Instances bikes are faster than cars

[RPS]

As in saving time, even if not all yours.

Twice in the last two weeks I had to drop my vans off to have maintenance work done and state inspection, and having little patience to sit around for hours decided to ride my bike home. Both locations are only about 8 or 9 miles from home if I take the back roads through neighborhoods to avoid traffic.

Both places also have free courtesy shuttles to take me home and pick me up later, but when I told them I was going to ride my bike home instead they looked at me like I was mentally challenged. They were both very polite but couldn’t hide their bewilderment. Why would anyone ride a bike in 100 F heat when they can ride in air conditioned comfort; and for free?

On the way home I was thinking about how much overall time I was saving – even though not all mine. It only took me about 40 minutes at a leisurely pace, and if I had agreed to the shuttle, I probably would have ended up waiting at least 15 minutes on average for them to get ready (based on previous experiences), and then would have sat in a car for at least another 20 minutes – for a total of 35 minutes or so.

However, if I add the driver’s time to make the round trip, he’d have at least 40 minutes invested, plus my 35, making it a total of 75 man-minutes. And that’s about twice what it took me to ride the bike.

Plus I got a little exercise, a little sun, we didn’t waste a gallon of gas, and hopefully he got to stay and do something more productive. In a way it’s a little sad that neither place will likely ever understand why a person would prefer to ride a bicycle instead of being shuttled in comfort.

Care to share experiences when riding saved you and others time over driving?

[AngryScientist]

running close errands in my town is easily faster with a bicycle than a car. i filter through at traffic lights, and bypass lots of nonsense, its great.

NYC - no competition most of the time, bike almost always win depending on where you are going. if i have errands and stops to make in the city, i'll drive my bike in, park the car someplace easy and bomb around on the fixed gear, leaving the stress of the traffic behind.

there is a reason why big cities employ bicycle messengers too...

[maximus]

Everyday on my commute to and from work. Nothing beats the feeling...

[jlyon]

I had a 9 mile ride to my high school in El Paso (I had to look it up thinking back I would have said it was 12 miles) mostly downhill that I could easily do within a couple of minutes of a car.

Unfortunetly on the way home I was just equal to the city bus. So if my timing was a little off I would be sucking diesel fumes for many miles until the hill was so steep that bus would finally drop me.

It was no fun to loose a contact lense at about 40 MPH. Thinking back I wish I had ridden the bike more days but after swim practice I would not have had the energy to make it back home.

[jblande]

almost anything i ever did in the city of chicago


only problem was that the very factor that made cycling so much more efficient also made it very dangerous: the density of oversized vehicles within a small space.

[sbparker31]

Back when I had a real job, I used to commute by bike. The ride was a somewhat hilly 13 miles that took me about an hour at a commuting pace. With light traffic, I could drive home from work in about 30 minutes, so the car was faster. However, during the summer, and on some Thursday and Friday rush hours, the car trip was often an hour. So the ride times where equal. Now, if you add in that 26 miles (round trip) of biking meant I didn't have to go to the gym or otherwise exercise that day, the advantage was significantly in favor of the bike.

[MattTuck]

If I go for an evening ride, there's about a mile or two stretch of road, that has cars just bumper to bumper. I've never counted, because I'm shoot the gap between mirrors and the curb (maybe 2 ft in some places), but I bet I pass 200 cars.

[fmbp]

I live in Los Angeles last year, Hollywood specifically, and worked at UCLA. I rode my bike 4 days per week, and took the bus or got a ride the one other day of the week. My 10 mile commute would routinely take me 35-40 minutes of riding time. I don't even want to imagine how long the drive home would have taken in the car. It would have been atrocious. Motorcycles have lane sharing in CA, and there were days that I could even keep pace with motorcycles. Pretty cool.

However, there was nothing cooler than my pannier laden Surly CrossCheck flying by Lamborghinis and Ferraris that were stuck in traffic in Beverly Hills!

