My Morning Commute

[guga31bb]

@Steve 75690 wrote:

I wonder how different most people’s are. My roundtrip commutes are:

1. Bike – 90 min
2. Metro + Shuttle – 150 min
3. Drive – 50 min

I don’t have a car, so the biking choice is pretty easy.

For me (10mi round trip):

1. Bike – 45 min
2. Bus – 120 min
3. Drive – ??

Not sure about driving because (i) I’ve never tried it (ii) wife usually takes the car to work anyway (iii) I’d have to find a parking space in Georgetown for a whole day (iv) it would involve driving through M St and across Key Bridge during rush hour. Let’s call it effectively impossible.

[jrenaut]

3.5 miles each way.
1. Bike – 30 minutes door to desk, free
2. Metro – 30 minutes door to desk, covered by transit subsidy
3. Drive – Never tried it. Probably $15-20 to park in a garage. Probably wouldn’t save any time once I’d fought through traffic and walked from the garage to my office. Then I’d have to find a parking spot at home when I got back, so it might actually be the slowest option. The only thing slower would probably be walking, and even then I’m not sure I couldn’t do it faster door to desk on foot.

[Steve]

@jrenaut 75706 wrote:

Probably $15-20 to park in a garage.

Oh yea, I guess I should have noted that parking for me is free. So is metro by way of subsidy. I also leave home a little before 6 on most days, so when I drive I hit zero morning traffic and light afternoon traffic. Rush hour would move my driving and riding times closer together. 9-9.5 miles each way, depending on route (and up to 15 on the early days of spring when I’m super happy!).

[Mikey]

For me:
25.3 miles each way.
1. Bike – 105-125 min (depending on trail conditions and direction)-Free
2. Bus/Bus/Shuttle – 90-110 min depending on timing it just right – All but about $30 a month covered by reduced subsidy
3. Drive – 50-100 min depending on timing $8 per day for gas and extra for parking (not guaranteed spot about 20% have to pay to park).
4. Bike/Bus/Bike – 75 min -covered by reduced subsidy (as long as I do option 1 about once a week.)

[dasgeh]

7.5 miles each way (give or take)
1. Bike – 45-60 minutes door to desk, depending on the route I can take (I can only take the fastest route when there’s no snow/ice); +10 on the way home; free (if I’d stop shopping for bikes & bike stuff)
1a. Bike + Bus – 45 minutes door to desk, $1.60
2. Bus + Metro – 45 minutes door to desk if I time the transfer right, $3.20
3. Drive – 30 – ??? minutes door to desk during rush hour, $ SO MUCH (Ok, I don’t know how much, but the opportunity cost is the hubby & kids don’t get the car if they need it, which in my head is HUGE)

[dasgeh]

Oh, and along this line, my non-bikey parents were in town this weekend, and we went to some of our normal haunts with them in car and one of us + one or two kids on the bakfiets. It was the ultimate test. Each trip (all 1-2 miles), the bike got to the destination at the same time as the car. The car still had to park, and got luck most of the time, but still. Not faster. That was satisfying.

[Subby]

10-11 miles each way for me via car, 9-15.5 via bike

1. Drive – free parking, anywhere from 30 minutes to 70 minutes depending on day, gas guzzling Honda Pilot costs, blood pressure essplosions.
2. Bike – 35 minutes to an hour depending on route. Free, awesome, magical, etc..
3. Public Transportation – no?

#3 would be in play, but free parking downtown makes it pretty much impossible to say no to a car as a second option after biking.

[americancyclo]

bike – 12.5 miles, 50 min (+5 min return)
bike/metro – 45 min (-5 min return), subsidized
driving – dunno. only got dropped off once, can’t remember how long it took.

[jabberwocky]

Driving: 6.5 miles, 15 minutes.
Cycling: 7 miles, 30-35 minutes.

Mass transit isn’t an option out in Great Falls. This is the land of mercedes and 10k sq ft mansions! So its drive or ride.

[guga31bb]

@dasgeh 75711 wrote:

Bike – free (if I’d stop shopping for bikes & bike stuff)

This hit close to home…

[cyclingfool]

Bike: 7.5 miles, 30-45 minutes depending on wind direction and energy level (upwards of an hour on $#!tty unplowed, icy, rutted MVT), free
Bus or Walk/Metro/Walk: 45-60 minutes, boring, only perk being I catch up on all my podcasts, $7+ round trip
Drive: Wouldn’t dream of it. I could get free parking where I work now in DC, but I’m not interested in the BS that goes along with 20 cars crammed onto a pull-through driveway at a historic building. That and we’re a one-car family now. My wife and kid need the car during the day more than I do.

[dkel]

My commute:

Driving 7.2 mi = 20 min pretty much every time, no matter what day or time
Cycling 7.5 mi on average (depending on the route) = 35-40 min
Metro?? Doesn’t seem worth it to go from Falls Church out to Vienna.

I don’t have a bad driving commute, so the most compelling reason for me to cycle is that I love it to the point of near addiction. It’s good for any number of other reasons, too, of course. I have noticed that I average more miles on my bike now than in my car, and that I only need to get gas in the car once a month, so that’s all good.

[ebubar]

Bike: 15 miles, ~80 minutes, free
Bike+Metro+shuttle: ~70 minutes, $5 each way
Bus+Metro+shuttle:~80 minutes, $6 each way

Times are all about the same. Biking might be a little longer when I factor in the clothing changes.
Plus with a cold, i’ve been sidelined for the past few days. Stupid cold.

[hozn]

Bike: 16 miles, 55-65 minutes + shower @ work
Bus: haven’t investigated deeply, but I think >1hr
Car: 18 miles, 25-40 minutes, $8 tolls

So car is certainly much faster, but if I drive I have to make other time in my day to bike/exercise.

It is such a luxury to live and work right off the W&OD.

[Arlingtonrider]

Bike: 39 min (+5 coming home)

Bus + metro (incl. transfer): 37 – 80 minutes, depending on connections and traffic (w/o CaBi)

Best recent discovery thanks to #BASF and Karen W: When I have to take bus/metro, I can easily cut three metro stops and one transfer, and have more flexibility regarding which metro line I take initially, by using CaBi from L’Enfant Plaza to work. Haven’t timed that yet.

[Author]

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