The Press have been running a series of articles over the past week or so about transport issues in Christchurch; you might have seen the one last week looking at the hassles of getting our cycleway network completed (by the way, if you have difficulties accessing paywall articles, I find that an incognito browser usually does the trick…). The latest article encapsulates one of the things I find great about getting around this city by bike – the travel time efficiency compared with other modes.
In the article in question, three reporters set out on a 6km journey from Papanui into town, via bike, car and bus. In the end, the cyclist gets there first in 18 minutes, the car driver 23 minutes (not counting parking and walking time), and the bus passenger 28 minutes plus walking times.
This tends to mirror what I see from various “commuter challenges” held around the place (e.g. this one from Auckland a few years back) – in rush hour situations particularly, bikes generally win the day. As well as generally being pretty good at avoiding the gridlock, bikes usually also have a “door-to-door” advantage that is often hard to replicate if you have to make your way to/from a car-park or bus-stop.
The other thing I like about biking is the general consistency of the journey, regardless of external factors like traffic. For example, my ride to/from work pretty much consistently takes me 12-15 minutes, whether it be 8am, 12pm, 5pm, 9pm, whatever. As alluded to a couple of months back, that’s not always the case when you are in a motor vehicle reliant on the whims of other traffic around you…
If the distance of your journey starts getting too far (especially if you don’t have an e-bike to help) then you could always join the dots by combining bus and bike (especially on the corridors with priority bus lanes). That way, you get the distance convenience of a bus journey with the door-to-door convenience of the bike at each end.
Some people focus on travel times, especially if they think that being in the car “saves them time”. The flaw in that thinking is what exactly you can do with that time. If I’m on my bike I’m getting my daily exercise (no need to spend extra time going to the gym); if I’m on a bus I can be productive with a book, phone, etc (someone else is doing the driving); if I’m in my car I can – well, just sit there and concentrate on driving… And that’s even before I think about the extra times when I have to stop to fill up my car and then find a carpark…
So here’s to the humble bicycle – a very efficient commuting machine!
Do you find that you can get around quicker on your bike?