Bike vs Public Transport

[Littlepeahead]

I often take a bit of stick from certain Orgers (well Rictus) about why with 2 bikes in the garage I spend £5000 a year on commuting fares which involves a bus journey of 20 minutes, a train journey of 40 minutes, a tube journey of 35 minutes and another bus journey of at least 10 minutes. Takes me around 100 minutes and that's if everything is running on time.

So today I decided to ride to work... and it was rubbish.

I was up at 5.30am as usual and left home at 7.30am. By the time I had got ready, including getting all my bike gear on, bike out of garage, finding clothes for work that wouldn't crease in my top box, then riding on the boring A12, M25 and M11 then a slow journey on the North Circular and Finchley Road, which even with filtering was slow and stressful. Get to work, get changed, re-apply make up rubbed off by helmet, then wet and re-style hair not completely successfully my fringe is still sticking up at odd angles. Total time, 140 minutes.

Plus I have a heap of emails to answer first thing as I normally get thorough these on the train and I was far more stressed than usual as I couldn't just chill out and relax on my journey for a second.

If I had to do that every day I would quickly stop riding the bike for fun.

[Red Herring]

And when you add in the cost of running your bike over that distance daily, and I mean proper cost including depreciation, tyres and such like as well as fuel, and then the increased risk you both yourself and the bike, public transport starts to make even more sense. The only advantage of the bike is the flexibility, but on a straightforward daily commute that may not be so important to you.

[timwilky]

Public transport doesn't exist for me. Well it would if I wanted to spend 6 hours on a train station in Manchester.

so drive. But the last 2 days the sun has shone so.

Get up at 4:45 walk the mutt.

Put on leathers and out of the house by 5:15. 25 mins later in work.

Normally leave house 6:30 1 hour later in work if the motorway is clear.

Why go so early. Easy, I get to leave early and have fun on the way home.

[timwilky]

PS, commuting is on my insurance. Worthwhile making sure as some companies treat it as an optional extra.

[SvNewbie]

Hmm, some of that is definitely cured by not being of the female persuasion.

I think I'd be getting something small and bullet proof (and not too likely to attract theft) for the commute if I was going into central London every day. A Honda C90 or the more modern takes on the same design.

[Littlepeahead]

I do have commuting on my insurance.

Most days my work is straight 9 - 6 Monday to Friday. At the weekends when the tube and trains are all out of service for engineering works and the roads are quiet the bike is ideal - though it still annoys me I have paid for a 7 day ticket and 2 days a week there is hardly any service.

As for attracting theft, I park on site at work, they've got to get in through the gates and past Doug the gate man before they can get to the bike, and even England captains playing that day have trouble getting past Doug if he's in the mood to be awkward.

[daveyrach]

For me personally public transport takes longer by 20mins or so and is per year dearer by around £200 even when I have factored in servicing costs, fuel for the year, tax and insurance etc.

I ride all year round (rain, fog, hail, sun, snow) you get my drift, I still love biking I almost enjoy riding in un-favourable conditions, you can never stop learning and gaining experience.

I wear my work clothes (shirt and trousers) under my gear, just a case of taking it off and putting my shoes on (which I leave at work)

[Littlepeahead]

I wear my work clothes (shirt and trousers) under my gear, just a case of taking it off and putting my shoes on (which I leave at work)

That doesn't really work when you wear a dress every day!

[jambo]

I work pretty much in the centre of London and live not too far from Purley.

Walk to Purley, train to London bridge then 2 underground lines, then short walk: Best case scenario is about 75 minutes. a day cost for this is ~£15. Clearly monthly passes would work out better.
Bike door to door, about 45 minutes plus 10 minutes of faffing one way or the other - 55 minutes. Fuel cost for this is about £4.

Clearly tyres, wear & tear etc add up. But I do my own servicing and the bike is probably if anything appreciating in value from when I got it in the first place as I bought it as a write-off. Tyres last about 10,000 miles which is fine by me.

I flip between the 2 options as I see fit. I think I'm probably done with riding in sub-zero temperatures when the commute by train is fairly easy, but I do seem happier when I commute by bike. The fact that no amount of make-up will significantly improve my appearance and that I'm not terribly popular for emails helps a lot. I leave a pair of shoes and trousers at work and change when I get in.

Horses for courses, I think everyone should ride a bike and enjoy it. I don't really care whether they ride everywhere or only when they want to, as long as they enjoy it when they do.

