swbluto

*I meant to type "form" instead of "forum" in the title; It appears this forum won't let me edit it*

I know commuting from home to wherever the entire way by bicycle can be a romantic ideal, but does anyone here bicycle to the bus/train/sub/plane/ship/whatever and consider that a form of bicycle commuting?

B Rubble

Yep, i do.
My commute is 15 miles by bike in the a.m. and another 9 by bus.

tjspiel

I used to do it and still do once in a while. For the most part it worked really well. The biggest problem was that the trains were really crowded in the evening and it was often a struggle to get my bike off.

Ekdog

I've been using a bike-train combination for the past five years. Works great.

Sixty Fiver

This is called multi modal commuting... many people do it.

When I am cycling I never use transit except for the odd time I take my bike on the light rail and by odd I mean mebbe once a year.

melm0th

I did at one time bike about 5 miles and use the bus for the other 6-7 miles of my commute. It was kind of my introduction to bike commuting. Now I bike the whole enchilada (12 miles one way). I don't see myself using the bus anymore due to the hassle and the cost.

timmythology

Biking is cheaper, I did this when i first started. Now i find that I am warmed up as i reach the bus stop, so i just keep biking.

cyclezealot

Ah. The San Diego Bus system. Sometimes the buses were late. Or the bike racks full. So I kept on riding. Miss a bus, I might very well be home before the next one , so why not keep riding.

b_young

I skip the bike and take the truck sometimes, does that count?

benda18

My commute is 40 miles one-way. It takes about 3 hours to bike the whole distance into work, so 99% of the time I ride part of the way (10 miles) and take the bus the rest of the way (30 miles). It works great.

On a personal note, I work for a transit agency and it bothers me how frequently bike commuters (especially on this message board) talk trash about transit. The truth is, my agency works very closely with local bicycle advocacy groups to increase the multi-modal share relative to the automobile. We're all fighting the same fight, and it doesn't help much when people rag on the cost or reliability or cleanliness of transit - just to say that bicycles are teh dog's dangles. IMO the more choices I have to get to work, the better.

[/rant]

audi666

agreed, and nicely put.

Fremdchen

I live a short walk from a train station. Sometimes when I'm feeling self-indulgent I'll bike to it and take it the rest of the way in. If I'm sick or it's raining I'll take the train all the way.

go_deep

I have a 9 mile one way commute. The bus stop is about a 1/2 mile from my house. If it is raining or snowing in the morning, I will take my bike and jump on the bus, and then ride home. I also ride the same route the bus goes when I go home, so If I get a flat or have a problem I just jump on the bus. I am lucky to only have to pay $6 bucks a month for a bus pass through my employer, so the way I see it, this cheap insurance for my commute.

rhm

My commute is a total of about 63 miles. 5.5 by bike; 55 by train (bike folds up and comes with); then 2.5 more by bike.

You won't hear me talking trash about public transport. I love it! My idea of a nightmare would be having to drive any part of my commute.

echotraveler

i sometimes use a boat...it shortens my 6 mile commute by 5 miles...1 buck... but im mostly trying to bike the entire way for various reasons:

1. fitness
2. endurance for long distance races
3. 1 buck each day means more cool stuff for my bike, plus i just bought 90.00 bucks on new tires
4. i can hear the birds sing on the 2 parks i go thru on my bike commute.
5. bikes are prohibited by this public agency! and im tired of beggin them to let me in..im a professional that bikes to work!

im thinking of using the boat on chrismas months, cause a couple of bikers told me some scary storys of people pulling them over and taking their bikes, as if they bought a chrismas gift! scary!

Barrettscv 

Last year I had a 31 mile one way commute. I rode my bike 9 miles, put my bike on an express bus for 8 miles, and finished the commute on bike.

It allowed me to avoid riding on roads that were completly bike unfriendly.

truman

Yes: 10 miles bike, 15 miles train, 1 mile bike. Reverse that to go home.

waytooslow

I bike to the train, take the express train downtown and bike to work from there. This gets me to work in under an hour. I bike 20 miles home except when I'm feeling lazy, then I take the train.

mwmcginn

I avoid East St Louis by taking the bus for part of my commute. Based on time, I can choose my routes to allow me to take a 17 mile or as low as 4 mile each way.

szehui

No trash talk about public transit from me - it serves me very well on a pretty much daily basis.

I take the bus in the mornings to work (11 or so miles one way), as I have an early daily conference call and don't care to wake up any earlier than I do in order to ride the whole way in. In the afternoons, I will typically ride the whole way home.

Artkansas 

It depends on the day. It takes me 50 minutes to ride, and an hour and a half to work, an hour going back. And the bus doesn't start very early, so there is only one schedule I can catch to make it to work on time. And there are limits on how late I can work with the bus.

But on days when it looks like it will rain during both trips, or times when my attitude towards going to work is such that making an hour of effort to get there, vs an hour and a half of passivity tips toward passivity, I take the bus.

lrchan

Definitely....bike to train station, take train about 18 miles, bike from train station to work. I have a company that reimburses $30/month for the train ticket, so it works out great. I like the door to door part of the commute...no parking issues etc.

velocycling

I bike/train. In fact when it rains I bike/light rail/train. I am lucky because our transit is is very bike friendly. I hope other TA become more bike friendly, too.

corkscrew

If I'm not riding chances are I'm staying home or driving.

The bus system (no rail) here in Boise ID is so antiquated that its faster for me to bike than bother catching a bus.

mikeybikes

Depends. Most days, I ride the entire way, either to work or school.

Coming from work, some days I'll ride the bus that stops right out in front of our office for about 4 miles, and ride the rest of the way in to home or school (about 4 miles to each).

Denver's quickly improving its train system, so it will be nice when I can catch a train from one end of town to another end.