It's FASTER to Travel by Bike Than CTA! (Melrose Park: to buy, luxury)

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by long101

A whole $68.66 in 9 months huh? So in 40 years it will pay off

That's the only part I really paid attention to - because it means he would have only used about a tank and a half of gas over 8 months?

[rparz]

It makes much more sense if it allows you to ditch a car completely and get by on zipcar and the like.

Gas, Insurance, Loan Payments, maintenance, repairs. It can add up.

[dewthedru]

why is it so important for you to constantly mention how much your bike is worth? that only serves to obscure what might otherwise be a decent post.

[It'sAutomatic]

How much money and time have you spent measuring and recording your theoretical gas use?

Bikes are slower than trains (duh), but bikes are faster than trains in actual door-to-door time. Trains involve walking to the station, waiting for a train, and then walking to the destination. Train riders going to a time-sensitive destination are forced to leave extra early to allow for a potentially long wait.

[Nodpete]

It has to be faster on a bike because you don't have to stop at stop signs, you can go the wrong way down a one way street and you don't have to observe any speed limits. You're saving the planet so you can do whatever you want !

[rparz]

Originally Posted by Nodpete

It has to be faster on a bike because you don't have to stop at stop signs, you can go the wrong way down a one way street and you don't have to observe any speed limits. You're saving the planet so you can do whatever you want !

The real timesaver is when you can approach a 6-way intersection and just blast through it with no disregard for cars and right of way. You can shave 5-10 minutes off your commute with this method.

[Jesse69]

Originally Posted by long101

A whole $68.66 in 9 months huh? So in 40 years it will pay off

Today I went to Melrose Park to Arby's to get their FREE sample sandwich, but it no longer exists and was turned into a Home Run Inn Pizza restaurant. First time I ate this Sausage & Mushroom pizza fresh, and not from the freezer. Then I went to Triton College, then the HIP Mall, back down Fullerton stopping by Harbor Freight, a Flip store, then Milwaukee to Western then home. Total miles - 25.7 mi - an ok workout but to get significant weight loss from a bike workout you should do 30+ miles. So today's bike ride was worth $5.75 in gas!

Originally Posted by dewthedru

why is it so important for you to constantly mention how much your bike is worth? that only serves to obscure what might otherwise be a decent post.

I commented on my bike costs through a post edit because the 2nd comment said you should get a good road bike instead of a hybrid, so I had to tell how much my bike was worth, you oversensitive *****.

Originally Posted by It'sAutomatic

How much money and time have you spent measuring and recording your theoretical gas use?

I'm doing a long term study of how much gas I save by biking. So my time put into logging my gas savings is worth it. Plus I have a past history of how much gas costs.

Bikes are slower than trains (duh), but bikes are faster than trains in actual door-to-door time. Trains involve walking to the station, waiting for a train, and then walking to the destination. Train riders going to a time-sensitive destination are forced to leave extra early to allow for a potentially long wait.

Check my partial screenshoot of my current bike log. 91 rides and $74.71 saved in gas. Plus it saves a lot of wear from using your car for short trips, because a lot of wear comes from a car startup.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by It'sAutomatic

How much money and time have you spent measuring and recording your theoretical gas use?

Bikes are slower than trains (duh), but bikes are faster than trains in actual door-to-door time. Trains involve walking to the station, waiting for a train, and then walking to the destination. Train riders going to a time-sensitive destination are forced to leave extra early to allow for a potentially long wait.

That's all relative. Trains and actual door-to-door time..it depends on where you live. I live right near a train station and takes me exactly 2 minutes to get there. 2 minutes is not going to make or break this type of thing. Not only that, but there's things like Google and phone apps that let you know exactly when the next train is coming. I leave exactly 2-3 minutes earlier and almost never wait for a train near my place or even work because I know exactly how to time things so I barely wait.

Unless you're going a short distance, the train will be faster than a bike many, many times.

[rparz]

If you're a person who doesn't have the luxury of living as close to an el station, maybe even transfers to a bus once off the el, that's a whole new set of variables that a bicycle could (possibly) succeed in.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by rparz

If you're a person who doesn't have the luxury of living as close to an el station, maybe even transfers to a bus once off the el, that's a whole new set of variables that a bicycle could (possibly) succeed in.

Possibly, but thanks to technology it's a lot easier to time things. My girlfriend lives 4 blocks away from an el station, but it's easy for me to just say "hey the ___ bus is coming in 5 minutes" and it barely takes any time to get to the el station versus walking.

There's a whole set of variables and it all depends on many things basically, and I love biking, but if you're going long distances...even if you have to walk for 2 blocks to get to the el station, if you're going 4 miles, you're still going to get to your destination faster than if you rode a bike. Most people cannot keep a 16 mph or more pace up for an entire 4 minutes, especially in a city with traffic.