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But can you average 60 miles per hour in your commute? Maybe if you're going 30 miles on the freeway and only a few blocks on surface streets, but for going sho

But can you average 60 miles per hour in your commute? Maybe if you're going 30 miles on the freeway and only a few blocks on surface streets, but for going short distances within cities, bikes can be comparable or even faster than cars (see: Bike messengers)

bane 12y ago
To be honest, I probably average more like 50. 3 blocks from my house to the road, then high speed almost all the way and 1 block off the main road to work. It's an easy drive.
- nknighthb 12y ago
  Your commute looks nothing like the average American's commute.
  - bane 12y ago
    You're right, the average American commute favors cars much more strongly. At 10 miles I'm remarkably close to my work and have a favorable biking environment most of the route. Yet it still is a bad alternative and in 7 years I have yet to see a single person bike along that route. The question of "why don't Americans bike to work more" is not going to be solved with any number of bike routes (which I support the building more of BTW) until it can be solved for frankly trivial cases like mine. It suggests that local environmental conditions are probably more important to favoring biking than any number of infrastructure initiatives. Simple things like "bad weather" and "showers at places of employment" and "places to store bikes so they won't get stolen during the day" probably have to solved en masse long before bike lanes become part of the discussion. All the unused empty bike lanes in the world aren't going to kick start a biking revolution.
    - nknighthb 12y ago
      Actually, at 10 miles, you're about median for distance. It's what's in between your home and your work that's abnormal. Most employed Americans live, work, or both inside highly urbanized environments where parts of their commute involve roads that you can't reliably do 20mph on, much less 60. Crowded roads and stoplights put a real crimp on speeds, and it can take 5-10 minutes to cover a mile -- if you're lucky.

bane 12y ago

To be honest, I probably average more like 50. 3 blocks from my house to the road, then high speed almost all the way and 1 block off the main road to work. It's an easy drive.

nknighthb 12y ago
Your commute looks nothing like the average American's commute.
- bane 12y ago
  You're right, the average American commute favors cars much more strongly. At 10 miles I'm remarkably close to my work and have a favorable biking environment most of the route. Yet it still is a bad alternative and in 7 years I have yet to see a single person bike along that route. The question of "why don't Americans bike to work more" is not going to be solved with any number of bike routes (which I support the building more of BTW) until it can be solved for frankly trivial cases like mine. It suggests that local environmental conditions are probably more important to favoring biking than any number of infrastructure initiatives. Simple things like "bad weather" and "showers at places of employment" and "places to store bikes so they won't get stolen during the day" probably have to solved en masse long before bike lanes become part of the discussion. All the unused empty bike lanes in the world aren't going to kick start a biking revolution.
  - nknighthb 12y ago
    Actually, at 10 miles, you're about median for distance. It's what's in between your home and your work that's abnormal. Most employed Americans live, work, or both inside highly urbanized environments where parts of their commute involve roads that you can't reliably do 20mph on, much less 60. Crowded roads and stoplights put a real crimp on speeds, and it can take 5-10 minutes to cover a mile -- if you're lucky.