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.

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]

Originally Posted by daveyrach

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]

Originally Posted by Littlepeahead

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

Just tuck in in your bike trousers