Bicycle faster than car - official

It constantly amazes me, travelling around London by bike, that I can get to where I'm going faster than friends doing the same journey in a car.

Plainly, this has a lot to do with my bike being allowed in bus lanes and other spaces restricted to cars - and my not needing to drive round for hours looking for parking spaces, or feeding money into meters.

I was delighted to learn that a recent test by Top Gear confirmed my experience - that bikes are faster on a journey across the capital.

The fact is that motor cars and other high speed vehicles do not save anything like as much time as they appear to, as Ivan Illich pointed out in 1974:

"The typical American male devotes more than 1,600 hours a year to his car. He sits in it while it goes and while it stands idling. He parks and searches for it. He earns the money to put down on it and to meet the monthly instal­ments. He works to pay for petrol, tolls, insurance taxes and tickets.”

Elaborating on Illich’s observations, D. Seifried coined the term ”social speed” to signify the average speed of a vehicle, once a number of these hidden factors have been taken into account.

According to Seifried, the so­cial speed of a typical bicycle is 14 kilo­metres per hour (kph), only three kph slower than that of a small car. If other external costs (air and noise pollution, accident costs, road construction costs and so on) are taken into account as well, then the small car is one kph slower than the bicycle.

Impressed by Illych and Seifried's work, I recently contacted the RAC and the government's statistics office to find out the average ongoing cost of running a car, and the average Briton's annual income. The result was astounding: the average car-owning Briton works for ten and a half weeks a year just to own and run a car. Ten and a half weeks! And that's not only in the year the car is first purchased but in every year it's in ownership.

I hate to bang on about oil prices again, but as petrol gets costlier, that miserable average Brit will need to work for even more days and weeks to run a car.

Comments

[David Holman]

Thanks for a fair cycling article after the Hamster's victory on the #1 BBC comedy show. I trust a qualified instructor takes him in hand and improves his cycling skills!
If you ride in London please join the London Cycle Campaign and get involved in bringing about the changes you want. Pressure for more 20 mph limits on residential roads is a good example. Contraflow cycling permitted on one-way streets is another.
If you live outside London, there is always the CTC - as important as your toolkit and its Right to Ride Network of campaigners or indeed local cycle campaign's like Wolves on Wheels in Wolverhampton.

[Steve]

Off topic but..

Knot is usually abbreviated to kn. The nautical mile is very much alive & kicking due to its length being related to the average length of one minute of arc of latitude. In navigation calculations are based on degrees/minutes (non SI) not radians (SI). The international nautical mile (1852m) and the knot (approx 1m/s) are both accepted for use with the SI.

[SeaBee]

Sorry Dave,

Knots = nautical miles per hour, therefore kph would mean, in your terms, nautical miles per hour per hour, which is probably a very weird rate of acceleration.

[Phil Armstrong]

On the topic of Diesel fumes, I believe it's well established that the air quality inside the average car is worse than that outside by a factor of two or more. Obviously he cyclist breathes more air than the car driver as they're exerting physical effort. I'd be interested to know where the overall balance lies between the two!

[Dave]

According to the SI (Système International d'Unités) metric system, speed measurement is expressed in kilometres per hour, and abbreviated as km/h or km.hr-1. It is however correct to say or write “kilometres per hour”, but to abbreviate this as kph is to confuse the reader with the outdated (at least in the metric sense) nautical term, knots.

The basic rules are that the prefix kilo- (meaning 1,000) and milli- (meaning 1/1,000th) are abbreviated in lower case k and m respectively (so as not to be confused with “K” for degrees Kelvin or “M” for Mega (meaning 1,000,000), while the metre is abbreviated “m”.

The beauty of the SI metric system and metrication is in its unity, clarity and simplicity. We Brits have been amongst the last to adopt the system, although clearly we’ve still some way to.

[Sam Fletcher]

Thanks to RW for his comments about relaxed cycling. I have noticed much more accomodating behaviour from other road users when not rushing on a bike and will try it more often.

The ammount of negative sentiment towards people on bikes often suprises me. I do find Jeremy Clarkson very funny but I wish people would not take him so seriously, I wonder if he could be arrested for 'inciting hatred' in his fans (and bus passengers).

[Mark]

Sorry, cagers, diesel and idiots on buses

[Philippa Pirie]

It's time that cyclists paid for their own cycle lanes and got out of the way of buses when cycling in a bus lane.

