Commuting - Riding vs driving your commute

Just wondering whether for most people, the bike commute is faster than what the best car commute would be, about the same, or slower?

The bike commute would take me about two hours longer to get to work. Plus if I didn't get run over on the street it would definitely happen on the freeway :D:(

My commute is 5 minutes slower by bike.
but it does take some extra prep time.

my commute is only 3 miles each way with 2 stop lights and minimal traffic, so i loose time while riding over driving; but i make it up in finding a parking spot and walking from the parking lot to the building as i can lock up my bike right infront of the building

18-20 minutes in a vehicle, 25-30 minutes on the bike.

I live in rural Iowa, so traffic is not the issue. It takes me about 17 minutes by car and an hour by bike.

One hour bike commute vs 45 min drive, but factor in getting dressed, undressed, showered at each end and its easily double the time.

My ride to work has one shortcut which is legal on a bike but not navigable by car. I have driven my route outside of rush hour and I was astonished at how long it took - 20% more time! I haven't had the opportunity to drive home from work, but if I'm getting 3-light delays on my bike with some filtering and creative lane choices, I can't imagine getting out of downtown any faster.

It's much slower for me to cycle. My commute is rural hwy so it's 20-40kph cycling vs. 80-100kph driving. There are no shortcuts. It is of course time well spent in other ways that have been expounded in numerous other threads.

My commute took me about 10 minutes to drive and takes about 20-25 to ride. I get up 15 minutes earlier than I used to, and there's no question about it being worth the extra time. I'm amazed by how much better I feel in the mornings. And after an especially stressful working day, there is nothing better and more therapeutic than the ride home. Simply incredible for my mental well being. I am soooo glad I started this! :)

It takes me 15-20 minutes to drive to work (at best) vs 35 minutes (best time) on the bike. A little heavy traffic can easily increase my drive time to 30+ minutes though. Heavy traffic doesn't really affect my ride time at all though...which I enjoy. ;)

My bike commute is actually shorter, thanks to MUP's. If I drive, I have two stop signs and three traffic lights. On my bike I only have two stop signs and a much more direct route.

About 15-20 minutes driving, 1 hour cycling.

10.8 miles, about 20 minutes by car, 40 to 50 minutes by bike. Nearly 100% rural 50 MPH roads with no stops and no traffic. It's a very nice ride, and also a very nice drive, woods and farm fields around the roads, etc, but it also means that in a car you go the whole distance at the speed limit of 50, so it's certainly much slower by bike.
In the summer if I'm not fighting a headwind I can do it in as little as 33 minutes on a bike.

Never done the full commute by car as I cut through a couple places and make a completely illegal left turn on my bike. However, my normal drive is 35-45 minutes. Cycle commute is about 55 minutes. With a great tailwind, I made it home once in 45 minutes including time to educate a driver who shook his fist at me as he passed with horn blaring. The point was made that I'm legal on the road and it ended with a handshake.

I can usually drive in 30 minutes; the cycle commute is 70-85 minutes depending on traffic, fatigue, etc. Despite the extra time, I HATE driving to/from work. I would rather slog home in the rain, bonked and with sore legs than drive my car.

So what IS wrong with me, anyways?

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=232903

both cycling and metro/tube/underground are the same speed if you factor in the lock up/wash up at each end

taxi/cab is by far the fastest if the traffic is good - rush hour traffic (6am to 8pm - lol) means that every second trip takes twice as long as the alternates though

1 hour to get to work, which is actually slightly slower. It's the commute home that really makes the difference. Going home by car it's often 2+ hours, vs bike it takes about an hour, usually a bit longer though as I ride slower and take a longer route for the fun of it.

Driving is 45-90 minutes depending on traffic. Most days are about 55 minutes going in and 60-75 min going home.

Bike-train-bike is 60-65 minutes
Bike-boat-bike is 65-70 minutes (but there is a bar on the boat....)

My commute is about 10 minutes by bike, a little less by car, however I'd have to drive around to find parking. :p Since I live close enough, I don't need to change clothes or anything.

I commute 41 miles round trip. If traffic if flowing I drive MUCH faster, but in cases like last Friday where a cement truck overturned on the highway, the bike can be faster. Also if I stop for random things in the car, which I often do not only is the car slower it cost me a whole lot more. I have yet to stop at Starbucks while riding the bike to or from work, I often do in the car.

