hi all,

So for the past 3 summers I have been doing a once-weekly commute; 1 mile + train + 3 miles in the AM,
and 32 miles home in the PM. Only when the weather is nice and after the daylight saving time change. I accomplished doing that 32 times total over the last 3 summers.

This year I decided to buy a folding bike (Downtube IXNS) to do a more frequent commute. My first
was Feb 28, and it was a success (total 8.5 miles round trip, including a 300 ft elevation gain 10-15%
grade on the way home from work), plus Amtrak train. Well, except that the Amtrak conductor didn't allow me to board on the PM train home so I took SEPTA (Philly regional train) instead. I'm still working on that
issue.

This morning was my 3rd commute, using Amtrak on the way in. My time is 63 minutes home to sitting in
my office chair. That is very competitive with driving, which has averaged 43 minutes over the past 3 years. The home trip is longer, about 1 hr 30 using SEPTA (versus 55 to 75 minutes driving).

I plan to do this 2-3 times per week, in addition to my summer "long ride home" using my normal hybrid bike. I will probably not do any true rain commuting, and when it gets hot out I'll probably have to change into a t-shirt for the ride uphill rather than wearing my dress shirts.

Using the train for both directions (and the folding bike to allow Amtrak access) is great, I should be able to do this clear into November-December depending on how much lighting I decide to buy.

Glad to see another multi-modal commuter. While we're not as hardcore as the people who would choose to take a 60+ mile round trip every day 100% via bike, we are proof that in areas with suitable transit infrastructure, a long distance commute isn't an excuse to use a car every single day.

Nice!

I've been doing the bike-train-bike thing myself afew times a week. It takes alot longer for me (i have to wake up an hour earlier and i get home 30-40 minutes later than usual) but i don't have to sit in traffic and i can sleep on the train.

Nice!

I'll be starting a multimodal commute soon. My work place is about 15 miles away and by driving I can get to work in about 20 minutes and it takes about 20-30 mins on the way home. By taking the trolley and the bus in the morning it's about an hour from the time I leave the house until I arrive at work. Add about 20-25 mins if I ride to the spot where I catch the bus and skip the trolley ride all together.

On the way home it's an 1 hr-1 hr. 15 mins, and I have to put up with buses and trolleys that are often packed to standing room only. Riding home adds 10-15 mins to my commute time. Even though my job is fairly phsyically demanding, I still like to get some exercise aside from work and riding home is the funnest way for me to get that exercise.

I've got a Downtube, too, but just use it when we camp. I've ridden it to work twice--it makes a fine commuter, although I can't get the gears to work perfectly. I'll probably take it in to a shop.

It's very comfortable.

5th morning ride today.

58 minutes, front door to sitting in office chair, Center City Philly to Great Valley. Under an hour!

Multi-modal is now *officially* competitive with driving, time wise. In fact, if you take out the time I spend folding/unfolding the bike, actual travel time (45 minutes) is exactly the same as driving thanks to a speedy Amtrak train.

Still, I'm very happy to get 1/2 hour of reading and 15 minutes of biking in the cool crisp morning.

I do the bike-train thing in Chicago too. Under normal condition I can drive the 21 miles in 45 to 60 minutes and the bike-train takes 1:35 minutes. However, because of road construction driving is more like 1:15 now. Even still I think the bike-train option is more productive. I get a good work out in, I save miles on my car, avoid road rage, and I read a book on the train.

Nice. I recently started a multi-modal commute as well with a Montague folding bike. I looked at a lot of folders first but they seem to be the most solid and ride most like a traditional bike. Full sizes wheels and all.

Damn, I was hoping you used a bike and a boat!

Multimodal commuter here too. Total commute is 30 miles each way. Driving it during rush hour takes 1.25 to 1.5 hours (and sometimes longer if there's an accident).

These days, I ride a 1/4 mile from home to the the MetroLink station, ride the Metrolink for 14 minutes, ride 3.4 miles from the MetroLink to the Green Line station, fold the bike, ride 22 minutes on the Green Link train, then ride the last 1/4 mile to work from the Green line station. Total commute time is 1h9m, plus or minus 7 minutes for slack time waiting for the second train.

I'm loving it. SoCal weather is a blessing...

-Warr

Mine definitely doesn't save me time compared to driving. 9 mile bike ride to Dallas, catch a bus to Salem, wait a half hour, catch another bus to Stayton, then ride a few blocks to work. (Sometimes I work in Salem, that commute is easy and pretty fast if you factor in the time I would need to be running if I didn't ride.) Total distance to Stayton is 49 miles, I leave the house at 5:00 and get to work at 8:20 or so, so a little over 3 hours. Going home is faster, leave work and catch the bus at 4:30, arrive in Dallas by 6:10 or so and home before 7:00. Driving takes me about 1 1/4 hours, all back roads. So it's a 14 hour day with an hour and a half of aerobic exercise in there. It does save me about 200 bucks a month in gas as my motorcycle gets about 45 mpg. My work will apparently be paying for my bus passes pretty soon.