lil brown bat

I couldn't ride in today -- well, I could have, but I didn't, because I'm meeting friends after work for dinner-and-a-movie-and-then-afters, so I would have had to leave the bike at work. So it was a choice: public transit in/out today, or ride in, leave the bike and PT home, then PT in tomorrow...you get it. I decided to get it over with and do the public transit thing, and while I was at it, to time my commute. So here goes, the Story of a Lost Commute.

7:04 Leave home to walk to bus stop. As I turn the corner, a cyclist whizzes by me. Feel twinge of envy. Begin trudging up the hill.

7:10 At the bus stop, no bus in sight, no one waiting at the bus stop, and it's decision time: I can either wait here for a bus, or walk an additional veeeery long block and catch the trolley. If I wait and take the bus, I have to transfer to the trolley anyway at Kenmore Square. The bus could come along in a minute, or it could be ten minutes. Who knows? I opt to keep moving and head on to the trolley stop. Three more cyclists pass. Grrrr.

7:19 At the trolley line, and there's a trolley waiting. And a seat on it, even! This is about as good as it gets.

7:22 A couple blocks further down, trolley stops and then...powers down. Why? I have no idea. The streetlight is green and the trolley is not moving. This is not a good sign. Trolleys "stand by" like this for five minutes or more sometimes. Fortunately this standby is momentary, but two cyclists pass us even during this brief stop. Damn!

7:26 We are now at the point where the trolley line merges with my (much more direct) bicycle commute. If I'd been riding, I would have been here at least 15 minutes ago. Hell, if I'd been riding, I would be nearly to work now. At that, this trolley is moving along pretty good, it being summer and the colleges not in session, so there isn't a crush of the clueless getting on and off at each stop. The seats are all full now, and some of my fellow commuters have a less-than-appealing smell.

7:35 Still only about halfway to Kenmore Square. The trolley lurches to an abrupt halt that can only be caused by one thing: a JAM who decided to make a left across the trolley tracks without looking to see whether the trolley tracks and the oncoming traffic was clear, and who got hung up across the tracks. It's been known to happen that these original geniuses get t-boned by a trolley, which makes everyone involved really really late to work. Four more cyclists pass us before Mr./Ms. JAM pulls his/her head out and gets out of the way.

7:38 We got lucky with the lights after the JAM incident and are finally at Kenmore Square. I figure that a bus would have got me here quicker, but then there's getting into the station, through the crowd at the turnstyle, and onto an inbound trolley, so it's probably a wash.

7:46 At my stop, finally. I climb up to street level. Three cyclists are lined up at the light. Argh!

7:48 Finally at work. My cube seems empty without my bicycle in it.

Total, 44 minutes, compared to 27 minutes yesterday. Oh, and I paid the princely sum of $1.70 for the one-way ride.

Damn, I hate not riding to work.

Novakane 

I feel your pain. I've had some errands to run the last few days that prevented me from using my bike, so it's been sitting at my office... while I took the bus... I got passed by quite a few cyclists while walking to stops and every time, I couldn't help but wish I was on my bike.

DataJunkie

I know what you mean, though my mass transit commuting time is even or better than my ride time.
The problem is that I tweaked my back but the annoying part is where the mass transit travels through. Downtown Denver! Not for any of the normal reasons but for the fact that there are cyclists everywhere. Dang it! Every time I see a cyclist I usually get the strong desire to join them. Oh well....
A farked up back isn't anything to laugh at.

notfred

That's a whole lot of text to say, "the bus takes 17 minutes longer than riding."

Buglady

Yeah, but it was a lot more fun to read than "the bus takes 17 minutes longer than riding."

uofiblue

This has been my first full week of commuting (knock on wood that something doesn't go wrong and not allow me to ride in tomorrow). But between the other days that I tried it, even that little taste made me hate taking the bus into work in the morning. My bike commute is about 5 minutes longer than by mass transit but it feels so much shorter because I'm constantly moving. 2 months ago I had no clue why you all said it was so bad when you couldn't ride, now I completely understand. Here's to getting back riding soon data.

ax0n

I frequently take various methods of transportation. Right now, my primary method is the most-direct route I can find via bike, which is 14.1 miles to work. On my way home it's a less direct 14.6 mile route with less traffic. There's usually a wind out of the southwest. This is a tailwind on my way to work and a headwind on my return trip.