In big cities with a lot of traffic I'd imagine riding is a great alternative to driving simply because of the congestion. I live right outside of NYC and it takes me about an hour if I commute by bus followed by a 15 minute walk to my job. Biking takes me a bit under an hour door to door, so I save some money and get some exercise.
:D

My commute is usually about 10 minutes by car. I was astonished when I tried it on my 24 speed MTB and found that that time increased to 30 minutes. To try to cut that time I switched to my single-speed road rig and my time reduced to 20 minutes. I can live with that, especially out of a fixie. Plus it helps to get me awake in the morning rather than ariving still half asleep.

My commute would definitely take much longer. 56 miles round trip, mostly on country roads. Four hours by bike and 90 minutes by automobile. I do a partial commute of 18 miles RT and I don't care about how long it takes, I save a little money and wear on my car plus, I get some exercise. I ride my bicycle because its enjoyable.:D

My drive is about five minutes.
By bike, it takes about 20 minutes, I'm sure I could get there sooner if I really hustled...but I like the longer commute. It gives my brain time to shift gears.

Just wondering whether for most people, the bike commute is faster than what the best car commute would be, about the same, or slower?

Your poll ignores the fact that millions of people who would like to ride can't due to infrastructure
concerns, distance, weather issues, age issues, health issues or physical ablities.

For these people safe mass transit is critical to the economy.

Right now it is much slower for me to bicycle then take public transportation. When I get my bicycle fixed and tuned up, and get in better shape, it might get close. Public transportation is about an hour. Bicycling is an hour for about half the commute. Nowhere near by car, when I get a ride, 15-30 minutes, depending on traffic.

This is my first post. I started to commute part way last year for health reasons and just loved it! Started learning repair and maintenance with my old bicycles, and slowing getting tools and supplies. Didn't start up yet this year, but I am really looking forward to it!

12 min door to door ride.
20 by car.

In the morning, driving is much faster than biking: 15min vs 45min.
Evenings it's more like driving 30+min vs biking 45min.
Public transportationis about the same as biking.

I have about a twenty minute drive (very direct route) or forty minute bike ride (meandering route on bike paths)

It depends on where I park, so I said about the same. It would probably be about 15-20 minutes by car vs. 25 minutes by bike if I pushed. That's the best-case, and I'd have to pay to park. :rolleyes:

For free parking, that includes a shuttle bus to the office. It would be MUCH longer than riding. Perhaps double the time.

I take the train to work with my bike. It takes 15 minutes to ride to the train station. There is no way I could make it to the train in the same amount of time in a car, and it would be next to impossible to park.

Driving in to work takes about 20-30 minutes depending on traffic.
Riding in to work takes 40-60 minutes depending on my route and how my legs feel.

Riding definitely takes more time for me but that is offset by the benefits I get from riding in to work.

It used to be that riding in was somewhat slower, but with the build up in traffic and rebuilding of the airport and movement of the parking lot and lunch room for employees (between the parking lot shuttle and the walk through the terminal, it can take over 15 minutes for employee's just to make it to their car), it's faster now.

I can only see it getting worse for driving as time marches on.

Tansit takes and hour, riding takes and hour. On the bike, I don't have to deal with people stinking of piss and beer at 06:00.

My partial bike commute is much slower. However, I am biking to get in shape, and I can get two hours of exercise in for about an hour of commute time loss, which makes it very efficient from that perspective.

I might see an mpg increase because to get to my partial commute parking spot is quiet lazy roads versus full throttle freeway driving typical of my area.

6.3 miles by bike on surface streets. About 7.5 by car on highway

10-20min by car (depending on traffic)

25-40 min by bike depending on motivation and weather/wind

now that there is construction on the only road out of my neighborhood, the bike commute it probably 10-15 minutes faster. Takes me 30 minutes to cover the 9 miles to my work.

To work from home it takes longer by bicycle when you factor in the time it takes to cool off and change; maybe 10 - 15 minutes for driving compared to 20 - 25 minutes for cycling.

To home from work it takes less time: 20 - 25 minutes by bicycle again, compared with more like 30 - 45 minutes with lots of sitting in rush hour city traffic for driving. Bicycling home is always more spicy than the other direction: the extra traffic means more cagers blowing through stop signs and expressing antagonism. I've only exchanged words a few times in a year of serious bicycle commuting, and it's always been on the way home.

