Benefits/Disadvantages of Your Chosen Commute?

WiggyDiggyPoo

SailorSam wrote: »

I don't cycle other than a quick ride up and down the road if it's a sunny day. I find it hard work but that could be 'cos my bike cost less than £100 from Makro. I thought one bike is much the same as another why pay more, reading these forums maybe that was a mistake and i should have got something decent and then i'd use it more.
I've considered giving up my car and getting an electric bike (perhaps one day) That's why i'm posting, several posters have put one of the disadvantages of cycling is the safety hazard. I get regular emails still about electric bikes and they're doing a Poll at the moment to ask if users felt safer while out on an electric bike rather than a conventional one. I think the latest figures were that 80% felt safer on an electric bike.
Just a thought that i'd like to throw into the pot to see what others thought.

You just need to start riding more often. Distance isn't as important as regular riding* and as you ride more, you'll motivate yourself to want a better bike. I've changed bike twice since starting, each a little better than previous and am now at the point where I'll buy another bike and keep the old one (gasp! lol)

There's another thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4805558 on leccy bikes if you stop by there, lots of advice if thats the way you go.

*Other views may vary!

Stoke

For the first 12 months of my employment, I used the train as it seemed the most obvious solution. After some rather unpleasant journeys in which various incidents happened, I considered the possibility of using a car. I now use my car everyday and have done for the past 2 years. My commute is roughly 35 miles each way, but I regularly take detours to see my girlfriend etc.

Benefits of Car
- Cheaper. In my old petrol, it cost me roughly £10 a day (if that) to get to work and back. In my current car, a diesel, it costs just £30-£35 a week to get to work. Both of which are cheaper than the train.
- Comfort. I like my car. I enjoy sitting in it. The heaters work. The seats are nice and I can listen to whatever I want on the radio.
- Flexibility. I can leave work when I want. I can go to work when I want... within reason. I can take a detour to the shops if I need to.

Disadvantages of Car
- Time. It probably adds 15-30 minutes onto my trip.
- Maintenance. More miles means I have to perform more maintenance. That said, it's still cheaper than the train.
- Parking Disputes. Where I work there's been a lot of problems with local residents falling out with workers. The residents are your typical wealthy self-obsessed goons who believe they're above the law because they have a Merc parked on their drive.

Benefits of Train
- Time. Trip to work is much quicker, although the trip home isn't so impressive and takes roughly the same amount of time if not a bit longer than car.
- Stress Free. I usually feel less stressed going on the train, unless there's been a major delay which is quite rare.
- Fairly Consistent. They aren't always on time, but they're never more than a few minutes late. No issues with traffic jams and I've yet to experience one break down.

Disadvantages of Train
- Price. The train costs far too much really. My trip to work falls under the standard minimum pricing at £12 which is going up to £13 in January right? It's already just over double what I currently pay.
- Unpleasant Experience. I'm not a snob. I've used the trains for years, but I find the trains to work quite unpleasant. I'm not lucky enough to use the Pendolino. My route to work is via London Midland and then Northern Rail. London Midland trains are generally clean, but I find many of the ticket inspectors are quite rude and unpleasant. I've had a number of fallings out with them over things such as change, my railcard and the correct price for my ticket which they tend to get quite aggressive over. Northern Rail trains are usually disgusting and have a rich smell of stale urine. That particular one is often full of kids on the way home and they tend to cause a lot of problems. They also rarely send ticket inspectors down which means I regularly see people get on, who are clearly very inebriated and are just dossing around.

GwylimT

I cycle to work five days a week, it takes me about 40 minutes, but if traffic is bad this is increased and if conditions are poor it takes me longer.Its fairly cheap, my road bike was just over £1000, but I've had it three years and if I drove to work I would spend far more than that on petrol and obviously there are of course other costs associated with having a car.

I sometimes enjoy it, but I don't enjoy my daily battle with lorry drivers who over take when it is inappropriate and so I have to leap into hedgerows on a far too regular basis.

angelil

I live in France and commute from a town not that far from Paris to the city itself. The distance/time taken is about the same as Maidenhead-London, which I also used to do.

