Cycling vs train: pros and cons

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mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
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) [...]
*£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
That's surprisingly cheap to me. Now £5.70/day in King's Lynn, although season tickets are available if you do it daily - but at first glance they don't look much cheaper if you go 5 days a week. https://uk.parkindigo.com/en/car-park/kings-lynn-station-car-park
 

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
That's surprisingly cheap to me.

Yes, and to me too. I initially guessed at £6 but thought I'd better check for the sake of accuracy.

£3.15 is actually for the 'unofficial' station car park (the council-run one on the down side), the official station car park (on the up side) is £3.60 per day or £16.60 per week. On-street parking is also unrestricted around the station but you have to get there before 6.30 to find a space. I would be very much in favour of the council slapping down some double yellow lines in the worst affected streets but that would only serve to outrage the tiny-minded locals even further (very few houses in the residential streets near the station have off-street parking).

Of course, if your daily parking charges are in the region of £5-6, that just makes the case for cycling even stronger.
 

EltonFrog

Legendary Member
Trains are useless. All they do is take from where you don’t live to where you don’t want to go.

They should abolish the railway network and brownfill the real estate for housing and work places, and make all the railway lines cycle paths.
 

Grievesy

Active Member
in my old job, I could cycle the commute of 10 miles in 30 mins, it took me 40-45 mins to commute by car as it was rush hour (this is using the same roads)
in my current job, it is 5 miles of mainly cycle paths, it takes 5 mins longer to cycle than it does to drive, but I don't get to see no Rabbits or foxes on my drive :P

When I got to my work on the bike I felt energized, alert, happier, ready for the day, had more thinking time and hungry. (could eat more!)
When I took the car I was frustrated about traffic, annoyed at other drivers, and generally get into work all hot and bothered.

Generally I feel sometimes it's better to slow down to appreciate things more. gives you more perspective.

Never done trains, but in my experience they are late, cancelled, overcrowded and full of ignorant people staring at phone screens or headphones blaring.

Should also note, I am a typical tight fisted jock, I'd rather use the works showers and towels :smile: saves more coin.
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
Another factor for me is flexibility. If Im on the bike I can leave any time but with the trains I'm tied by their timetable which is pretty poor.
Plus the train is always rammed too.

I had that when my commute involved train and bike. An extra 10 mins at work and I would be home an hour later. Colleagues who,drove did not get it. I was protective of the time I got away by.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
I had that when my commute involved train and bike. An extra 10 mins at work and I would be home an hour later. Colleagues who,drove did not get it. I was protective of the time I got away by.
Funny because when I drove to work for a few years, if I was an extra 10 mins then I might as well work an extra hour (yay flexitime meant it was an hour less some other day) as sit in all the queues. Similarly in the mornings, I could leave home at 7 and arrive at 8, or leave at 7.30 and arrive at 9 if lucky :wacko: Cycle journey times are far more consistent, even with headwinds whipping off the north sea!
 

icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
But if you have a longer journey and a folder, you still gain some flexibility. For example when I see the dreaded "DELAYED" on every train going to my usual station, I can get a train that goes vaguely near where I live and cycle back from there.
 

beany_bot

Veteran
I can't actually think of a single benefit of the train. Being lazy doesnt count, being able to work doesnt count because thats not good for mental health (working on the way to work). cycling is good switching off time for the mind.

I'll grant you that in the winter it is a bit of a faff getting ready to cycle, but its only minutes.
 

icowden

Veteran
Location
Surrey
The benefit of the train is that if you have a very long journey, you can get to work!

My journey by bike would be 24 miles, which is too much for me to do twice a day (although i am thinking of trying it as an occasional cycle). So instead I cycle 1.5 miles to the station, fold the bike, get the train, cycle 1.5 miles to work and the same going home.

The bonus of the bike is that when the trains are broken I have alternative routes that I can use and just cycle a few extra miles home.
 

booze and cake

probably out cycling
Cycling pluses:
Cheaper
More enjoyable
More reliable
No timetable/hours of service
Usually quicker, around London definitely, longer journeys less so.
Learn more and see more of your surroundings
Potential to explore and do off the cuff detours
Positive mental health and buzzy exercise endorphins
Legs and buns of steel, and I'm less fat than I otherwise would be.
The great British public can be easily ignored/avoided if you wish.
Cyclists are mostly awesome and look out for each other, its like being in a club, even if you're not in a cycling club

Cycling cons;
Selecting the wrong clothing choices for the weather that happens can result in getting soaked and cold.
Form attachments to bikes so I don't want to sell them, resulting in much less space in my flat for other things
The expense of keeping multiple bikes on the road
eBay addiction, to try and reduce costs of the above
Can't buy trousers online, need to try them on first-see legs and buns of steel point listed earlier.
Lemming peds on phones and drivers on phones with a total disregard for their safety and yours
Crashing, it usually always hurts, and recovery takes longer the older you get
Bike thieves and indifference to bike crime as its low level. And related the sad fact any nice bike cannot be locked outside in London in confidence that it and/or its parts will still be there when you get back, even with good locks.
Cycling long distance makes you seem a weirdo to some people, I'm too old to care about this and I think couch potatoes are the weird ones

Trains pros
I can cover more than 200 miles in a day, if the trains actually work.
Less care needed with clothing choices and weather checking
If your bike is broken and you have no car or other means of transport, then the train is an option.
Nothing else

Train cons
Expensive, prices vary hugely across operators and certain times/dates
Unreliable, the longest list of excuses for poor service known to mankind!
Pathetic amount of cycle spaces on most trains
Utterly disjointed service since privatisation
Some operators you cannot reserve a bike space online
The great British public are on it, erggh.
If you're on a Virgin train the whole carriage which contains the toilet stinks of urine.
The food is awful and is a rip off

In summary bikes rock and trains suck.
 
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