The bus and I are even on my 9ish mile commute in the (0400)AM
Takes me about 40 minutes with the panniers etc and the bus with no traffic.
however its two buses home and well over an hour
Been a long time since i took the bus though,so cant recall exact times
Journey planner puts it at 74 to 81 minutes right now
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Bikes faster than public transport in Edinburgh?
(145 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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Can do Balerno to Waverley in 30 mins, wind assist, tanking it. Bus used to be over one hour, the X44 is back. So you cannwaitnfornit and it is quicker. The bus app is good for timing
On way back maybe 50 mins. Still quicker thn going for a bus but I am well been by buses on way home after slateford as Steveo says. On way in I beat da buses on the road. Hill is steep down.
Or go down the path of WoL soaking up the recent rain.
Lothian bus should take out every second stop, it would speed up the joirneys
Posted 10 years ago # -
Oh, I forgot to say I shamelessly did some bike PR on a recent Portobello beach BBQ trip. Private hire coach at 4pm during the summer holidays vs Uberuce on wee blue floofy.
Wee blue floofy won by 12 minutes despite me deliberately taking it at a repesentative brisk commuter's pace rather than a Strava junkie's. It was admittedly easy to take it easy since I'd just discovered the trick of using veggie burgers as buns for beefburgers. And then done it again to make sure it was as awesome the second time. And I'd taken care of some fish fingers and a few sausages.
My route was 6.3 miles, unsure of the coach's:
http://app.strava.com/activities/73147904#z323|541
The kids came in to find me sitting with an ice lolly having had time to sweep the floor and take the phone messages.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Uberuce, good you managed starters, main courses then pudding. But just one Ice lolly?
Posted 10 years ago # -
I like to take my time over second pudding. It's the sixth most important meal of the day, after all.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Sounds like most folk are averaging 12-14 mph through the city. Pretty encouraging.
For the 6.5 mile commute, I compare timings as 'front door to desk':
bus/walk combo = an hour
bike = 35 mins (..but this includes the time to freshen up and get changed!)I'm sure we've had the Lothian buses conversation before. If they had any gumption whatsoever they'd be GPS tagging all their vehicles and working out where their time is spent, not so they could moan about roadworks/cyclists/trams but just from the fundamental view of *running a flippin business and serving customers*. Then they might just work it out for themselves about the bus stops and the 20mph zones.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Lothian Buses have nothing to do with the position of bus stops/shelters, that's a matter for the relevant council. They don't have to stop their buses at every one (e.g. express buses) but generally choose to do so, as it makes commercial sense.
I can't stand using the bus to get to work, time appears to stand still - much like the bus itself. Probably save in the region of an hour a day by cycling rather than using the bus.
Posted 10 years ago # -
The commute from Duddingston to Causewayside by bus is at least 45 minutes on the few occasions I've taken the totally unreliable 42. Pegging it all the way in I can arrive by bike well within 20 minutes. I haven't started timing myself exactly but have been planning on doing so for the wider benefit of sports science.
I remember when Mrs GDM and I were living in Lochend, she once popped by the office on Causewayside at the end of the day by car for reasons now lost in the ensuing pursuit.
She drove home and I cycled, but even with her head start while I went through the usual routine (getting the bike out of the office shed, helmet on, gloves on, making sure the shades were outside the helmet straps etc) I very quickly passed her at Newington Road and then - despite being overtaken at just one point - made it all the way home ahead of my motorised missus.
I was most pleased with meself.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@morningsider, I think city of Edinburgh council still the largest investor in LB? It is armslength but if the company wanted to take out stops they could put it to their owners quite easily? People would walk 400 yards to a stop? Or would there be campaigns to save our stop? Adopt a stop etc in juni green there are stops fifty yards apart
Posted 10 years ago # -
One of my favourite snippets of conversation during the Leith Walk consultation was around bus stops. Cyclists next to me were suggesting moving stops, putting segragated cycle lanes behind them, etc. A design team member confided: "You would not believe the amount of grief we get from local residents when we try to move a bus stop".
Posted 10 years ago # -
They've moved stops all over the place on the Low Quality Bike Corridor, and introduced at least one new stop too between existing stops which were only a couple of minutes walk apart to start with.
re travel times: it takes me roughly the same time to walk to work as to cycle, and the bus is a bit quicker if you do it the considerable favour of ignoring the waiting time for the bus. Going home on the other hand is easily quicker by bike as it's downhill most of the way
Posted 10 years ago # -
Officially its always about 'accessibility. (which is a legit point). i wonder how often it's really just about gripes of the sort mentioned above - that people are used to going to a stop and don't like changing.
Posted 10 years ago # -
anyway, i know we all know that its faster to cycle. but is anyone clever enough to make a map like the London one?
Posted 10 years ago # -
gembo - I'm pretty sure you are right about the ability of LB to ask the council to move stops. The reason that stops remain the responsibility of councils is due to bus deregulation/privatisation. If every operator was responsible for its own stops there could be traffic chaos (not such an issue in Edinburgh), plus can you imagine the quaility of the shelters if First were in charge of them?
Posted 10 years ago # -
According to Lothian Buses, it is cyclists holding up all their buses that are the reason they are so slow. Nothing to do with just how many buses they try cram onto the road and how close they pack the stops. Nothing whatsoever. No, sirree.