Commute consists of a 5-minute walk, then a 40/45-minute train journey (split across three trains) followed by a 10-minute walk (or a 2-minute bus ride if I'm lucky). On the way back it's slightly different: 5-minute bus ride followed by 35 minutes on the train (split across 2 trains)...then the final 5-minute walk. However, it takes a bit longer than written, all told, thanks to all the walking around changing trains/buses etc.

Benefits: Firstly, it's the quickest, cheapest way to get to where I work. At just €100 a month for an unlimited ticket, it also covers my travel at weekends if I want to go into Paris for pleasure. Cycling would take too long (I live 25km away from work) and I don't yet have a driving licence (and even if I did, I still wouldn't drive - it would take too long due to rush hour traffic). In terms of health, plenty of walking and climbing stairs is involved, so I'd say this commute has definitely increased my fitness. When I take the bus, I also enjoy looking out of the window and people-watching (sad, I know!). The bus is also nice and warm in winter The first leg of my journey in the morning starts at the end of the line, so I always get a seat. This leg of the journey is also the longest of all the trains and buses I take (20/25 minutes minimum) so it means I can curl up with a book, get stuck into listening to a good album, or even catch up on work or sleep. I also commute this long because I live further out of the city, and living further out of the city means a nicer home in a nicer town for less money :money:

Problems: I alluded to one when I said "20/25 minutes minimum" above. If there are problems with the trains, I can be stuck in the public transport network for ages. The best record so far is leaving the flat at 7.20, making it to work at 10.00 :eek:
There are also downsides when it comes to health, as public transport does of course spread germs. On the more superficial side, inhaling other people's noxious body odour, the smell of cigarette smoke that lingers on their hair and clothes, or the smell of their urine in the stations (again, :eek:) is never pleasant either.
Other cons: not being able to get a seat on the way back; having to put up with the beggars (who strangely claim to be so hungry while being monstrously obese) and 'musicians' that plague the journey; having to hang onto your bag tightly at all times to make sure you don't get pickpocketed; having to listen to other people's inane conversations; cold stations; and of course THE TIREDNESS which inevitably takes its toll on you when you basically do a 3-hour round trip every day.

Hmm, think that's it
Still, I must enjoy the work I do, or I wouldn't have done this commute for the past five years and counting

Abby_Daisy

I go to my company by bus everyday. when i enjoy its benefits but i suffer many disadvantages it caused to me. Of course, it is very convenient for me by bus everyday and costs me less as for the transportation fees, but there are too much people taking bus everyday, and i do not have no seat, and are always pushed by the crowded people, which makes me very uncomfortable. Besides, traffic jam always happen, which make me late for work.

Richard53

I used to commute into Hull each day, a hilly 16 miles each way across the Wolds. It was the nearest I have ever been to properly fit in my whole life. It took an hour each way, and I loved it. I was on a road bike, and even converted it to a fixie for the winter. Then a baby came along, and suddenly 2 hours a day riding a bike semed like an indulgence. I got a small motorbike (and then a bigger one, and so on) and I have been on powered two-wheelers ever since. I would cycle to work even now, though, if my job was closer to home, but the ride is not feasible on a pushbike (although maybe an e-bike, who knows?).

Advantages: the fitness, the fresh air, the sense of achievement, the low cost. Also, I love bikes mechanically. They are really nice things to use and have around.

Disadvantages: sometimes cold and wet, and the time it took out of my day when other responsibilities came along. I actually enjoyed the city riding, where I generally went as fast as I could and positioned like a car. I was only knocked off once (a genuine accident, although I had a good shout at the driver when I caught up with him) and didn't see safety as an issue, although I bounced well in those days. Mind you, I'm sure Hull rush-hour traffic is nothing like as bad as London.

WiggyDiggyPoo

To continue my comparison I took the bus in today as it wasnt convenient to cycle, door to door it was about the same length of time. But what I noticed was it could have been faster had to bus not gone quite literally around the houses.

Now thats not a complaint, I understand that bus's have a route etc But I think that is a big difference between cycling to work and using public transport. My bicycle goes where I want it to go, public transport goes where it wants to go and hopefully that's near where we want to go!