Commute - Car v Scooter v Mountain Bike???

[MsDG]

There is a friend of mine that is considering swapping the car daily commute to some sort of bike commute instead, but is it really worth it? I thought I would ask your opinion???


At the moment he drives to work. It is only about 3-4 miles away and would normally only take 10 mins in the car but during rush hour its taking about 25 mins. The car is showing an average speed of about 7mph

Anyway, 1st thoughts were along the lines of swapping to a scooter. However when you actually look at the route there is a lot of two rows of cars squeezing into a road only really wide enough for 1 & 1/2 cars... so there wouldn't be that much of an opportunity of zooming past traffic much. Even if you could zip past the traffic and do the busy route in 10 mins - would all the kerfuffle of changing in and out of gear + bad weather + idots on the road really worth the 15 mins you are saving on your journey?

Then thoughts moved to a mountain bike which obviously brings in the fitness angle... but also the issue of turning up to work covered in sweat. Yeah, a pedal bike is slower but there would be lots of areas to use seldome used footpaths along the route to bypass traffic (i know not technically correct but something you can get away with)

Really there seems no ideal solution... but I wonder what you would do?

[shaper]

Hello MsDG

I have done exacty what ur mate is considering doing and my milage is pretty simular.
assuming you mean a twist and go scooter so he wont have to worry about changing gears..
also would this be a financial decision,if so he would save a small fortune..fuel,tax,
maintenance. It can be cold in the winter months but considering the commute is an average of 15mins it shouldn`t be to bad

As for the push bike he could also by a cheap one and have the choice of how he gets to work

Hope this helps

[greaseweasel]

I think by changing gear, MsDG means clothing.

At only 3-4 miles I would probably opt for the push bike.
Once the fitness levels increase he wont really be that sweaty over such a short distance, especially at this time of year.

Then again when its raining, its nice to be sat in a warm car with some good tunes on.

[casio]

i think it would depend on if hes keeping the car also if hes buying the scooter brand spankingly new the reasons i say this are if hes keeping the car then hes still going to have running costs, servicing petrol tyres insurance etc and then the cost of the bike on top

personally id forget about the push bike cos he'll be sweaty when its warm cold and wet in the rain and although he will get fitter the car would look appealing on cold, foggy, damp mornings so it wouldnt save him anything

ive been looking in to the scooter idea myself due to the costs of petrol. a 50cc (think on its a 2 stroke) will need oil (11.25 per bottle) and although id be going further (total of 25-30 miles a day to and from work) id need a bottle a week meaning it would be approx £45 per month in oil add to that the petrol £25 ish and then the price of the bike (on the never never) £45 per month inc insurance meaning to save money on petrol id be spending approx £115 per month to run a 50cc which is more than im currenltly paying in petrol

then theres the 125cc option (not 2 stroke so the oil isnt a factor like before) this is again on the never never £62 per month inc insurance then theres £100 for cbt if hes not got it although thats a one off charge, then theres petrol £25-£30ish a month (for my distance) meaning its approx £92 per month to run for the 1st year then theres insurance on top of it as well as running costs for the car if hes keeping it

for me id be saving about £30 a month by changing over to a scooter for the 1st year and yeah thats £360 over 12 months and thats a decent saving but if your friend is doing alot less miles (only 6 a day in total) hes not going to be rolling in savings infact the only thing he's going to save on is oil and petrol in the 50cc and petrol in the 125cc

for the distance hes going to be on it id say if hes going to buy any get the 50cc but seriously consider the financial costs