[mraceebb]

My commute to work is definitely faster on bike than driving. I'm in SF and teach at a school up in Twin Peaks. 15-20 min from my door to the front door of the school. For those who drive to work, they routinely spend 15 min looking for a parking spot, especially on street sweeping days. Then they start the day bitter and complaining about the wasted time. None of them take up my recommendation of biking though.

[Gummee]

However, there was nothing cooler than my pannier laden Surly CrossCheck flying by Lamborghinis and Ferraris that were stuck in traffic in Beverly Hills!
I useta snikker at the fancy cars when sharing lanes on my MC too.

Yeah, you spend HOW MUCH on that fancy Porlamborarri and I'm still riding past you?

M

[RPS]

Then they start the day bitter and complaining about the wasted time. None of them take up my recommendation of biking though.
When both the repair shop and the dealer looked at me as if I were a complete idiot that didn’t have enough sense to get out of the rain because I was passing on a free ride, it confirmed once again that the vast majority of people don’t actually see a bicycle as a viable means of transportation regardless of how short or easy the trip. Maybe to them 8 or 9 miles seems like a very long distance to ride.

I don’t know what the numbers are, but I’d bet that people who would ride a bike when cars are available are very few as a percent of the population. I’d guess a larger number may ride out of necessity if no other option exists, but given a choice the vast majority would probably rather sit in traffic an hour than ride 10 minutes. :rolleyes:

I don’t know why more people don’t see bicycles as viable transportation at least some of the time. Maybe it’s stigma of appearing poor, or too environmental, or who knows what. It’s just unfortunate. :(

[giverdada]

i used to teach at a school that was about 9 miles away from my house. for some reason, i took the subway every day for the first semester. then january was unseasonably warm, and i had a new road bike to thrash, so i put on the yellow lenses and blinking lights and hit the road in the eery dark.

beautiful.

after i got the route dialed, i was actually faster on a bike than in the car. traffic backed everything up except the bike lane, so it was smooth and certainly a better morning wakeup than a stressful commute and coffee. when i arrived, i was awake. when i arrived home, i was human after a day with 'the youth'.

four years later, the school installed a shower in the staff room because so many staff had taken to two wheels as well. and outside--the best part--there was nary a post to which some student's bike wasn't locked, from fourth grade to senior year. awesome.

and i almost always run or ride home or to picking up cars at garages - beats any other way, really. bikes are the most viable transportation i've seen. :hello:

[pavel]

Errands on bike are faster for me than driving, and almost always faster when commuting.

What is sad about the state of public transportation in the bay area (san jose specifically) is that it takes me about the same amount of time to ride to work as it does to take the train (with my bike) and 30 minutes less than the train with no bike. I dont even want to know what the bus situation is like.

[cid499]

anywhere in LA to anywhere else in LA during rush hour

[san]

I useta snikker at the fancy cars when sharing lanes on my MC too.

Yeah, you spend HOW MUCH on that fancy Porlamborarri and I'm still riding past you?

M
i love that feeling too. everytime i ride through montecito near santa barbara there's always Ferraris stuck in traffic and i blow right past them

[TimmyB]

i love that feeling too. everytime i ride through montecito near santa barbara there's always Ferraris stuck in traffic and i blow right past them
Along those same lines... A couple of the times riding on the 101 between Santa Barbara and Ventura, there has been an accident/etc and stopped traffic. It always brings a smile to my face as I whiz past. Makes up (somewhat) for all the times I've almost gotten brushed by cars along that same stretch...

[Chousen One]

Most of the time commuting through Seoul, Korea... even against the subway (which is quite good). Roads here are absolute crap though, but if you can navigate via the Han River path which divides Seoul N and S, it's usually very quick. Dealing with drivers however, is decidedly worse than anywhere else I have ever spent time riding, including NYC, DC, and Vancouver (which was a pleasure for the most part)