As others have said, it's totally worth it. I'm moving into my late 20s and I'm in the best shape I've ever been in and I'm actually physically addicted to my daily exercise regimen while so many others that I know struggle to motivate themselves to go the hamster gym.

I've never driven to work, but I'd imagine that driving would be a bit faster. If it was right in the middle of rush hour, however, the bike might be considerably faster. All I know for sure is that the bike is way faster than public transportation, which is my only real alternative.

On a normal day, it takes me 35 minutes to bike vs 15 minutes to drive. However, I work on a campus with very limited parking, and my best option is a public parking ramp close to the building I do most of my work. I have driven there only to find out there's an event at the arena (usually sports, but sometimes a rock concert or political rally), and it is impossible to park in that ramp or anything else close by. So I end up driving a few blocks away and end up having to walk, which makes it longer for me to reach my destination. With my bike, I'm guaranteed a dependable arrival time, which is most important to me.

my current job is in downtown Boston, so driving in would be a nightmare. In the two times that I did it for an interview it's usually taken about 45 minutes, if I chose to park my car in the building garage, which charges $35 a day. There's a $10/day lot out in Fort Point, by the State Courthouse, but this would also add at least 15 minutes of walking to the commute.

Public transit was roughly 45m - 1hr. as well depending on luck with bus and T connections.

Door to door, by bike, it's 25 - 30 minutes depending on my luck with the lights. Shower and changes of clothes probably add in another ten minutes.

My previous job was out in the 'burbs' and that was about 1 hour by bike and 30 minutes by car. I'd drive in if I had early meetings at work or some evening commitment at home. Now, it's nice because that excuse is gone.

30 minutes by bus versus 30 minutes by bike, door to door. Guess you can figure out what my preferred option is?

Bike
Wake up: 6:00
Change, pack, leave home: 6:25
Arrive work: 6:50 (25min drive time)
Finish shower/changing: 7:00
Walk to and arrive at office: 7:10

Motoring
Wake up: 7:00
Shower, dress, leave Home: 7:25
Arrive Parking Lot: 7:40 (15min drive time)
Walk to and arrive at office: 7:45

Summary
Cycling: 70min wake up to desk
Motoring: 45min wake up to desk

Al

Never driven (or taken a cab) to work, so I don't really know how long it'd take. I'd say I get there probably in the same amount of time. Traffic gets backed up on the Williamsburg bridge, Delancey St., Broadway, and cars can't even GO down Wall St. Biking is about 20-25 minutes faster than taking the subway to work, though (mainly because I have to walk to the train station).

Hmmm, driving for me is a 40 minute drive as opposed to a 85 minute ride + a 10-15 minute shower prep.

Now, seeing as the commute is not the only thing I am doing at the time lets compare apples to apples-

40 minute drive + 85 minute workout = 125 minutes

85 minute workout/commute + 15 minute shower/prep = 90 minutes.
I come out 35 minutes ahead of the game.

25 minutes by car (10 miles), 45-50 by bike (11.25 miles).

My commute is less than 4 miles, and I can pedal it in about the same amount of time it takes to drive (unless I take the scenic route.

I used to live in Washington, DC. There it was ALWAYS faster to bicycle... especially when you factored in the time it took to find parking for a car.

Back when I was commuting in Winnipeg, a one-way trip took the following times ...

-- When I had a car, which I didn't for the last 6 years I was there, my commute was 10 minutes.
-- By bus, my commute was about 45 minutes (2-3 busses and feeder routes).
-- And by bicycle it was 20 minutes in the summer and 30 minutes in the winter.

I usually opted to ride my bicycle because it meant I could sleep in ... and it was a lot more pleasant than riding the bus!! :)


My commute the last several summers has been MUCH longer. It takes me just shy of 30 minutes, one-way by car, and about 1.5 hours, one-way by bicycle.

By car:

20 minute walk to car
40 minute drive during rush hour
15 minutes looking for parking

1:15 total

By bike:

40 minutes riding at a reasonable pace on my commuter
30 minutes on my road bike+15 minutes to change/clean up

Fastest:

Throw bike on front of bus 15 minutes on bus + 5 minutes on bike makes 20 minutes total.