• merc@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    Where I live, and for the places I want to go, typical travel times are:

    • car: 15 minutes
    • bike: 25 minutes
    • walk: 1.5 hours
    • transit: 45 minutes

    Or:

    • car: 20 minutes
    • bike: 35 minutes
    • walk: 2 hours
    • transit: 1 hour

    And, that’s if it’s a good time of day for transit. If I’m coming back home near 11pm the transit option can be essentially the same as walking. If I have the option to leave at 11:15 so I can arrive 5 minutes before the bus instead of leaving at 11:00 and waiting 20 minutes for the bus, and the bus is on time, and the bus I’m supposed to connect to is on time, then the bus option can be noticeably faster than walking. But, if the first bus is running late (which happens all the time) it can mean missing the next connection, and walking is actually faster than taking the bus, even if it’s a walk of more than an hour.

    So, needless to say, I bike whenever the weather permits. But, unfortunately, winter is awful here, the bike lanes and trails aren’t plowed in the winter, so biking for roughly half the year isn’t a real option.