Jambo

[daveyrach]

That doesn't really work when you wear a dress every day!

Just tuck in in your bike trousers :D

[Bibio]

if it were not for people like LPH we would not have a public transport system.

well done and may it continue.

[jambo]

That doesn't really work when you wear a dress every day!

I've seen a dress worn over leathers.

But I suspect the fit of that item was a little off in the first instance.

Jambo

[L3nny]

Ahh the problems of Londoners, for the rest of the country public transport is simply not an option. It's quicker for me to walk to work than take the bus and I live in a fairly large town.

Where I lived before in rural Warwickshire the 15 mile trip to work would have taken over two hours and on a Sunday I wouldn't have been able to get there at all.

[Sir Trev]

Irritatingly for me the line from HW to Bourne End was a casualty of the Beeching cuts. Shame really as my new office (I start on Monday) is right next to Maidenhead station and if the line to BE was still in place it would take me directly on to... Maidenhead. Shame. I start at silly early o'clock which is ahead of the rush but it's getting home across HW that's no fun as it's always heaving between 4 and 7, so a train option would have been considered.

Public transport has never been an option for any of my work locations without several bus connections that would take twice as long. So I've always had to drive. Most have been reasonably close or with fairly free-flowing traffic meaning the bike would take longer once the time-to-change was factored in, even on the way home.

Don't blame you for using the train to be honest LPH. I could not face commuting to London full stop but on the rare days I need to go in for business hours I'd never consider the bike - give me country roads over filtering hell every time!

[ethariel]

As long as there is no ice on my 2 side roads (or as long as I'm not drinking in the evening) I much prefer to take the bike, saves me 60 to 90 minutes a day on my commute.

Plus if I have the bike, I'm far less inclined to work that extra 20 or 30 minutes each evening, much easier to just get changed and leave!

[DarrenSV650S]

Unless you have a permanent place of work, with shower facilities, somewhere to safely store bike gear and you live in the south of France, commuting by bike sucks.

[Teejayexc]

Irritatingly for me the line from HW to Bourne End was a casualty of the Beeching cuts. Shame really as my new office (I start on Monday) is right next to Maidenhead station and if the line to BE was still in place it would take me directly on to... Maidenhead. Shame. I start at silly early o'clock which is ahead of the rush but it's getting home across HW that's no fun as it's always heaving between 4 and 7, so a train option would have been considered.

Public transport has never been an option for any of my work locations without several bus connections that would take twice as long. So I've always had to drive. Most have been reasonably close or with fairly free-flowing traffic meaning the bike would take longer once the time-to-change was factored in, even on the way home.

Don't blame you for using the train to be honest LPH. I could not face commuting to London full stop but on the rare days I need to go in for business hours I'd never consider the bike - give me country roads over filtering hell every time!

Ffs, that was 1963! You must be older than me.

[Balky001]

I commuted from Southend to St Paul's for a couple of years but that was when petrol was 80p a litre. Now the train is just as cheap, more relaxing and a lot safer than the A13 at 7am. I don't miss the bike commute most of the time (OK, when there are delays or sun is shining in the holidays and roads not as busy), especially the miles and miles of filtering in almost stand still traffic waiting for someone to pull out on you.

[yorkie_chris]

And when you add in the cost of running your bike over that distance daily, and I mean proper cost including depreciation, tyres and such like as well as fuel, and then the increased risk you both yourself and the bike, public transport starts to make even more sense. The only advantage of the bike is the flexibility, but on a straightforward daily commute that may not be so important to you.

Pft maybe if you live in London.

Public transport anywhere else isn't a realistic option, for me it would be 3 hours to go 20 miles.*

Or I get near 60mpg, 12,000+ miles out of a tyre, and I don't agree with depreciation.



*Or about 15 years after killing someone. The horrific emotional cost of sharing a confined space with so many poor people would result in a murder.

[NTECUK]

That doesn't really work when you wear a dress every day!

wear a short dress then.
how do you manage to rub your make up off.
eyelashes and lips to close to the lids chin bar?
You could leve your work stuff at work ?
the stress bit . well best stick with trains

[Sir Trev]

Ffs, that was 1963! You must be older than me.

I didn't say I was alive when the link was closed ya loonie.

[Knobby]

Thing to do would be to take in clothes to wear at work during the week. thats what I do.
As for journey time the more you do it the faster you will become. Not fast in a dangerous way but in a more positive way. You will be more used to filtering and may even find a quicker way to save a few mins. And you will get into a routine and shave off a few mins getting ready in the mornings.
I would never use a train everyday. apart from the cost,over crowding,dirt,time and expense its the time. By time you wait for it etc I can be a few miles on the road to work.