Clearly this is a strong argument for LB (and by extension, all motorists) to support segregated cycle infrastructure on all key transport arteries - eg the length of Leith Walk, Princes Street, Lothian Road, Costorphine/Glasgow road, Queensferry Road, Ferry Road. They don't seem to get that at all though.
"We fear change" might as well be the motto of LB, the Council, Edinburgh citizens, the human race.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Clearly this is a strong argument for LB (and by extension, all motorists) to support segregated cycle infrastructure on all key transport arteries - eg the length of Leith Walk, Princes Street, Lothian Road, Costorphine/Glasgow road, Queensferry Road, Ferry Road. They don't seem to get that at all though.
Ah, but that would entail taking space away from motorised traffic. You ain't going to get away with that, sonny Jim. No sirree Bob. No way José. What motorists (and it seems LB) really want is for cyclists to go somewhere else, preferably a nice shared use obstacle course?
Posted 10 years ago # -
anyway, i know we all know that its faster to cycle. but is anyone clever enough to make a map like the London one?
To coin a phrase, we need data. I'm not sure how the London guys got theirs. I'm am sure there are plenty of people here who could set up a qualitative survey or we could all store gpx tracks centrally but in the interest of fairness you'd want the bus/car/bike track from the same start/end points on the same day.
Posted 10 years ago # -
At the bike breakfast at the city chambers a few years back, there was a competition to get from South Gyle shopping center by bike, bus, train, car.
The bike won (although I reckon if they'd added a motorbike it would have been a different story).
They occasionally do similar stunts on Top Gear, apparently.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Chdot was not only there, but has the tshirt.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Maybe someone should drop the chap who made the maps an email and ask him how he did it?
Posted 10 years ago # -
Takes me about 20 minutes to cycle from Charlotte Sq to Crammond, via Davidson Mains, the bus I would normally get passes me just after Dean Bridge then passes me again on the way up alone the A90.
Faster than bus in town, different story outta town ;)
Posted 10 years ago # -
Is it faster to cycle or take public transport in London?UK housing website Find Properly has used TFL's journey planner and average cycling times to see whether it's quicker to take public transport or cycle to anywhere you want to go in the capital.
Posted 10 years ago # -
We have something similar available: http://www.transportdirect.info
Combine that with Googol maps directions in different modes, and Hey Presto! Map data.
Just need to plot a number of points (say 50) around the city perimeter; then another set of points 0.5km further into town; then another set 0.5km further in...and so on until you reach the centre. You can get directions to/from each point to (say) Royal Mile/City Chambers. You could also plot typical 'corridors' to/from each perimeter point. If you wanted to be really precise you would do the same between ALL the points but I reckon you might need a web script to automate that...
Posted 10 years ago # -
They occasionally do similar stunts on Top Gear, apparently.
They had one where the 3 presenters + "stig" raced across London (west to east).
Results:
(1) Bike
(2) Public transport
(3) Boat
(4) CarOf course, these things are staged, so who knows what would really have happened.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Results:
(1) Bike
(2) Public transport
(3) Boat
(4) CarThink you'll find the boat was 2nd with Public Transport 3rd
Posted 10 years ago # -
"making sure the shades were outside the helmet straps etc"
OT but is my cycling chic fu lacking in putting on glasses then beanie then helmet?
On topic again - agree with the general experience of town centre commuting by bike being infinitely quicker than motorised transport. From experience once I'm past Western Corner, the Slateford Aqueduct, Calder Road, traffic typically wins at any time of day.
Once raced Mr MeepMeep from Bonaly to Drumbrae one Sunday late evening (minimal traffic) him on his bike and me in the car. He had a head start of approximately 5 mins and I only caught him at the Corstorphine Tesco. He was up Drumbrae and home only 10 mins after me. Not much of a difference between travelling at 20mph and 30mph.
Posted 10 years ago # -
If I want to drive to work (Currie -> the Shore) I leave an hour to make sure I'm not stymied by traffic. I've tried the bus a couple of times and it took around 1 hour 40 minutes.
Currently on the bike I've managed just over 25 minutes in the morning and just under 35 minutes on the way home.
It's laughable for any bus company to seriously suggest that cyclists slow them down. The 44's into town from Balerno average only a little over 10mph in the morning, on a 40mph stretch of road.
Posted 10 years ago # -
It's laughable for any bus company to seriously suggest that cyclists slow them down.
I don't think that it's untrue as such. However, buses are slowed down by so many other things - parked cars, queuing traffic, red lights, pedestrians crossing, waiting to pull out and, most of all, decelerating to the bus stops and picking up passangers. Singling out bikes is daft.
Posted 10 years ago # -
On topic again - agree with the general experience of town centre commuting by bike being infinitely quicker than motorised transport.
Stephen Hawking may wish to discuss this with you.
Posted 10 years ago # -
@dave
When I moved to Balerno I was given a sage piece of advice re the no 44 bus by secretary in our office who lives in currie.
Catch the bus before 7.45 am and it is fine, catch it after that and it is terrible.
We are all on treadmills. Jumping to the cycle commuting treadmill is a big leap for some people but getting up a little earlier to catch the bus was often too much for me
Posted 10 years ago #
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