True speed of average car commute

[SoulOnIce]

I would love to be able to commute to work on my bike, BUT; it's 25 miles each way, much of it on hilly, busy trunk roads. Factor in the weather in the west of Scotland and it's a non-starter.

The answer to this is to take your bike on the back of your car. Drive to about 10 miles away and then cycle the last 10 miles. This way you manage to get some cylcing in but reduce the travel time with the help of the car.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

The answer to this is to take your bike on the back of your car. Drive to about 10 miles away and then cycle the last 10 miles. This way you manage to get some cylcing in but reduce the travel time with the help of the car.

I have to say, while this may work for some people, it'd be far too much pissing about for me. I can't imagine getting out of a nice warm car at 6am and messing about putting wheels on a bike by the side of the road, then having to get showered and changed when I got to work, all for the sake of commuting some of the way into work on a bike. But, if it works for you, fair enough.

 

[Brandane]

I have to say, while this may work for some people, it'd be far too much pissing about for me. I can't imagine getting out of a nice warm car at 6am and messing about putting wheels on a bike by the side of the road, then having to get showered and changed when I got to work, all for the sake of commuting some of the way into work on a bike. But, if it works for you, fair enough.

My thoughts exactly, then the same in reverse at night.... And it still involves the expense of owning a car, which was one of the main points made in the OP.

 

[WeeE]

Expand on this please?

See the first post.

Most people justify private-car ownership by saying they need their car to get to work. However, the average car-commute trip is just 8.7 miles (Supercommuters skew the balance; most have a shorter trip.)

It's just a way of looking at "commuting time" as the time taken out of your life by your commute: how many hours must a person work in order to get the money to make the commute possible.

For pedestrians, the commute time is the walking time.

For people using public transport, it's the walking time, waiting time, riding time and the hour or so working time that earns the money that pays for the ticket.

For car commuters it's the driving time plus the working time that pays for the purchase, upkeep & commuter-run fuel. (I suppose finding-parking time and walking time could be added to that.)

 

[palinurus]

Traffic is pretty light on my commute- it's against the flow of traffic heading south in the morning, north in the evening. 9 miles.

Takes about 35 minutes taking it easy. Got a lift yesterday as a colleague was picking up something from my flat after work. 30 minutes.

We left work early, and it was Friday- so lighter than usual traffic.

 

[ComedyPilot]

See the first post.

2.5 miles.

3:15 to 4 mins by car.

10 to 12 mins door to door by bike. 12 to 14mph depending on wind.

I think I answered that...didn't I?

I have had 20 days holiday this calendar year, about 80 days were weekends, and have worked the remaining 210 or so.

Of those 210 days at work I have ridden my bike 185-190 times.

This thread is entitled true speed of average car commute.

I posted mine.

 

[theclaud]

Seems in line with Ivan Illich in "Energy and Equity" 1974. He worked it out that the average American devotes 1600 hours to his car per year to travel 7500 miles. Approx = 5mph.

I've done it before, but it's worth quoting again:

The model American male devotes more than 1,600 hours a year to his car. He sits in it while it goes and while it stands idling. He parks it and searches for it. He earns the money to put down on it and to meet the monthly installments. He works to pay for gasoline, tolls, insurance, taxes, and tickets. He spends four of his sixteen waking hours on the road or gathering his resources for it. And this figure does not take into account the time consumed by other activities dictated by transport: time spent in hospitals, traffic courts, and garages; time spent watching automobile commercials or attending consumer education meetings to improve the quality of the next buy. The model American puts in 1,600 hours to get 7,500 miles: less than five miles per hour. In countries deprived of a transportation industry, people manage to do the same, walking wherever they want to go, and they allocate only 3 to 8 per cent of their society’s time budget to traffic instead of 28 per cent.

Hello trsleigh and welcome! You'll find a small, select band of Illichists hanging about here - we can always use another .

 

[WeeE]

I think I answered that...didn't I?

I have had 20 days holiday this calendar year, about 80 days were weekends, and have worked the remaining 210 or so.

Of those 210 days at work I have ridden my bike 185-190 times.

This thread is entitled true speed of average car commute.

I posted mine.

I see - you get your car and petrol free, and don't have to devote any more time to accomplishing your commute than the time spent sitting on your smart arse. My mistake

 

[ComedyPilot]

I see - you get your car and petrol free, and don't have to devote any more time to accomplishing your commute than the time spent sitting on your smart arse. My mistake

Then why not start the thread again entitled 'The true cost of commuting by car'?

 

[WeeE]

I've just scrapped my 15 year old astra - bought for £6,000 in Jan 1995

Running costs for the past few years: £330 insurance, £120 Road tax, £200 average mot and service. 1 major repair bill (£400) in the 15 year period

Plus petrol.

Even the AA remark that people consistently underestimate the running costs of their cars by a very large margin,: yet somehow no-one ever, ever believes that that majority of underestimating people can include them.

It's like the 99.2% of the population who believe they have a "better than average sense of humour"

 

[ComedyPilot]

I see - you get your car and petrol free, and don't have to devote any more time to accomplishing your commute than the time spent sitting on your smart arse. My mistake

 

[ComedyPilot]

Do you ride a bike WeeE?

 

[WeeE]

Then why not start the thread again entitled 'The true cost of commuting by car'?

Actually, I did initially type in that title, but I knew some smart-arse would start quibbling.

My point was very, verrry simple. Your commute-time is not just the time you spend doing the travelling; it's the whole chunk it takes from your life, that you could otherwise spend doing whatever you like.

Car commuting occupies a lot, lot more of your life than other modes of commuting. So its speed is only superficially faster.

 

[WeeE]

Haven't been well for quite a long time. Getting a bike is part of getting back to health for me.
At the moment, I ride a bike for two to six miles a day, round trip, and then I'm completely, hopelessly knackered and have to lie down. Sometimes - okay, almost always after each half-mile or so - I even have to get off the bike and just sit on some bit of street furniture for a while. But gradually my stamina and general fitness are improving.

 

[Brandane]

Maybe I'm missing something here? Are we to assume that the hours working to pay for a car (initial cost, depreciation, fuel, maintenance, tax, insurance etc..) are ALL done purely to pay for commuting to work??

I have a car. And a motorbike, and 2 bicycles. I enjoy using all of them, but obviously for different purposes. We all have different personal circumstances, and I can see why owning a car would be a pain in the arse and maybe unnecessary in a big city. Those same reasons do not apply if you live in the country. I live somewhere in between and can find perfectly legitimate reasons to use any of the transport modes I own. Public transport around here is an expensive, unreliable joke and doesn't go door-to-door.

You could possibly bring the same argument about food, clothes, heating etc.. In terms of time spent earning the money to pay the bills for essentials, they must be astronomically expensive too. Maybe we should all give up working and go back to living in caves??

Bottom line is, I know that car ownership is a costly business, but it is a financial sacrifice I am willing to make so that I can enjoy the convenience of owning a car.