Per Passenger Mile MPG

[jonathan180iq]

I've just finished a report on the efficiencies of current human transportation methods.

For what it's worth, I used the GZ250 as my model motorcycle for calulating motorbike efficiency.

I have a personal average of 67 MPG.
To better understand the per passenger mile of our bikes, can you guys please pass along your lifetime personal averages in MPG?

So far it looks like motorcycling, per passenger mile, is the second worst mode of transportation globally, behind automobiles but ahead of air travel.

[CANDY]

i was averageing 81 mpg on my 2007 gz250. i just changed the muffler. will let you know how it works out. i did not do any adjustments and i feel like i have more power,so i want to see how my mpg's do. :roll:

[jonathan180iq]

I'd also like to see how often anyone here rides 2-up.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by jonathan180iq

So far it looks like motorcycling, per passenger mile, is the second worst mode of transportation globally, behind automobiles but ahead of air travel.

Seems like I remember that the average "load" in cars is only 1.13 or something like that, and I assume that for bikes it would be something like 1.003. Not likely the bike load will increase a lot but I wonder what effect it would have on the ranking if the average load for cages went up to something like 3.5 (almost any vehicle can carry 4 in relative comfort).
That might put bikes at the top (of the worst).

I've been saying for about 30 years that this country made a BIG mistake when "we" decided to stop supporting the railroads and let them crumble. "We" are still stupid, as some want to see Amtrak (and rail passenger service) die out altogether. :cuss:

[jonathan180iq]

I completely agree with your railway comment.

Having spent some time in Austria and Germany and having experienced what it's like to travel on a NICE rail system that is always ontime, I can't say that there is a more comfortable way to travel. Not only that, it's the most efficient mass transit system that we have, depending on the engine type. An Electric or magnet train would far and away be the most efficient means of transportation.

I gave every vehicle the benefit of the doubt and loaded them down with as many passengers as they could hold.
In doing so, cars came out around 128 PPMPG. Bikes, on average, came out closer to 110 PPMPG. The GZ, is slightly better, capable of 140 PPMPG, but this isn't a very popular bike.

Air travel averages somewhere around 70 PPMPG in a Boeing 747.

For comparison, consider that bus travel is about 600 PPMPG, bicycling 638 PPMPG (@160lbs) and walking 366 PPMPG (@ 160lbs)

Cycling and walking of course are limited to single passengers, but this is how efficient those systems are.

[5th_bike]

My first measurement over almost 300 miles resulted in 70.00 miles to the gallon.

[bigfour]

How is walking/bicycling given a mpg rating? Gallons of sweat?

And was your report of efficiency in terms of $$$ or efficiency in terms of conservation of resources? Not all types of fuel cost the same, and the production of the vehicle takes resources too.

[jonathan180iq]

These calculations compare the efficiency of each system based on consumption of resources. The production equation was left out, as the whole report only deals with which system is the most efficient.

For those who don't understand the miles per gallon of human activity, it's pretty simple.
one gallon gasoline contains roughly 31,000 calories. If a human were consume 31,000 calories, they could, hypothetically travel a certain distance, depending on what activity they are performing.

It just so happens that cycling burns 704 calories in one hour at 14MPH average speed.
Working that calculation out, this person could, hypothetically, continue traveling for 44 hours before they ran out of juice. 44 hours at 14mph equals 616 MPG.

You might say that the human body will break down long before that happens and that's true. However, if you only drive your car 5 miles, you are still getting roughly 30mpg, right?

That's the point. At any one time, the human body, on a bicycle in this case, achieves 616mpg while the car gets 30.
Load 4 people into a car and the per passenger miles per gallon increased to 120, leaving the bicycle far ahead of the car in efficiency.

See?

Those numbers can be worked out for each vehicle and resource consumption and efficiency can be compared.