What is the fastest way to commute at rush hour?

As I write this it's a bit of a strange time in the UK. Technically we're still in lockdown but with the economy in bits the government has advised that those who can go back to work, should. However, with social distancing still in place the use of public transport is being discouraged. To prevent mass gridlock on the roads the government is for once pushing the benefits of walking and cycling as a mode of transport.

Now obviously walking is the easiest form of commuting, but for those of us that live more than a couple of miles from work it’s probably not really that feasible. So is cycling really an option for your commute?

For many people the idea of hopping on a bike for their commute to work will not only seem daunting but will also seem massively time consuming, which is possibly the reason they haven't considered it before.

Now, let me start this by saying that obviously everybody's commute is different. The times we commute, the distances we travel, the destination we arrive at and the equipment we need to bring with us will all probably factor into your commuting choice and so cycling may not be suitable for all - that's fine.

However, for most city centre workers cycling is probably a reasonable alternative to their current commute and the purpose of this blog is simply to show that cycling might just be more of a realistic option than you first thought.  

I really can't say what is the best option for you. However, living approximately 9 miles outside of a large city centre (Leeds) where cycling, car, bus and train options are all available to me I think I can probably share some relatable advice that you can use to consider whether cycling may be an option for you.  

I'll be the first to admit that I am heavily biased towards cycling as a mode of transport. However, all the timings below are based on genuine experience of commuting by various modes and are not made up to suit my narrative.

So with that in mind let’s answer unequivocally what is the fastest way to commute! 

Walking - Full disclosure, I've never walked into the city from here but I reckon it would take me about 2hrs each way so its not really feasible for commuting. I guess I could run, but I hate running so let’s not go there.

I did used to live closer to the city (about 2 miles away) and then I'd walk to work almost every day. On the odd day that I did cycle I actually found that by the time I got my bike out, rode to work, locked it up, got changed etc it wasn't really any faster than walking and the 20 mins or so faffing either side of the ride outweighed the 5 minutes of joy on the bike.  

Driving - With no traffic I can get to the city centre in about 20 minutes. Obviously you then have to find somewhere to park (another 5 - 10 minutes) and you then, unless you are lucky enough to have parking at the office, will probably have a 5 - 15 minute walk too. That 20 minutes is literally with empty roads. Throw in rush hour traffic and it can easily be over an hour sat crawling in the car. We all know that traffic is unpredictable and so journey times can vary wildly with this one but I’d say I would be doing very well to average an hour door to door commuting into Leeds by car and realistically I would think it would be over this.

Bus - Done this a few times and wow it’s slow, it literally stops every 100m and a good run will take at least 50 minutes. Add in the 10 minutes for the walk to the stop on each side of the journey and the 20 minutes you'll have to wait for one to come along (despite the fact there is meant to be one every 10 minutes) and you are easily looking at an hour and a half each way.

Train - Now the train isn't a bad choice to be honest. I live within 2 miles of 3 different stations so have plenty of options here. Undoubtably the quickest form of transport, it will have you in the city centre in 15 minutes. However, you have to add in the 5-10 minute drive (or an hour walk), you will probably want to leave a bit of float too, as if you miss it you will be adding on another 30 minutes and then for a city centre worker you may have another 15 minute walk on the other side. Not a bad option but still takes at least 45 minutes (assuming it’s on time).

Cycling - So the beauty of the bicycle is that it’s the one option that can truly take you door to door. The terrain is very much on my side when cycling into Leeds and I can do it in about 30 - 35 minutes as it’s all downhill. Obviously, depending on exact location of the office, this may add another 5-10 minutes getting across town and then you need to allow another 5 minutes for locking the bike up too. Depending on how hard you rode you will possibly want a shower too (let’s say 20 minutes) so all in we're somewhere near the hour mark, maybe a touch over.

A slight disadvantage of cycling is that the terrain that makes my ride in so easy makes the ride home that bit more difficult, so on the way home it’s more like 45 minutes on the bike.    

Whilst I'm no slouch on the bike, I’m not particularly fast either so those times are realistic for someone coming into cycling with moderately good fitness and if this sounds too much like hard work the explosion of ownership of e-bikes is really making commuting by bike more accessible to those that are not hard core fitness fanatics. An e-bike will provide assistance up to 15mph, so even on those hilly routes, a 9 mile ride could be done in little over 30 minutes.

So that's it - Trains win then?
You know what, if you are in reach of a good train line fairly close to the city centre you probably aren’t going to beat that. The reliability and cost of the train might make you consider cycling but in terms of speed it’s a good option. For me, the take away is that actually the bike is pretty comparable with the car once you account for traffic. There are days when commuting by car will be so much faster than on a bike but I reckon on at least half the days I would win on my bike.

Obviously cycling can be hard work and you may not fancy it every day but when you get into the habit it really is enjoyable and is not that much of a time commitment. With Covid-19 effectively meaning train use should be discouraged, you may think that with cars and bicycles being shown as roughly equal there would be no advantage to taking up cycling for commuting. Well, it’s also worth remembering that 45 minutes of cycling each way means you can also forget that hour down the gym and simply put your feet up and relax guilt free!  

I did admit to being biased, but surely getting you out of going to the gym gives cycling the edge!

James