Commuting in winter: Car or Bike?

[jambo]

If it added 20 minutes total and it was all M25, and I got up to observe it raining sideways, I think I'd take the car. When you factor in the faf of dressing, undressing, drying soaked bike gear just generally riding in totally horrid conditions it's an attractive option. But I'd be assessing it day by day and if it started taking ages more because everyone else was taking their cars and gridlocking the M25 it'd be back to the bike and waterproofs

In conclusion, get up, stare out window, turn on traffic report, make impulse decision and go for it. 1 day at a time and all that

Originally Posted by PatrickUK

no difference to me in what cage you are in!

once you're stuck in traffic in a cage - you're stuck.

I'm loosing the will to live when i'm commuting in the car.

I don't know. Sitting in my Ovlov, music playing, heated seat on to keep me cozy... Much better than my first car... Terrible stereo, not the best heater in the world and not terribly comfy.

Having said that, if it's not seriously lousy weather (or i have a cold as at the moment) I'll take the bike and avoid the jam. Once the ice and snow starts I want four wheels - the bike slides it's expensive + painful, the car slides it's just expensive (hopefully).

Stu

All things being equal, the car would be better for winter. In practice though, it's the poor weather days and Christmas traffic boom that lead to huge holdups during the coming months. It can take 45 mins or 2 hours in the car, you'll never know. The bike is always a consistent 35mins.

In the summer months when all is rosy, traffic is usually at a minimum and I don't really get a time advantage to using the bike!! My car and bike have the same mpg so no diff there.

Originally Posted by jambo

In conclusion, get up, stare out window, turn on traffic report, make impulse decision and go for it. 1 day at a time and all that

Yep

mind you, it took me 2 hours to get home tonight - 2 major crashes on the M25 , having to resurface the other side (what sort of crash was that - I've never seen that many roadworks trucks with their flashing yellow lights at once before), and 3 lanes closed on my side near Heathrow
And then the A3 was snarled up as well. Had to sit there as the occasional bike filtered past

Like others my commute takes 20 mins on the bike, can take over an hour in the car. There are days when it isn’t the nicest thing ever, but I can’t stand sitting in traffic with all the other morons!!

How long does it take you to get in normally??? 20 mins on a 1hr journey wouldn’t be bad … 20mins on a 5min journey would

[Sid Squid]

Whatever journey I need to make there needs to be a damn, damn good reason to use four wheels.
I live in central London and if I had to get behind the wheel any more than I do, I'd show the world what road rage really means.

Bike and bike only.

On the bike my journey can take 50 minutes on a good day, about an hour and 10 on a bad day. In the car its just over an hour on a bloomin' marvellous day and anything up to 2 hours on a bad day.

I looked out the window and saw it was still raining so in the car for me (my gear is still wet too), it took about an hour and 5 minutes and thats including crawling past a broken down stretched limosine on the M25.

[Viney]

Originally Posted by mysteryjimbo

It also generally means more cars on the roads on the school run so more slow traffic. I commute all year due to the saved time. In 2 years i've saved nearly 3 weeks in travel time.

3 Weeks!! What ahve you done with this new found time?

Originally Posted by Kate

On the bike my journey can take 50 minutes on a good day, about an hour and 10 on a bad day. In the car its just over an hour on a bloomin' marvellous day and anything up to 2 hours on a bad day.

I looked out the window and saw it was still raining so in the car for me (my gear is still wet too), it took about an hour and 5 minutes and thats including crawling past a broken down stretched limosine on the M25.

Have to say the idea of an hours journey on the bike round the M25 in poor conditions doesn’t appeal!! At least my commute is all done and dusted in <20 mins … there isn’t enough time to get stupidly cold or anything.

As has been mentioned before it is the ‘variability’ of travel time that is one of the biggest factors that makes using a car less practical than a bike, do you work flexi???