By how much will swapping car for bike cut journey time?

Swift66

Hello,

I'm thinking of moving to Wicklow but work in Dublin, the journey time according to aa routeplanner is about 1 1/2 hours, I've always wanted to get a bike and wondered what time could be saved if i swapped the car for a bike.

Cheers

Cuddlesworth

Where in Wicklow and where in Dublin? I go from the Shankhill roundabout to the IFSC in 30 minutes, door to desk.

macnab

Work out using speed limits and distances ie. my commute is: 13 miles at 50mph=15.6 minutes, 2 miles at 30mph=4 minutes, 3 miles at 60mph=3 minutes, 9 miles at 30mph=18 minutes, Total is 40.6 minutes. You can add in 5 minutes for lights etc.

Idleater

Swift66 wrote: »

Hello,

I'm thinking of moving to Wicklow but work in Dublin, the journey time according to aa routeplanner is about 1 1/2 hours, I've always wanted to get a bike and wondered what time could be saved if i swapped the car for a bike.

Cheers

being honest, the time saving is completely dependent on a varying combination of your skill, willingness to erm 'bend' the rules, weather, time of day....

For instance, my 30km commute varies between 20 and 40 minutes. Then you have to factor in the putting on/ taking off gear (say 7 mins at either end), storage of said gear if it happened to rain on you, willingness to take a detour in or home from work if it is nice weather out...

thehomeofDob

I go from Blanchardstown to the City Centre every day. On week days I generally save about 25 minutes door to door. If you only every filter at lights then your time saved with diminish. As was said above it depends on your willingness to bend some of the rules. Even so, I wouldn't dare untill you have a few thousand miles under your belt. I couldn't accomplish half the manouvers I could now when I started riding, and I'm still quite a beginner.

Going from Wicklow to Dublin - you would want a big enough bike for the commute, and you can't use the M50 till you have your full license. Even then, with all the road works on that stretch, there isn't much room in most places to safely filter.

Lots to think about - but riding is a great deal of fun (for weekends too)! And they can be so easy to service. I've never done anything mechanical, yet today I've changed the oil and oil filter, spark plugs, air filter, and coolant. Nice and easy.

colm_c

I sometimes commute from Bray to Grafton St.

Depending on what time I leave at it takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 50 minutes on the bike. That 50 minutes can turn into 1:30/2 hours in a car.

You will also need a fairly big bike for motorway/dual carriage way driving.

You will definitely save time getting to work, but you can't just 'swap' a bike for a car, it ain't that simple. You need to learn to ride, and adjust to a different mindset. I'd suggest getting a relatively cheap bike, gear, training, insurance and see if you like it, see if you can deal without the car for everything, then get rid of the car and get a bigger bike.

slapper

pick up a 125 or 250 cheap and keep both car and bike a comuter doesnt need to be big

Wally Runs

Bray to Clonskeagh along the M50 is about 20-25 minutes (Burgman 400, keeping to the speed limit) on the N11 not much more. You will not make up much time on the N11 from Wicklow to Bray but will make it up on the section after that (filtering, bus lane etc)

Bigger gains to made on the way home as the M50/M11 backs up from Kilmac to Shankill/Cherrywood in the evening.

The M50 (Bray to Sandyford) can get very gusty over the winter and you might have brown trouser days that will see you safer in the car or bus.

jim o doom

My experience with time differences; From Lusk to Sandymount on a motorcycle - with traffic - roughly 45 minutes.
For my friend in his car the same journey, to a location around the corner from my job, in the same traffic (heavy) on the same day - over 2 hours.

To balance this slightly; I'm on the road 10 years so I have a decent bit of biking experience, and to be honest - at any point during that journey where there would have been clear road I would have been exceeding the speed limit. No point in sugar coating it
I'm not proud of it mind - just letting you know where the discrepancies in times come up - I go fast and don't get stuck in traffic, he goes normal speed or slightly fast and is constantly stuck in traffic.

Don't have to speed anymore as I live near town again - yaaay

beanhead

bray to clonee 41km - anywhere from 30-45 mins. depending on how attention i want to give,the weather, volume of traffic & how the traffics acting.

when theres been an accident and traffic isn't moving theres a huge danger of being side-swiped by lane switcher trying to gain 5m

i wouldn't learn the skills you need to survive on the m50 - not till the road enhancements are finished anyway

antiskeptic

Swift66 wrote: »

Hello,

I'm thinking of moving to Wicklow but work in Dublin, the journey time according to aa routeplanner is about 1 1/2 hours, I've always wanted to get a bike and wondered what time could be saved if i swapped the car for a bike.

Cheers

Some might think me a killjoy but you might as well read the 6th post down in the linked thread below. Commuting around Dublin is about the most death-trap laden kind of riding you could consider starting a biking career with. Commuting is an obvious reason to consider biking but the advantages have to be considered against the disadvantages - which frequently aren't known.


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055512513


Aside from that? Like folk say, it depends on your precise route. If you could use the M50 in the main, then the bike doesn't confer any advantage really. I've done Wicklow to Finglas by bike and car and there's no difference - if you take climbing into/out of bike gear into account. Road works won't take long more.

thehomeofDob

I started my commuting/riding in Dublin traffic. Can very much agree with the statement above - in six months I've been in one minor collision and one kinda minor collision/spill. The road works on the M50 making riding on it a pain - every mile there seems to be a mile of ruts where they've cut away road markings, or just left holes in the ground. They're a right danger to bikes, especially when wet. I would not want it to be my daily commute during winter.

[edit] Yes I realise I shouldn't be on the M50 :P :pac:

kowloon

Bending the rules is not something to try for a while, so expect the journey to take as long, if not slightly longer. The real advantage of owning a bike, in my opinion, is parking. Parking in town is expensive. You also save a few coppers every time you use the M50 toll for free.