Taking Uber to work is cheaper than driving in cities across the country

While hailing an Uber won’t save you from having to sit in traffic, it may save you some cash.

In eight cities across the country, using the ride sharing service is cheaper than drivers using their own vehicles, according to an analysis of 20 cities by NerdWallet. Costs associated with having your own car, like insurance, gas, parking and general maintenance add up to more than Ubering to and from work five days a week.

In Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington D.C., taking an Uber is cheaper than driving. Uber could save commuters the most in San Francisco, at $84 each week. People could save $76 in New York and $39 in Chicago.

Parking during the day hikes the cost of driving a personal vehicle in many cities. In New York, the average commuter spends $147 each week to park their car each week. Miami’s largest expense is car insurance, averaging $47 a week and 52 percent of driving commuting costs.

In several other metro areas, driving your own car is still cheaper than using a ride sharing service. Dallas drivers save $116 by using their own wheels, and St. Louis drivers save $108.

The NerdWallet study used typical commuter distances and analyzed average fares during morning and evening rush hours over a week in February.

Commuters in big cities are also increasingly turning to bike sharing to get to work. The systems have seen massive growth over the last several years, with people taking 28 million trips in 2016. In 2010, there were just 320,000 trips. There were only four bike share systems that year, which grew to systems in 55 cities totaling 42,000 bikes by 2016. There were only 1,600 bikes in 2010.

This story was originally published March 10, 2017 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Taking Uber to work is cheaper than driving in cities across the country."