Travel time is about 40-50 minutes work-bound, and 55-65 minutes home-bound via bike.

There's a bus that goes right through my apartment complex. It's the "D" route, and I assume the "D" stands or Dreaded, because it rolls through at 5:45AM but can't get me to work any earlier than 6:50. That' an hour and 5 minutes of commuting by bus. I only do this when the weather is horrible. Hail, lightning, tornadoes, and stuff.

Two miles from my apartment (about a 7-8 minute ride including climbing a huge viaduct) there's an express bus stop. If I leave on my bike just in time to catch the bus, I can leave home at 6:10 and be at work by 6:45. That's a 35 minute commute. All the buses out here have bicycle racks so I can bring my bike downtown with me.

I can drive and have it take about 20 minutes each way, but I haven't driven my car to get to work at all since I moved.

Honestly, it's just easier and funner to ride all the way in every day.

CliftonGK1

That's why it's the "Story of a lost commute" and not the "Cliff's Notes on Story of a lost commute."

KingTermite 

Lol

MikeR

Hey, hey, hey.
You should not be posting here if you did not commute !!!

chephy

I don't get this part. Why couldn't you bike to dinner+movie?

ax0n

I run into the same thing. First friday of the month, my friends and I meet at Oak Park Mall (Maul? ) and hang out with fellow geeks for a while, and then try to agree on a place to eat. This may be Applebees across the street, or could be Thai Orchid or IHOP 8 miles away in the opposite direction from home. Then, we almost always go out to this little business park in western Lenexa to start problems and do evil things... which is PAST my home by about 5 miles. Then, it's off to the coffee shop/bar to finish off the night. All in all, it can be about 20 miles of disparity between all the locations, then there's the 6 mile jaunt home.

And it's not that I can't ride my bike 26 miles. It's that most of those calculations are on major dangerous arterials after dark during the friday evening rush to get to movies, dance clubs, bars, and what have you. Sure, I could find a non-treacherous route to get there, too. But my friends aren't always in the mood to wait 30-40 minutes for me to show up when they can get to these places in 10-15 minutes.

Car-pooling with them is sometimes a bit of an option, but then I'm left with leaving my bike at one of the locations (usually the Mall where we meet after work) for a long period of time, unattended. AND someone has to drag my sorry bike-riding ass back to the mall, which is not anyone's way home from the bar except for my own.

Bicycles are great. They are not, however, the correct vehicle of choice for 100% of your transportation needs at all times.

HoustonGal

Oh, I feel your pain.

I took PT into work today, as I am still fighting a head cold and feel miserable. I missed the last express bus home. That meant I had to do a rail to bus transfer downtown. I missed the transfer by 30 seconds. I had to wait for the next bus.

Distance home: 6.5 miles
Usual commuting time on bike: 35 minutes
Communting time on PT this evening: 1.5 hours

I am so riding to work tomorrow.

ax0n

It was supposed to be all kinds of stormy today here in KC, so I took my MTB the 2 miles to the bus stop.

Then I ended up having to work late because of a "glitch" and barely caught the last bus from downtown into the 'burbs. And there was no way I was going to ride my MTB the 15 miles back home during rush hour. So, PT back to the bus stop it was.

I'm with you, I'm pushin' pedals tomorrow on the roadie. I'm hoping I can wrap up 2000 miles for the year before Saturday. 58 miles to go. The commute tomorrow will only gobble up 29-30 of those. My wife also wants to ride saturday, but it'll only be her second time on a bicycle this week, after a 16 year hiatus. Something tells me she's not exactly up for a spirited 30-miler.