ride-sharing apps like Uber a hefty amount of times… Running late to a meeting? Can’t carry the groceries on the bus? Meeting up with some friends and don’t feel like taking the public bus? Take an Uber.

Needless to say, it’s felt like we’ve been taking a lot of Ubers. As a finance conscious person and someone who just likes to work with numbers I thought I’d investigate:

How much am I spending on transportation, and am I saving any money by using Uber versus owning a car?

Ride-sharing costs

To do this, I started by looking at my activity in Uber & Lyft over the past 30 days. View the table here.

Over the past 30 days using Uber:

• I have taken 20 Uber rides.
• Traveled 38.64 miles.
• Spent a total of $99.84.

Over the past 30 days using Lyft:

• I have taken 2 Lyft rides.
• Traveled 13.50 miles.
• Spent a total of $6.83.

Two immediate takeaways:

1. I spent over $100 on transportation in the last month, ugh.
2. I only use Lyft when there are special promotions…In fact, in one of my Lyft rides, I traveled from Seattle to Redmond (12 miles) for $3.15 by using a $30 Lyft…