I know, and if you’re reading this I suspect you know as well, that it’s very often faster to commute to work by bicycle than by public transport or even your own car. We can scoot down bus and cycle lanes and traffic congestion means little to us when we’re on two wheels.
Recently, in his BBC daytime series “Dom’s On The Case” as part of an episode titled “The Great British Jam” investigating why our roads are so clogged up, modern day consumer champion Dom Littlewood found this out for himself when he challenged a cyclist to a commuting race along a six mile stretch of the busy A38 in Birmingham.
According to the programme, Birmingham, described as Britain’s “second city”, has an average traffic speed of 19.4mph and people there spend more time commuting than in any other city in the country, including London. Across the nation, only 1% of the working population cycle to work and studies show that each new cycle commuter saves the nation almost £400 per year in health, pollution and congestion related costs.
Richard Trantor, described as a “semi professional” cyclist, cyclocross competitor and bike shop owner, was challenged to beat Dom along one of Birmingham’s busiest commuting routes into the city centre, using only his pedal power against Dom’s petrol power. It was a simple first past the post race with the winner to buy the coffee at the finish line. All rules of the road had to be obeyed, so no speeding, red light jumping or pavement hopping were allowed (for either competitor).
Dom Littlewood chats to cyclist Richard Trantor at the end of their car vs. cycle commuter race in Birmingham
The result, as you may have guessed, was that the cyclist beat the car, with a margin of six minutes over the six mile, 20 minute course. The car was ahead at the start of the race but got bogged down in heavy traffic closer to the city centre, allowing the bike to slip by and stay ahead. Richard bought the coffees, but Dom’s was cold by the time he pulled up!
My own experiences would support this outcome. My commute into Belfast city centre along one of the most heavily travelled commuter routes – the A2 Shore Road – takes around 45 minutes by car, giving a 12mph average speed, whereas I can make the trip in 35 minutes or less by bike for a 15mph average speed. The return journey is uphill and so takes a little longer, but it still matches the car and beats the bus, and we haven’t even mentioned the other benefits yet.
Do you find it faster by bike?
I’d agree.
From my house, about 1.5 miles from work in the City Centre, I can walk to work in 25-30 minutes (depending on motivation), drive in 15 to 20 minutes, or cycle in 8-10 minutes.
When I’m in a hurry, I take the bike.
I live 3.5 miles from my work, which in clear traffic (eg when schools are off) can take maybe 12 minutes by car. This is partly because I’m going against the majority of traffic, away from the city centre. When schools are on it can take 15-25 minutes. By bike it takes a pretty consistent 20 minutes, from which you will have worked out that I average only about 10mph on my bike, and therefore when I get fitter through doing it more, it should take less time still.
I’ve recently started to commute by bike in Birmingham. A total of 5.4 miles each way. By car it takes 15 – 35 minutes depending on traffic. By bike I cover this distance in 24 minutes on average. The time I save in the mornings is used to have refreshing showers at work, before I get into my scrubs!