AlmostTrick

On my suburban commute there is often a mile or more between controlled intersections, and cars can usually drive over 40 mph... not even Lance is going to beat them. Still, the bike is way more fun!

bhop

I live in L.A. too. I find that whether i'm faster depends on my destination. I used to travel west to get to work, from east of Hollywood. That was almost always a faster bike ride, to and from, often by 15-30 minutes or so, but after our office moved to Culver City, a more north/south route, the bike is nearly always slower..but still more fun.

phx1973

I had the same thought the other day. Rode 18 miles to my tempe office. Later had to go downtown, which is another 8 miles. I decided to take the train cause I was pretty beat. Walked 5 minutes to the train stop, then waited 10 minutes for it to come, and it took at least 30 minutes to get there. Surely I could have ridden there faster. Think I will next time!

Sixty Fiver

On my old 13km commute I could usually beat my driving time by 10 minutes since the drive was circuitous and my ride was a straight line.

When I ride to the bike co-op it is 8km and have driven this route and found that by cycling I can usually save at least 10 minutes during rush hour traffic.

Snowman219

I can keep up, but I keep it slower because I live in an area where everyone parks on the shoulder and we have no bike lanes.

CVP

Faster than public transport too, and ours is pretty good most of the time.

My 12 miles to the centre of London takes 45 mins with no red light jumping, 15mins to lock up and have a shower and total time from home to desk 60 mins.

Compare that to 15 mins walk to railway station, 5 mins waiting for a train, 25 mins on train, 15 mins walk at the far end to the office. Total time 60 mins assuming you are only waiting 5 mins for a train. Anything more than that and the bike is a clear winner on time, never mind cost or the benefits of 1hr 30 mins exercise every day I'm in the office.

tarwheel 

Most days it is faster for me to drive. However, my office just moved to a new location downtown and I was shocked to find that it took me 5 minutes longer to drive home yesterday than cycling to work this morning in the dark -- even though my commute distance increased about 5 miles. I have to park my truck a block away from my new office on the 9th floor of a parking deck, and it takes at least 10 minutes to drive up or down the deck ramps and walk to or from my office.

I was talking to someone at work this morning, and she saw me cycling about 5 miles north of our office and I got to work sooner than she did.

Mithrandir

One night last week my division manager came to visit the office. He wanted to take us out to dinner after work, so in order to avoid being "that guy" who holds everyone up, I opted to drive to work that day instead of cycle.

After work I left the building and drove past a guy in my building (different company) who bikes to work. About 5 miles later I was nearing the restaurant... and the guy on the bike passed me. I didn't realise that traffic had slowed me down to a point where I was actually driving slower than a bicycle.

After that, I instantly regretted not cycling. The $5 parking fee near the restaurant only rubbed it in even more. Add in the 10 minutes spent trying to find parking in the first place, then cycling was a clear winner.

idc

I drove in today (for the second time in about a month) because I'm sick with a cold. And still regretted it. I'd rather be blowing snot rockets and sneezing in 45F than be stuck in traffic and having that stress on my body/mind. Took me >1 hr for <10 miles. If I rode that it would be 35 mins. Of course if I'd gotten up earlier I could've driven in 25 mins.

caloso

The best part of that was listening to Hammond curse at the bus drivers. That's exactly what I do, but in an American accent and on the other side of the street.

Marauder9

For me, my commute is about twice the time as a car. I live in quite open countryside and just touch some of the busy streets for a few minutes. I just look at my ride as a good exuse to get a good ride and to keep me fit.

mikepwagner

Almost never for me. I have about a 20 mile commute, and door-to-door time in a car is usually right at 30 minutes. I am guessing that there aren't many cyclist who can average 40 mph including stoplights, etc.

Of course, in an ice storm a couple of years ago, it took some folks 12-18 hours to make that trip. Walking would have been faster, and a bike with studded snow tires a dream.

I would guess that other than low mileage commutes in crowded urban areas, a car is almost always going to be faster.

snowman40

For me, normal day (driving in rush hours) it is about the same, on weekends it is much faster to drive as there are no cars (or very minimal amount of cars) as it is all business buildings, I can also hop on the interstate which shaves off time as well.