[jambo]

I work pretty much in the centre of London and live not too far from Purley.

Walk to Purley, train to London bridge then 2 underground lines, then short walk: Best case scenario is about 75 minutes. a day cost for this is ~£15. Clearly monthly passes would work out better.
Bike door to door, about 45 minutes plus 10 minutes of faffing one way or the other - 55 minutes. Fuel cost for this is about £4.

Clearly tyres, wear & tear etc add up. But I do my own servicing and the bike is probably if anything appreciating in value from when I got it in the first place as I bought it as a write-off. Tyres last about 10,000 miles which is fine by me.

Jambo

Oh and the odd £65 fine for riding in a bid lane that looks exactly like the bus lanes you can ride in with one key difference. Bugger.

Jambo
Sent from my thingie

[Littlepeahead]

It won't get any quicker. That was doing 90 on the motorway and I went North Circular because M25 is 50mph for miles for the next year. I filter at every opportunity too. On Friday night getting to Soho was a game of dare as soon as you reach the West End. People cross at stupid places, they jump out between buses and the tourists are the worst. You can rev or hoot or gesture and it makes not a jot of difference. I got home in the same time the train would have taken but I was cold and weary.

[Bibio]

so you spend the best part of £5k a year and almost 2 hours travelling time to get to work. you really really must like your job.

[Phoenix22]

I think I would either change jobs or move house. Nearly 20 hrs a week just commuting is not good.

[NTECUK]

LPH lives for her cricket . I think shes. Very fortunate,
Stick with publiic transport.
You ment an Indcated 90 actual. 75Mph as its a public forum miss...

[Littlepeahead]

That was kmph Martin :-)

Yep I do 20 hours a week travelling. But house prices in St Johns Wood aren't very reasonable.

And my work only has one location so moving jobs isn't an option.

[Red Herring]

I used to have a 45 mile commute to work, almost all of which was up and down a motorway. I used to spend the time planning my day, taking and making calls (hands free of course) or just plain trying to relax. The number of times I would arrive at home/work without being able to remember a single part of the drive was frightening, I consider myself very lucky to have got away with it for as long as I did (although I did wake up once facing the wrong way in lane three after falling asleep going home after nights...fortunately without hitting anything!).

I'd have let the train take the strain if I could have.

[wyrdness]

Pft maybe if you live in London.

Public transport anywhere else isn't a realistic option, for me it would be 3 hours to go 20 miles.

Public transport in London isn't always an option either. I live and work in London and my journey to work (approx 11 miles as the corvid flies) takes 2 hours by public transport, or around 30 minutes by bike.

[wyrdness]

That was kmph Martin :-)

Yep I do 20 hours a week travelling. But house prices in St Johns Wood aren't very reasonable.

And my work only has one location so moving jobs isn't an option.

Surely they have cricket in other places too? Like Yorkshire or Australia.

[ClunkintheUK]

I have a similar commute Wyrdness. Its an hour by train when everything works. But to get that I have to be on the 6.45 train. and £9 a day. Bike, 40 mins even in heavy traffic.

I quite like my ride. I quite like filtering, i see it as a challenge to get through the traffic safely (no, "Where the sm*g did you come from?" moments) as fast as possible, but then I grew up cycling in London.

I did loose my zen a couple of weeks ago though, for the first time. 7 series merged into my lane with virtually no warning as I was going for the overtake. The warning was he was a big beamer behind a cyclist. The reason he gave for very nearly knocking me off (in our very calm debate about traffic laws) "What do you want me to knock the cyclist off?"

[Steve_God]

I'd personally love to be able to use public transport for my commute given it should be a straight forward train into Manchester, and a tram back out of Manchester on the other side, however:
- It takes between 1 hour 30 / 2 hours, depending on the waiting time at Manchester (compared to 30 minutes on the bike, could even call it 45 if you included kitting up getting bike out)
- It costs more
- It's dull

For me, the route to work is mostly motorways (M61, M60, M62, A627(M)) - yet as long as it's not bucketing it down, it's a much more enjoyable journey, plus being quicker and cheaper.

Only downside is the risk factor is riding in rush hour, but it's no more of a risk than motorcycling in general.

[NTECUK]

Ridding in peak commute times is more risky . that's why you get a discount for no commuting.