Public transport fares and vehicle fuel costs are easier to compare when both cover the same campus days and round trips. Comparing a one way fare with a whole month’s fuel bill does not answer the same question.
Student Commute Cost estimates monthly public transport cost and a vehicle’s entered variable costs. It does not fetch current fares or fuel prices.
Define one campus trip consistently
Enter campus days per month and one way distance. The model uses two trips for every campus day, so monthly distance is days × one way kilometres × two.
Public transport uses an entered one way fare for each of those two trips. Include connections in that fare if more than one paid ride is needed per direction.
For the vehicle, enter measured fuel economy, fuel price per litre, parking per campus day and a maintenance allowance per kilometre. The maintenance allowance is your budgeting choice, not a calculated repair forecast.
Twenty two days and a 12 km route
At 22 campus days and 12 km each way, monthly travel is 528 km. A one way public fare of PKR 80 gives 44 paid trips and a monthly cost of PKR 3,520.
For a vehicle doing 40 km per litre, the same distance needs 13.2 litres. At PKR 280 per litre, fuel costs PKR 3,696. Parking at PKR 20 per campus day adds PKR 440, and a PKR 2 per km maintenance allowance adds PKR 1,056.
The vehicle variable cost estimate is PKR 5,192, which is PKR 1,672 higher than the public transport estimate under these inputs.
| Monthly component | PKR |
|---|---|
| Public transport | 3,520 |
| Vehicle fuel | 3,696 |
| Vehicle parking | 440 |
| Vehicle maintenance allowance | 1,056 |
| Vehicle total | 5,192 |
Read the difference with its limits
A positive vehicle minus public figure means the entered vehicle estimate is higher. A negative figure would mean it is lower on this limited cost comparison.
Vehicle purchase, insurance and other fixed ownership costs are excluded. So are travel time, comfort, availability and the possibility of sharing a fare or vehicle.
Fuel economy should describe the route reasonably well. Heavy traffic, a detour or another regular trip can change actual fuel use beyond this constant distance model.
Update the price instead of trusting the example
Use the fare and fuel price applicable to your own journey. The starting rates illustrate the formula and are not presented as current Pakistan prices.
Zero campus days produce zero modeled monthly travel costs. For a hostel plan, add the relevant commute amount to Hostel Student Budget only where it has not already been included in personal or transport expenses.