Commuting - Car vs Public Transport

[Howard]

Came across this site just now:

http://www.transportdirect.info/TransportDirect/en/

If you drive to work and have been curious as to how long it takes via alternative travel methods, or vice versa, put in your home postcode and work postcode and it'll tell you just how much longer it takes to get public transport... I mean the comparison between driving and public transport It's quite interesting.

For me, the minimum time to get there via Public transport is 1.5 hours according to the site. That's with a bus/walking. Then almost two hours bus/train/walking.

It also says it takes 39 minutes to get there by car, which is pretty accurate. It takes me slightly less tiem than that, about 30 minutes usually.


I'm certainly not getting up two hours earlier

[MadduckUK]

bus 37mins, car 20.... thats about right aswell, not a bad little tool

[kalniel]

Yeah, Coach, Train + walking is the fastest it found for me, at 1hr 18mins, of which 48mins is walking.

Car time is listed at 46mins - on a good day it's actually 30mins, typical time is 30-35mins out of school term, 40 in.

The CO2 calculator is interesting. Even using my car's figures instead of theirs, the public transport journey has nearly half the emissions (I guess because so much of it is walked).

I car share instead, bring the CO2 a bit below the public transport figure.

[chicken]

2 hours by public transport with at least 3 changes.
30 mins by car

It reckoned 42 mins by car, but that probably doesn't take all the backroads I go down into account.

[tiggerai]

1 Bus, Train, Underground, Walk 2 09:07 10:58 1hour, 51 mins
4 Bus, Coach, Train, Walk 2 09:38 11:50 2hours, 12 mins
5 Car 0 09:00 10:56 1hour, 56 mins / 52.2miles

Tiggerais reckoning:
Car, Train, Underground, walk 2 07:15 09:00 1 hour 45mins

but it would no way take me 2 hours to get here in rush hour traffic by car... plus there'd be the £8 congestion charge and parking to pay!

[wombar]

The minimum for me to get to my old workplace (I work from home now) is 2.5 hours by public transport which is relying on buses being on time and not missing a connection (3 changes). Used to take me between 30-45 minutes by car depending on whether I came via the motorway.

So that would have meant leaving the house at 5:30am (so get up at 4:30am ish) and not getting home until 7:45pm. That would have been loads of fun. Instead, I used to leave the house at 7:10am and get home by about 5:45pm.

Add to the fact that it would have cost £30/day in fares, I'm thinking a car was by far the better choice. I'd estimate it cost me at the very most £5K to run a car for a year (insurance, petrol, car tax, repairs/maintenance) and not only am I better off in monetary terms, I've also got a mode of transport that lets me go anywhere at any time.

PT has it's place, but it's never my first choice if I can avoid it. Costs too much, isn't reliable and I like being able to come home at 4am if I choose.

[mycarsavw]

Car - 27 minutes

PT - 1 hour 26 minutes - walking, bus, train, bus, walking

And "they" wonder why we don't use public transport?

[Tarffie]

Setting off for 9am arrival.

Bus/Walk - 35 minutes
Car - 19 minutes

Car's right, though it's 10-15 minutes drive and 5 minute walk. I'd have to leave the house at 8.10 to catch a bus that'd get to Uni before 9, so that's actually taking about 50 minutes.

[TheAnimus]

My tube commute takes 45minutes tops, this thing recons driving would take 1:09. I'd guess it would take closer too twice that time. Plus my daily travel expenses are only £5. Can't even get two pints for that round here!

Yup, its talked me out of getting a car (thou i did feal bad for asking sean to give me a lift to the aquarium place, for that i feal i need a car).

[Guy]

car 25 mins, 13 miles
public transport there isnt any!

[Brucelles]

I tried travelling from home in Brussels to my daughter's house in Canterbury. 7:10 by public transport vs 4:05 by car. However, from my British address to my last workplace in the City it's 57 minutes by walking/public transport and 58 minutes by car.

[kidzer]

Thats pretty good, it's got my bus/walk journey to work pretty spot on - 45/50mins on a bus, 25mins of walking - pretty spot on!

[zulander]

15 mins by car about an 1hr 10 by bus. I should learn to drive really but it wont happen. I only live up the road and round the corner from where i work but by bus i have to go all the way into town down to the other town center and then walk up the hill for 20 minutes - o well keeps me fit

[Gr44]

30mins in a car. 2 hours 45minutes using PT/walking.

Yeah, right. and the tickets would cost about £9 a day!! think I'll keep my car for a little longer, you know!

[pauldarkside]

I work from home now but if I were have continued where I worked before, here's what the site calculates for the homeward journey (note, the outward journey is unavailable using public transport):

Car: leave 1730, home by 1830
Public Transport: leave 1730, home by 2045

That's using the quickest method of public transport. The other options provided mean I wouldn't get home until 2245 with about 2.5hours of hanging around! The two locations aren't even rural and only 30 miles apart. In Cornwall PT stinks, using any definition, and having a car for work is not an option.

[iranu]

I'm surprised that more people who's car time is @20 mins and PT time is >40 mins don't cycle.