[Mark]

If the cagers don't get you the diesel will. I used to cycle 10 miles to each way to work in West London but I stopped when my fitness delined becuase my lungs were getting damaged. People should consider the damage of taking diesel particulates deep into their lungs when breathing heavily on their commute in busy in traffic.

[Brian J Deller]

If the law in the Uk is as the recent changes here in Spain where if a motorist hits a cyclist, it would be nigh on impossible for the cyclist to be at fault, then cycling would be a great way to get to work.

[Matthew]

Lived in Germany for many years, like them we need to see cycling as a viable alternative. To do this we need more cycle lanes, cheaper bikes and the bikes need priority on the road. This all fits into the governments desire for a healthier polulation and a reduction ijn emmissions. I cycle everyday in Hertfordsire and it's fine, people need to try it just once a realise how much fun it can be!

[bikes that fold.com]

I use a folding bike in conjunction with public transport. Sometime, I cycle the full distance to work. But when its raining or I don't fancy a cycling, I'll use the tube and take my folder a long just in case.

[N Simmons]

Re: Tim Bascombe

Never mind the lone drivers sitting in their cars. What about the lone drivers sitting in their buses?! More often than not they are the primary cause of congestion (especially when combined with ill thought out traffic islands, badly phased lights and other traffic 'calming' follies).

Entirely agree with the sentiment that motorbikes ought to be able to use bus lanes. I have always felt that bicycles, buses and taxis make very odd bedfellows. All independent research suggests motocycles should share bus lanes. Sadly the London authorities can't see past the end of their noses (or are concerned at having to make more motorcycle parking provison and generate less congestion charge / parking / fines income)...

[KR]

This probably works in a city centre where the average traffic speed at rush hour is about 2 mph. It doesn't work anywhere else because the government won't introduce legislation to make cycle lanes part of every new road development and compel development of proper park/ride schemes for all large towns/cities. If they really want to be green, adopt those two measures and prevent councils from using the park/ride charge as a method of profiteering. Then watch the fuel tax get replaced with something equally obnoxious to make up the shortfall in government income.

[RW]

I cycled for twenty years in London and I learned one thing very useful - cycling harder doesn't get you there any faster. All that happens is that you catch up with an average car's 'inter-traffic-light-speed' and so get delayed (just like cars). On the other hand, if you take it easy, be gracious to all other road users, cycle "like an old lady (or gent)", your pace means you don't get stopped by traffic lights and your journey is relaxing instead of stressy. Taxi drivers and car drivers are nice to you (something to do with your relaxed and amenable facial expression, perhaps). You don't get sweaty and you arrive at work or any other destination feeling alert and healthy and at one with the world. I learned this after years of stressy riding and a couple of run-ins and run-downs and after being 'beaten' to my destination a couple of times by a rather eccentric-looking old gent who rode a much-loaded upright bike at a very stately pace and so never got caught in the 'traffic-calming' measures. Chill, my fellow cyclists. Don't compete with cars. Be *more* alternative than that. It also leads to more 'community' on the roads. I can't recommend it enough.

[Sascha]

People are saying how dangerous it is to cycle in London. I cycle everywhere and accept there can be dangers but you have to take responsiblity for your own safety. The most evident and frustrating danger is other cyclists who are THE worst offenders. I often find myself laughing with astonishment at some of the tricks they pull.

Taxi and bus drivers are usually pretty accommodating. Cyclists are, for the most part, complete selfish idiots who don't seem to think the rules apply to them. I pray Ken doesn't advertise cycling because the roads will fill up with yet more incompetent fools.

[Oli]

One word, Holland

[Bilboben]

I have ridden into and across London on my bicycle for 30 years. Now aged 52 I still enjoy my speedy daily commute. I have never in all that that time had an accident. (Touch Wood) I would note that motorists in general now seem to me to be more aware of cycles, or is it just my greying hair that begs more courtesy? Buses and taxis too seem much more considerate than they were thirty years ago when we were viewed as mad eccenctrics. My main hate though is my fellow cyclists wo ignore the rules of the road and do untold damage to those of us who have been campaigning on behalf of cyclists for so long.

[dr venables preller]

the object could be, after careful analysis of popular journeys and routes, to build, over time, a network of glass enclosed overhead or shallow subterranian 'cycle tubes' enabling safe segregation and reduction of weather constraint where it is not possible to dedicate parts of the highway to human powered or electric assisted machines.

[Jon Anderson]

"the average car-owning Briton works for ten and a half weeks a year just to own and run a car."