M-F S-S
Car 30-35 15-20
Bike 25-30

I can't beat 15-20 minutes by car on the weekends by bike. On holiday weekends (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Memorial and Independence Days) I can drive in about 20-25 minutes the day before the weekend starts.

Awe...I can't do a chart?

neil

So many variables.

When I see co-workers on the road, we usually meet up at the last traffic light before I get home. They usually live further away from work, so...

But if I'm traveling longer distances around the city, I usually count on the bike taking about 60% longer than I expect the car to take. Make it double if I'm riding with my wife. In a denser city this probably wouldn't be the case, but here, once you leave the core - which really isn't very big, maybe 20 blocks by 5 blocks - cars do get moving much faster.

Hippiebrian

Sometimes I'm faster. Usually, though, I see a pretty sunset, some birds, or a shiny rock and I slow or stop to enjoy them. Part of the cycling lifestyle, for me at least, is the ability to slow down and enjoy what's around me.

xiaosen

Commuting by car takes me about 20-25 minutes. By bike is about 15-20 minutes. I live in a small, but sparsely populated city (250,000 people), so the drive to work in the morning and at the end of the day is just a lot of sitting in traffic on the "major" streets leading in/out of downtown. On my bike, other than lights, I basically don't wait (MUP leads to downtown, followed by 2 downtown streets). My co-workers think I'm kidding when I say my commute is faster than theirs AND I get better parking. We have a heated and locked bike room on the 2nd level of our parkade. Parkade spots are at a premium, so I'd say 90% of my co-workers park 5-10 blocks away.

HaciRichard

My commute from central Queens to Lower Manhattan is usually faster on a bike. Even when a car is faster, the difference is more than made up for by the search for parking.

himespau 

I'm faster than public transit, but I don't know about by car as I don't have one and parking at my work is non-existent.

tarwheel 

Cycling is way faster than public transit in my city as well. There is no train system or direct bus line from my neighborhood to downtown (which doesn't make a lot of sense). So, to ride the bus to work I would have to transfer between bus routes, which would take at least 90 minutes -- about 30 minutes longer than my bike commute. I suspect that even if there was a direct bus route it would take longer due to all of the stops, plus I would have to walk about 1/2 mile to the nearest bus stop in my neighborhood.

himespau 

I guess I should qualify. If I go the most direct route or only one or two miles out of my way I'm faster than public transit. My preferred route is more like 7-8 miles vs 4 for public transit. In that case, I'm only faster if you don't count the time it takes to change/freshen up at either end.

CVP

That was a great episode. I suspect there are a number of us that enjoy bikes, cars, ships etc so Top Gear can be good escapism. I liked the fact that Hammond obviously does ride to keep fit so he was going to go for it and push himself to win. I was urging him on to win, despite the little racing boat beign very cool. Now non-cyclists in the office know how fast we can cover the ground in the city.

I lived in Brooklyn for 3 years recently and riding on NYC streets does seem to be russian roulette with regards to driving standards. Despite my best efforts, I did get knocked off once by, of all people, the NYPD! Fortunately only a low speed biff but the old saying of the US and UK being seperated by a common language was true that day. I think I got away with some stuff that would have got me a ticket otherwise as the officers simply didn't understand some of the words I used

devianb

I don't have the stamina to do a 15 mile commute each way. Mine is 3 miles. Takes 15 minutes by bike, 10 minutes by car, and 40 minutes by bus because I have to walk a distance just to get to the stop. The only way I can beat traffic by bike is if there is a home game or the trip goes through campus town.

BridgeNotTunnel

Yep.

Astoria to Midtown

Car: 20-45mins depending on traffic (20-35$) *Bonus: could be fastest means

Subway: 40mins door to door ($2.25) *Bonus: least expensive motorized means

Bike: 30mins or less ("Free") *Bonus: Cardiovascular Health and many more....

buzzman

During much of the day the average speed of an automobile in cities like London or New York is not much faster than a horse and buggy was over 100 years ago. I believe the average speed tends to be around 10.6 mph.

Edit: just did a little search and I was a little fast. This from a New York Times article about New York traffic speeds:

And in London, from This is Local London: