How much time a week is devoted to commuting?
 

All of us have our different reasons for commuting, but I was curious as to how much time you spent each week dedicated to commuting.

I just got going myself, but I easily spent 2 to 2 and a half hours each day I commute just between riding and showering. However, I think it's worth it. Being off and on the bike every other season, it's hard for me to find regular times to ride. Commuting sort of kills two birds with one stone.

But at what point would you just say forget it and drive to work rather than ride? How long would your commute have to be before you saw it as a time consuming effort.

How much time a week is devoted to commuting?

Not enough. :) I'd feel different if I drove.

I'm willing to commit more time to cycling than to driving, because I figure I'm also getting my workout in and because I enjoy it. But there is a limit; I can't commute 50 miles each way by bike, because there would be no time left in the day beyond working, sleeping and commuting.

That said, I don't know that I actually spend any more time cycling than I would driving, once I factor in the variation in traffic driving, versus the consistency of cycling. Except that I got stuck behind a school bus this morning, and had to wait three stops to get around the bus.

Generally speaking, I ride in my work clothes, so no extra prep time or anything like that. Takes me 30 minutes one-way (15 minutes by car). Between the cost savings, the health benefits, and the stress relief factor, I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

I spend 45 minutes or less commuting each day. It takes about 25 mins to get to work - it's mostly up hill, and I take it slow so I don't show up too sweaty. My record is getting home in 17 minutes, but 20 is a more leisurely pace. I wear my work/street clothes for the commute, just like I would if I drove or took the bus, so changing isn't an issue. Nor is parking. :D

When it started taking 45+ minutes just to drive home ( thanks to the freeway doubling as a parking lot at rush hour ), I gave up and started cycling. Since then, I've been enjoying the extra free time I can spend with friends, or paddling my kayak, or reading a book.

My present commute is short enough (18-12 minutes) that I don't have to change clothes or shower. If I go to the pool before work, that means a change of clothing, which adds on perhaps 10 minutes, as well as extra milage, which adds on about 40 extra minutes of riding.

taking the train, if i catch it at the right time, will get me in 5 minutes earlier. otherwise biking is faster for me. roughly 45 min each way = over an hour of day for exercise that did not previously exist!

My time in the saddle each day is about 1 hr even. My 7 mile commute takes me 30 minutes +/- a couple minutes either way. Tack on an extra 5-15 extra minutes to shower and/or change at work in the AM and you're up to maybe an hour and a quarter per day. I shower when I get home, but that doesn't really count, because that shower is normally just in place of the pre-bedtime shower I used to take before I started bike commuting.

By metro, including walking and from stations, the commute to my office takes around an hour one way, so I'm saving at least 45 minutes a day plus getting exercise, stress relief, etc., etc. The bike commute for me is, therefore, an absolute no-brainer. And now that I'm hooked, I hope to keep doing it wherever I work until I retire, even if it twere to take a little longer.

I don't factor shower time into my cycle commute, because if I drive or take the bus, I'll shower before I leave home; when cycling, I shower at work. Same routine, just in a different order. When comparing the different ways of getting to work, I look at the time from when the alarm goes off to the time I walk into the office. During the summer, cycling vs. driving vs. public transit are all very close. Not that I did much cycling last winter, but I did notice my cycling time go up as the weather got colder, and especially when I had to ride on snow. That was one reason I decided to hang up the bike and take the bus instead.

In terms of specific numbers, summertime cycle commute is about 75-80 minutes per day (round trip), and wintertime was up to 95 minutes per day.

The same or less than if I drive. Thanks to L.A. traffic.

45-55 min. to work, 50min-1.5hrs back home (uphill), 5 days a week.

My commute is about 45 minutes each way 5 days/week. I also spend maybe an hour or so a week maintaining my bike (some weeks more than others). Driving takes maybe 20 minutes so I spend and extra 50 mnutes or so a day commuting. I shower at work, but do not include that in my commute time, because I would shower at home if I did not commute.

That said, commuting by bike saves me time. Before I rode every day I would frequently go to the gym in the morning for 45 minutes or so and then drive to work. Commuting lets me get to work at the same time I workout.

Paul

I don't consider my ride time as a commute time anymore. If I was driving then the drive is commuting time. The ride on my bicycle is part of my recreation time since I would have rode my bike after I got home on days that I drove. That amount of time I ride would have been the same as if I rode my bike to work.

When I was working my commute took me about 15-20 minutes each way. I don't factor in showering because I do that everyday.

For the last 2 or 3 years I was an all year commuter. Maybe a max of 5 days per year did I drive. Usually it was not because of the weather, but because of some stupid mandatory meeting (that my supervisor never seemed to have to go to) at another location.

If I just consider the time from my house to the office, it's slightly faster to drive: 20 minutes v. 15 minutes. So with two trips I'd save ten minutes a day. Big whoop. But I don't bike commute merely to get to work. I just like riding my bike and bike commuting is an excuse to go for two rides every day.

Commuting? roughly 6 hours a day. 3.5 of which is on the bike.

-R

I ride every day so give or take 90 minutes a day x 5 days = 7.5 hours.

Commute by bike, total time (round trip) is 1h30 door-door. 10 mins washing up time at each end and that's 1h50.

Commute by train, total time (round trip) is 1h30 door-door.

So it takes 20 mins extra by bike which is 1h40 per week. Benefits of commuting by bike are the fitness. Benefits of commuting by train is I get to read a book. Both are important things to me.

An hour a day on the bike, or a little more, and then some ancillary time. If I have to take a company car to go to a meeting, I like to bike in by half an hour before departure time to have time to cool down before changing clothes and hitting the road.

Well said. :D

Right now on Mondays and Wednesdays I have to work in a city about 50 km away and I drive the car about half way and cycle the rest. Takes me an hour each way on top of the half hour drive each way. I simply don't have the two hours it would take to get there by bike alone directly from home. A good chunk of the time would also be spent on a completely deserted rural trail and I am not sure whether my light set up would be good enough for it and in any case I would have to keep the revs down when it got dark and hence take longer to complete the trip. I am thinking of driving closer to work when it gets really dark at quitting time. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I cycle from home to another workplace and it takes me 30-35 minutes each way. So I figure about 6 hours in the saddle every week plus whatever I do recreationally etc.

About two hours/day, 3-5 days/week. Add an hour or so of prep and extra laundry.

So that's eleven hours tops. Car commuting used about 7.5 or 8 hours.

Net extra time 2 or 3 hours at most. Not a bad deal.

I won't include time spent on BF. That'd be crazy! :)

About an hour and a half round trip, four days a week. So, six hours a week, which apparently isn't enough as I still ride the bike outside of the commute schedule. It'd be quicker, cheaper, and easier to ride the bus; but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

Now, it's 10 hours a week commute time on the bike, 2 hrs a day.

If it were double that, I might find another way, and then ride perhaps every other day.
It's tough for me with a full time job of 60 hrs per week.

Wow, some great replies so far.

I definitely think I'm leaning towards the idea that I'm not really commuting. I'm just riding my bike and 45 minutes later, I happen to be at school or at home. :lol:

It is a beautiful thing, though. A little background: I used to work in the north Ft Worth area and moved from Denton (about 20 miles away), to Grand Prairie, which is like 40 miles away on the south side of DFW. As such, my commute via motorcycle pretty much sucked. Highway 360 is notorious for being a guaranteed parking lot at peak hours. It took well over an hour by motorcycle and it rained a lot the first month after the move.

Well, long story short, I lost that job about a year ago now and went back to school. My bicycle route takes me underneath 360. This morning around 7:40 a.m. I approached 360 and saw that it was indeed a parking lot. Big. Grin. I rolled on underneath the poor souls and enjoyed the rest of my ride to school.

45 to 55 minutes per day in the saddle. 10 to 15 minutes to get cleaned up at the office.

Driving takes 40 50 45 minutes round trip.