A bargain, I say. Over anything but short journeys, nothing else can provide the flexibility and convenience it offers. And far better value than Tax Freedom Day, which for 2008, falls on June 2nd (meaning that average Brits are spending more than five months of the year working for the government).

[dewsbry]

I cycle every day in London and yes its quicker but very very dangerous, its not if but when you get knocked over! The attitude of other road users towards cyclists is disgusting and needs to change because its putting lives at risk.
Our biggest crime - jumping red lights.

[Sam Fletcher]

There are so many advantages to travelling by bike for everyone that is time the councils and governments pulled together to improve the facilities for people who use bikes.

Major changes are needed, not just the half hearted installation of 'cycle lanes' where the users have to give way to traffic, or the difference between 'cycle lane' and pave,ment is not clear. The UK could learn a lot from The Netherlands.

It is a shame that Tony Blair did not take the hint when the Mayor of Amsterdam gave him a bike. It is still worth taking action and not just in London, but across the country. I would urge poeple to ask their councils that if they have policies to encourage poeple to walk and cycle, why do they still build for the convenience of cars only.

[Tim Bascombe]

Start Pedaling!!! Save a planet! Not to mention money on healthcare costs and life insurance.

[Harry]

I ride a motorbike around london and it is both fast and efficient. It also has very low emmissions meeting all of the latest Euro norms. It takes up as much space as a cyclist, but gets me anywhere in london in only 20 minutes.

Cyclists and motorcyclists both face the same risks and threats, namely cage drivers. I don't see why we can't also use bus lanes as well.

I ride past line after line of traffic, with one person sitting alone in their car, hardly moving, every day, and feel virtuous!

[Tim Moore]

And in other news; Pope professes an interest in the Catholic faith, and a special investigation into the forrestry toilet habits of bears.

I thought the point of news was to tell us things we didn't know...?!?

[Tim Snaith]

Bikes are faster than cars in the hands of some riders, but not everyone has the stamina or a flat route to work. I've been using electric bikes for years in and around London and not only are they faster than the car, I find riding an electric bike is often faster than the London Underground. For example, I once cycled from the Waterloo IMAX to Bayswater and arrived a few minutes ahead of my girlfriend who took the tube to the same destination. The first electric bikes were horrible clunky things, but the latest models are very lean and light, almost indistinguishable from a decent commuter bike, but with the ability to gallop up hills and into headwinds without the rider busting a gut. I ride a German Kalkhoff pedelec personally after some bad experiences with Chinese bikes.

[Redcliffe]

Of course bikes are faster in traffic. Duh.

Socialist speed? Now you've lost me. Keep it simple, stupid. Works for journos too.

[Robin]

Whilst bikes are a fantasitic way of getting around in the city, those of us who don't live in the city are still stuck. Consider, I live in gloucestershire and used to cycle the 10.2 miles to work twice a week.

Door to desk in the car 25 to 35 mins (traffic is variable).
Cycle time = 37 to 55 min (wind resistance is variable) plus 15 mins to walk to the shower, get showered and walk to my desk.

I did it for the joy of cycling, but with these numbers it is easy to see why most people don't cycle.

[Gareth]

Whatever anyone claims, cycling in London is near-suicidal. There is virtually no evidence of the money that has supposedly been spent on cycle lanes. My commute into central London is 18 miles round trip, and I have at least one near-miss every single day. But I still love it. And I detest the smelly people on the tube.

[Gabriele]

I travel by bike fro Southgate to Knightbridge every day, 22km and back on a racing bike.I'm fatser than a car, I stop to red lights(I'm not stupid, I have been bike racing in my younger years, and I know how dangerous it could be to ignore the traffic rules),and obviously keep fit.Yes, it is not safer to be on a bike, but if you ride it correctly and respect the rules, you are not more exposed to injuries than being on a car or motorbike.I see a lot of stupid cyclists, crossing at red lights, endangering themselves and others,just because they are not patient enough to wait for their turn.
Last thing, cycling, is greener, healtier, funny, and .....hard.
But saves a lot of money

[Luke Nicolaides]

I learnt this ages ago when I sailed past Jeremy Clarkson, who was stuck in the usual traffic jam going into Putney (SW London). I then jumped off at the traffic lights and within minutes I had locked my bike to the railings, he probably spent another 30 mins minimum trying to find a parking space!

[Julian]

Seeing one of my friends lying in A&E with a broken back has put me off ever cycling in London again. Until motor traffic pays more attention to cyclists and cyclists obey the highway code (not going through traffic lights and the wrong way down one way streets - scenes you frequently see in London) cycling in London will always be a lottery. I wish I felt safe cycling in London, I guess I am very lucky that I can walk to work so hardly every have to brave rush hour transport.

