My Morning Commute

[jrenaut]

I left my house at 8:07, stopped at the Bike Rack to have my rear wheel trued and new brake pads put on, left the Bike Rack at 8:29, and got to my desk at 8:55.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is efficiency.

[jabberwocky]

@dkel 75736 wrote:

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.

I’m in the same boat. My old commute (Reston to Tysons) had bad traffic problems, so the bike ride was nice to skip that. My current commute is largely immune to rush hour traffic, so the bike ride is just for fun and exercise.

[cyclingfool]

@jabberwocky 75770 wrote:

I’m in the same boat.

Speaking of boats, my morning commute involved an interesting sighting from the 14th St Bridge. Upstream from the bridge the river is still frozen over. On that ice there was a small police boat with a huge fan on the back (think Everglades or Louisiana bayou airboat) doing donuts out on the surface of the ice. Your law enforcement officers hard at work?

[TwoWheelsDC]

Bike: 25-30 minutes
transit: 45 minutes under ideal circumstances
car: we only have one car and my wife uses it to commute in the opposite direction, so not really an option. But it’s a 25 minute drive under normal conditions, so not really appreciably faster than biking.

[aguy7]

Back to 80 layers this morning–I’m weary of that. But I got the layering right and was not too hot or cold.

Bike: 3 miles each way–15 minutes of riding. Free parking in the garage.
Car: I”ve never done it but it would be 3 miles and depending on the time about 20 to 40 minutes. $13 per day to park.
Transit: About 40 minutes (the bus leg is slow going). $6.40 for the round trip if it includes a Metro train, $3.20 round trip if I use only buses.

[dasgeh]

Today’s commute was lovely. As I left the house, I realized I had forgotten about my face — all I had was a scarf. I didn’t turn back and it turns out, that’s all I needed. But that makes me think it wasn’t really 15 degrees (at 8:30am)

[jopamora]

@dasgeh 75806 wrote:

Today’s commute was lovely. As I left the house, I realized I had forgotten about my face — all I had was a scarf. I didn’t turn back and it turns out, that’s all I needed. But that makes me think it wasn’t really 15 degrees (at 8:30am)

Or you don’t need to HTFU anymore.

[dkel]

@dasgeh 75806 wrote:

Today’s commute was lovely. As I left the house, I realized I had forgotten about my face — all I had was a scarf. I didn’t turn back and it turns out, that’s all I needed.

I’ve had a similar experience a couple of times, and each time, my face didn’t start stinging until later in the afternoon. If I use a liberal smear of Aquaphor on the little bit of exposed skin around my eyes, I don’t get that stinging later in the day. Regardless, in temperatures like these, the first few minutes always make my eyeballs ache!

[Geoff]

My commute comparisons are:
1. By bike, 50 – 75 minutes, depending on how strong I feel and depending on how many tourists I have to dodge.
2. Metro – Walk to EFC, 40 min (2 miles, yeah, I like walking), 20 min ride, 10 minute walk to office, so 70 min overall.
3. Drive – I never drive in DC if I can avoid it.

So it looks like biking is faster than Metro for me BUT “the transition” adds time. Changing clothes, cleaning up when I get to the office.

[vvill]

bike: 30-50 mins. close to free.
car + bike: 35-45 mins. cost of gas.
car: 25-40 mins, $12 parking + gas
bike + metro: 45-50 mins, ~$6-7
bus + metro: 55-65 mins. ~$10.
car + metro: 45-50 mins, ~$12, plus gas
bus + bus: >65 mins, <$10 (only done this a few times) Also – the time/cost of the bike journey doesn’t really change depending on the time of day. The others do, and if I’m driving into DC I can’t leave later than 7:30am, or I’ll hit really bad traffic.

[jrenaut]

@vvill 75816 wrote:

…the time/cost of the bike journey doesn’t really change depending on the time of day…

I’ve wondered about this in the future – if we really get biking’s mode share up where we think we want it, there are going to be traffic jams on the busy bike lanes in DC (PA Ave, 14th and 15th, etc). Not a terrible problem to have, considering the alternatives, but something to think about. 15th NW is definitely slower when I leave at 5 and it’s reasonably nice out – I miss lights that I otherwise make because of all the other bikes.

[mstone]

@jrenaut 75817 wrote:

I’ve wondered about this in the future – if we really get biking’s mode share up where we think we want it, there are going to be traffic jams on the busy bike lanes in DC (PA Ave, 14th and 15th, etc). Not a terrible problem to have, considering the alternatives, but something to think about. 15th NW is definitely slower when I leave at 5 and it’s reasonably nice out – I miss lights that I otherwise make because of all the other bikes.

If there are that many bikes it’s pretty safe for them to take the lane, no?

[jrenaut]

@mstone 75820 wrote:

If there are that many bikes it’s pretty safe for them to take the lane, no?

Possibly. Probably not in all situations. But maybe it would change culture so much that it would be fine. And what about the VA trails? What’s capacity for the MVT, for example?

[mstone]

@jrenaut 75821 wrote:

Possibly. Probably not in all situations. But maybe it would change culture so much that it would be fine.

Safety in numbers. If there are so many cyclists that there’s always several in sight, it would be easy for them to take a lane even on 50 or 29–at that point, it would be easier for a motorist to simply change lanes (or drive the speed limit) rather than trying to intimidate all of them off the road. That said, I think we’re a long way away from that point outside of DC.

[dasgeh]

@jrenaut 75821 wrote:

And what about the VA trails? What’s capacity for the MVT, for example?

This would be the bigger issue, methinks. But it’s just a reminder that we need to keep advocating, so we have better facilities in 10-20 years. We my kids grow up, I would love to see a true network of protect, separated bike facilities for them to utilize…

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