Cycling vs train: pros and cons

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ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
The pros of getting a train......
It reminds me how crap public transport is and how much better it is cycling.
 

rivers

How far can I go?
Location
Bristol
Cycling: Get up, put on cycling stuff, shove clothes and laptop into backpack, head out the door. Approximately 50-60 minutes later, arrive at work. Cost: £0 (as long as I stop buying bikes)
Train: Get up, get dressed, shove laptop into backpack, walk to bus stop, wait for bus. Get off bus, walk to train station, take train to Bath, get on bus other end. Approximately 40-60 minutes later, arrive at work. Cost £12ish.
Bus: Get up 30 minutes early, get dressed, shove laptop into backpack, walk to bus stop, wait for bus #1. Get off bus, wait for bus #2. Get off bus, wait for bus #3 or walk last mile to work. Approximately 60-120 minutes later, arrive at work. Cost £4.20
Motorbike: Get up, get dressed, put on motorbike kit, shove laptop into backpack, get motorbike out of the back garden, ride to work, potentially freeze. Approximately 45 minutes later arrive at work. Cost: £3ish?
Car: Get up super early, get dressed, shove laptop in backpack, head out the door 2 hours before needing to be at work so I don't get caught in horrendous traffic and get a parking spot so I don't have to park in the overflow car park and get a bus to work (therefore adding 60 minutes+ to my day). Approximately 30-60 minutes later arrive at work and walk 10-20 minutes to the office depending where I get a parking spot. Cost: £5/day plus £15/month for a parking permit.

I enjoy the ride to work, even in the cold. It allows me to clear my head and it keeps my mind from running a mile a minute.
 

clf

Senior Member
Cycling pros:
Consistent journey time
Cheap
Healthy
Better for the environment
Not in an enclosed area suffering someone elses farts, BO, diseases or the odour of last nights food and drink consumption.

Public transport pros:
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Public transport pros:
Faster over long distances. I can get to Cambridge in a bit over an hour (train) or Norwich in a bit under two (express bus), whereas cycling the whole way to either would take over four.

Also, it doesn't depend on my physical condition. As long as I can get to the nearest stop 100m away, although that does mean connections so higher costs and longer/limited times (we don't have through ticketing and the express buses don't accept the local smartcard) so I'd usually cycle to the nearest express stop 2-3 miles away.

That's all I've got, though.
 

Bazzer

Setting the controls for the heart of the sun.
Train - No bus is available to get me to a train station, so it's a 2 1/2 miles walk to the nearest one, or I have to pay for parking. And with being on a Northern Fail route with Trans Pennine Express as an occasional option, the service is (even with a railcard) expensive, unreliable, crap. Then a walk of little over a mile at the other end. If I bike train bike, then I have to leave work early to make sure I can get my bike on the train, because bike space is so limited and at the times I would prefer to travel home, is usually taken up with passengers playing sardines because there are insufficient carriages.
Bike gets me in half and hour earlier than the first train, although I do leave half an hour earlier than I would have to do if travelling by train. I can leave work when I want and am largely the master of my own destiny, although I do prefer to avoid peak time as my journey has probably less than 2 miles (out of 17) of dedicated cycle lanes or shared use paths.
But if I get the timing right for an express train and it runs on time, the train going home is quicker than by bike, even with walking from the station.
I love riding in the dark which is probably 6 months of the year for the time I leave and riding gives me time, at least in my head, to put the world to rights.
My main downside to commuting is being hungry.
 
OP
OP
mustang1

mustang1

Guru
Location
London, UK
No travellng time, allowing for late/missed services(bus or train). Used to allow for one of each missing.

Cycling got the same trip, start and finish points, done quicker. With normally only myself to blame. No time allowance for missed/late runners. Had a bit of fun in the process.

So that's another thing. If I am ever late to Mrs Mustang's events, if I use the train and am late, at least I can blame the train. If I were on the bike, it's all down to me .
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
So that's another thing. If I am ever late to Mrs Mustang's events, if I use the train and am late, at least I can blame the train. If I were on the bike, it's all down to me .
Not really IMO: you can blame the traffic like motorists do, or you can blame the headwind or a puncture... best if it's actually true. Better if you allow enough time for them ;)
 

icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
Also, you don't *have* to go the full sea slug to cycle. Wear a normal T-shirt, cycling jacket, and your favourite shorts. Keep trousers / suit and work shoes at work. Roll your work shirt and pants and stick them in the rucksack with your lunch and you are ready to go!

Like a lot of people, I do a bike / train combo (although when the weather warms up a bit I'm going to try and bully myself into doing a full 20 mile cycle from London Bridge to Walton.
 
OP
OP
mustang1

mustang1

Guru
Location
London, UK
Not really a simple comparison because as so many people have shown it depends on many things. Do you live near the station? Is it an easy journey or do you have to change? What is the traffic like on your cycling commute? How far?

I'm afraid the London traffic defeated me last time I tried commuting and I reverted to the train.

I may give it another go sometime.

Easy journey on train. About 45 minutes .
Car 1h.
Bike 1.25h including shower time.
 

palinurus

Velo, boulot, dodo
Location
Watford
If the station was anywhere near where I work I'd definitely get the train more often. It isn't though, once I rode to the station on my Brompton, got the train (it takes a matter of minutes to get to the town I work in), what with the short wait at the station and the long-ish- rather uphill- ride from the station at the other end it saved no time over riding the whole way. Slow and steady does it.
 

ukoldschool

Senior Member
You could do both - get a folder, cycle to the station, and then cycle to work the other end. Its a compromise, but it keeps fitness levels up and saves money paying for parking at the station.
Pro's - no real need to shower at the end of your journey, get to sit (stand for me...) in comfort for the majority of the way, I particularly enjoy my cup of tea & kindle :smile:
Cons - you obviously don't do as many miles, and the miles you do are like a full on sprint race, or at least they are for me to make sure I get the 7.48 and the 5.13 :smile:
 

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
saves money paying for parking at the station.

Just did a quick calculation and worked out that it would take about 16 months of not paying daily parking charges* at my home station to offset the cost of a new Brompton (S2L Black Edition being my preferred benchmark model).

Of course, that doesn't factor in the other associated costs of car ownership (fuel, depreciation, servicing etc) which you are also reducing by not using it every day to drive to the station, or the fact that there are many cheaper folding bikes available, both of which would significantly reduce the payback period.

Also doesn't factor in the tax savings of making the bike purchase through a C2W scheme, which would reduce it even further.

Also doesn't factor in days when you need to use the car rather than the bike for whatever reason (injury, too much stuff to carry, make up your own reasons, but be realistic and admit that you will take the car occasionally).

All in all, it's not quite as simple as saying you save the parking charges but the economics are still very much in favour of cycling to the station rather than driving.

*£3.15 daily; calculation assumes 5 days a week for 47 weeks a year = £740 a year, hence 1.35 years to offset the Brompton
 
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