[eb]

there may well be something north of the watford gap, but it is neither of merit nor note...

ken's millions... luxury...? clearly you have kept yourself to the provinces and have never had to travel in london, by public transport or by car...

[Farrukh]

Looks as if we need to tax bikes more.

[paulc]

hmmm... if a cyclist tried riding across a pedestrian crossing while I had right of way he'd find himself flat on the deck... an umbrella in the spokes works wonders...

[Chris K]

Would bikes be faster if they obeyed the rules of the road and stopped at traffic lights?

During a recent visit to London I was astonished to watch cyclists ignoring the red lights at pelican crossings and zig-zagging at speed through the people crossing the road.

It's no wonder some people are anti-cyclist!

[ian]

This may be true in London, where there are some cycle provisions - but believe it or not folks, there is something north of Watford Gap, and I'm afraid the car is still a necessity to those who havn't had the luxury of Kens millions spent on them

[Claire Wright]

I have to agree that my bike gets me around faster than my car. I live down in Bournemouth and cycle everywhere knowing that I'm saving money, getting fitter and getting a bit of a buzz out of my journeys. I must say though that it still shocks me that cycle lanes just end with nowhere to go, when are we going to improve the lanes for cyclists in this country?

[Claire Kelly]

Only six months pregnant Lucia? I cycled right up until the end, finding it much less strenuous than walking and far easier and less stressful than fighting for a seat on public transport or trying to squeeze out of a car door in over-crowded carparks. And I agree with the author that cycling is much quicker - I always beat my car driving colleagues to work.

[Mickey]

Bikes are great in all regards except for, I agree with Lucia, safety. And it's not just a concern for pregnant women - I used to cycle between Islington (Angel), LSE in Aldwych and Old Street (City), and anywhere in between and beyond (West End for cinema; Wood Green for bagels). Finally had to stop, with huge regret, when I got a job in Finchley Road - no way was I going to brave (twice a day) the traffic on Pentonville Road and Euston Road.

Also, for a lot those who commute by bike keeping a car is still necessary - if you have a family and/or take trips out of town. Can't really go from North London to the Galleria in Hatfield by bike.

[Mark Chisholm]

Bikes may be faster than cars but motorbikes are quicker again. And you can do more than twenty miles without having a cardiac suprise.

[John B]

so Marco, you don't shower and change clothes before getting in the car to go to work? Or doesn't that time count?

[MNS]

Cycling is excellent for quick, reliable transport but you have to stay vigilant in order to stay upright! The black cab and bendy bus in London for example will happily send you to hospital. Hopefully they will become more accepting as Mr Livingstone's inner city tax persuades people out of their cars.

[Faustino]

In 62-63 I used to cycle from Stoke Newington to LSE at Aldwych. I sometimes raced - and always left behind - a Jaguar XK120. No bus or cycle lanes in those days just jinking through the traffic.

[Rami Samara]

Not only that, but chicks really dig my StumpJumper.

[Josie]

Hurrah for bike nerds! Even the tubbies in lycra!

The only downside is having motoring friends find out about the pushie and seeing that expression of loathing cross their face. "You're a cyclist?", they ask. "I'd never ride a bike, knowing how much I hate cyclists."

[William]

Yes, but cars are warmer and drier than bikes.

[Rob]

Bikes are faster than cars, even trains!
From door to door, via the DLR at Greenwich to Bank takes me 40 minutes, but a bike ride takes 25 minutes. A five minute shower and change of clothes still means i come out on top.

There is always snarled car traffic on Creek road in the mornings and us cyclists just breeze through the gaps...

Bikes rule.

[starling]

Of course a bike is faster. I can cycle from one end of Lancaster to the other in 5 minutes flat, there's no way you'd ever manage that by car.

I don't wear bike gear, Marco. I don't even wear bicycle clips (don't need them, I've got a chain protector). And no, I don't need a shower afterwards either, since I don't race anywhere, I just cycle at a normal pace. Do you need a shower when you've walked somewhere?

[lucia]

bicycles are faster, greener, and healthier... but they're not safer. I am six months pregnant and have reluctantly had to give up my preferred way of commuting. When oh when will we get a safer cycle routes in London?

[Marco]

yes, but allowing for getting changed into your biking gear and packing your change of clothes, then a shower and getting changed again at the other end, then you've lost out in terms of time.