# Average commute distance and speed



## tn29'er

I am doing a research project related to commuting. What is your average commuting distance for work and other tasks (groceries, coffee, movies, etc)? What is your average speed? What percentage of your time do you commute on your bike vs. car? Thanks for all of your help.


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## Mdeth1313

I ride to work 2-3 days a week (5 day workweek) from Sept thru Nov. and then again from April to the end of June (I'm a schoolteacher). The commute is 15 miles one way, 30 miles roundtrip with about 2500 vertical feet. Avg speed starts around 15-16mph early season and 17-19mph after a couple of months into the season (usually by mid-may). While it's a commute to work, I also use it for training with the terrain.


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## Mr. Versatile

I'm also a teacher - VERY soon to be retired - and have been a long time commuter. My commute is 18 miles one way. On the way to work it's all gradually uphill, and naturally the return trip is downhill. Speed?? Who knows? I'm commuting, not racing. I don't give a crap. I will say this...it's faster on the way home


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## Jokull

tn29'er said:


> I am doing a research project related to commuting. What is your average commuting distance for work and other tasks (groceries, coffee, movies, etc)? What is your average speed? What percentage of your time do you commute on your bike vs. car? Thanks for all of your help.


You should specify whether you are interested in travel time speed (i.e distance/door to door trip time), or "ride time" speed. Unless prompted, most people tend to quote their ride time speed, which is always more flattering, but doesn't say much about how long it takes to get to work.

FWIW, I ride 5.4 miles to work, with a door to door travel time of 20 to 24 minutes depending on traffic/mood.


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## bigbill

My commute is 43 miles round trip. My average varies between 15 and 17 mph depending on how I feel and the wind. My commute has 1100 feet of climbing going to work and 1400 feet coming home. I sometimes use my homebound commute to stop at the LBS and other places for some shopping. I put the panniers on if I plan on buying something larger than my trunk bag. I could go faster on my commute, but it would burn me out by thursday or friday. I typically leave for work at 5 am and get home around 5pm. With only 12 hours between rides, going hard isn't a good option. 

As far as time, if I drive to work, the drive is 30 minutes and the walk from the parking lot is 20-25 minutes for a total of 50-55 minutes. My bike commute is the same distance as driving and takes around an hour and twenty minutes. By adding an hour to my total commute time, I get 43 miles of riding and save around $8 in gas.


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## tarwheel2

My commute is about 22 miles round trip. I try to ride every day, but it usually works out to 3 to 4 days/week due to the weather or tasks that require my vehicle. My average commute speed is about 15 mph. I learned real soon to take easy commuting or I burn out very quickly, so I generally ride at recovery pace. My one-way commute time ranges from 36-42 minutes riding time, depending on the weather and how tired my legs are. Total commute time including stops for traffic lights, etc., is usually about 45 minutes. My office is moving next year, and my commute will increase to about 30 miles round trip. I'm looking forward to the extra mileage.


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## shades9323

15 miles round trip. Downhill on the way to work 26-30 minutes. Uphill on the way home 30-35 minutes. Most weeks I'll full commute 2 days a week and half commute(just ride home) 2 days per week. The fifth day I drive so I can play golf after work.


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## lemonlime

I ride 16.8 miles round trip to work. Usually takes a few minutes over an hour. My return home usually is tougher since the off-shore breezes are up and running by late afternoon.

It is 8-10 minutes faster to drive. But driving sucks. On the other hand, the bike ride is completely urban and during a high traffic volume time. Bike lanes help, but it's a little stressful worrying about what EVERY single car is about to do. Still better than driving, though.


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## Nickel II

Commute is only 6 miles direct, but hat is way too short for me. I usually add distance to the AM or PM portion, sometimes both.

The distance I add usually brings the daily round trip mileage to 25-30 miles and about 1:30 to 2 hours of time on the bike.

If I ride the 6 miles direct, commute in is 25 minutes, commute home is 15 minutes. Mainly uphill and flat on the way in, way home is flat and downhill.

I commute on a single speed if that matters to your research.


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## zac

tn29'er said:


> I am doing a research project related to commuting. What is your average commuting distance for work and other tasks (groceries, coffee, movies, etc)? What is your average speed? What percentage of your time do you commute on your bike vs. car? Thanks for all of your help.


Good luck with your research project. 
As I don't ride with a computer, I will guesstimate were appropriate.
Hope this helps

Average commuting distance: 2.5 miles door-door one way (actual); but I often take a 20-40 mile "shortcut" on my way home.

And other tasks: I pretty much ride my bike for everything that can be handled alone. Yes, to the forgotten grocery & small errand runs, things that can be easily handled on a bike. Most of those activities are all within 15 miles one way (there are some longer ones, but they are atypical). My wife doesn't mind the extra time it takes as she gets out of an errand, and I get extra time in the saddle, so it works for both of us. Plus it really doesn't take much longer by bike.

Average speed: I have no idea, but a computer would not really help anyway as so many different factors influence my daily commutes. Guess on best days about ~20mph +/- a few depending on bike, conditions, traffic, intent.

Percentage time bike v car: 95% bike, 5% car. I can go weeks on occasion without driving a car, some weeks a couple times a week. (FI in 2008 I saw 14,700 miles by bike and 850 miles on my car and probably slightly more on my wife's car.) Note this percentage refers to time not mileage. I commute everyday - good weather-bad weather-rain-snow-light-dark - on bike. I mention my wife's car as we both work in the same city, so on days that I _need_ a car - for instance to drive to a client or out of office activity that is not conducive to bike commuting - during the day, I can use her car, as it is parked nearby. (Yes, we used to carpool but in January of 2007, I went from a 3 season rider to full time, so I am generally always on the bike.)


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## MB1

tn29'er said:


> .What is your average commuting distance for work and other tasks (groceries, coffee, movies, etc)? ....


From 1 to 100 miles which would make the average 50 miles.



tn29'er said:


> What percentage of your time do you commute on your bike vs. car? Thanks for all of your help.


100% Bike.



tn29'er said:


> What is your average speed? ...


Over the course of a year it is almost exactly 2 mph.



tn29'er said:


> Thanks for all of your help.


Our pleasure.


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## fast ferd

Gobs of data on a currently-active thread:
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=136652


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## llama31

I'll be different, since I don't really commute. I'm self employed and work from home. But I do ride to meetings and to run errands (in addition to rides for pure recreation). I use my bike for errands/meetings about 75% of the time. These are guesses as I don't really track my miles/time on my "utility" rides. But here goes...

I probably ride to meetings and/or for errands 3-4 times per week. Mileage for each trip rarely exceeds 15 miles, and it's usually about 6-10 miles. I have no idea on time. Typical is what I just did today--I rode about 4 miles to the bank, then about 6 miles over to the library, then about 2 miles back home. I was gone for a total of about 1 hr 15 min.

Edit: I just decided that I'm going to keep track, maybe using velog, just for the hell of it.


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## Nickel II

llama31 said:


> I'll be different, since I don't really commute. I'm self employed and work from home. But I do ride to meetings...
> QUOTE]
> 
> llama - curious as to what you do for business that allows you to ride to business meetings. A second, wondering if you are hiring!?


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## llama31

*Oh, I'm not the only one...*



Nickel II said:


> llama31 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll be different, since I don't really commute. I'm self employed and work from home. But I do ride to meetings...
> QUOTE]
> 
> llama - curious as to what you do for business that allows you to ride to business meetings. A second, wondering if you are hiring!?
> 
> 
> 
> I know I've read posts by others who ride to meetings with clients and such. I'm a water resources planner. So I work in two (usually) very casual worlds--public sector and science. And further, I now work in Colorado where it is even more casual than in other places.:thumbsup:
Click to expand...


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## evilpoot

Commute 2 days per week, because I am limited by commitments that require a vehicle. Total distance round trip is 34 miles, with about 2700 feet elevation gain in total. The ride takes me about one hour and gets a bit shorter as the season wears on...


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## Leopold Porkstacker

17.5 miles in 40 minutes is the best time, however, the average seemed to be around 45 minutes. Back when I was employed a few weeks ago I’d ride an average of three days per week (17.5 x 6 x 4 = 420 average miles per month), although January saw me commute 651.3 miles.


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## SilverStar

9.0 miles round trip...20 minutes per direction (15 if the lights are in my favor). I don't own a car anymore, so I either ride my bike or I don't go to work...

Errands vary -- anything from a few blocks to 10 + miles. Times vary considerably based on which bike I'm riding and how much cargo I'm carrying (150 lb. of groceries and a 5-year old on my Xtracycle means I move fairly slowly).


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## tturbotom

I am going to start commuting to work this week. 2 months back I test rode the route to work. I can report back with current stats later this week. Here is how it went down before I got my riding legs back. 

Time Taken: 01:09:00 (total both ways)
Workout Route: to work and back 
Total Distance: 16.98 mi. (total both ways)
Acsent: 571
Effort: Easy 
Quality: Any time on the bike that I get home safely it good 
Speed: 13.5 (mi/hr) (avg) 30 (mi/hr) (max)


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## tturbotom

Here is the low dow after a week of commuting during Bike to Work Week

total -------------68miles ---------------------------------4:46:00 ---4 days of riding	
best ------------------------------34 mph max----------0:31:00 ---one way 
worst -----------------------------9 mph min------------0:38:00 ---one way 
average --------17 miles ---14.1 mph --------------1:11:30 ---round trip 
drive in car	----79 miles ---30 mph -----------------0:40:00 ---round trip 

premium fuel----$2.61 
mpg----------------19 
fuel savings------$11


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## JohnnyChance

just started riding to work again. summer of 07 i avg'd about 4 out of 5 days commuting by bike. now, new house, new job, new hours.

three days a week i work 8+ hours. two days a week i work 12+ hours. on the longer days i tend not to ride. commute by car is 6 miles and takes about 12-15 minutes.

ride to work is 6 miles on the nose and takes 25-30 minutes. 2 miles are on a rail-to-trail (MUT). i ride easy on the way to work, so i am not too sweaty/tired when i get there. i am a chef, so i am on my feet in a hot enviroment while i am there, better not to be sticky before the shift even starts!

ride home is usually between 10 and 11 pm, so I avoid the MUT, it is so pitch black! even with a monster headlight, its spooky, and if an animal were to jump out, I would have very little time to react. the roads are nice, quiet, and well lit, so I just stick to them. It is also 6 miles, maybe a bit more climbing. Also takes 30 minutes. Just tired/want to relax then.

Dont commute other than to work (groceries, bank, etc). Do that with my car on those long days at work. Do ride to the bar though. 0.5 to 0.8 mile, depending on the bar. just a couple minutes. longer on the way home if we have to walk our bikes


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## ryball

Just started doing 2 days a week. 34.5 round trip. Average speed ~14mph


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## tapeng

26 miles round trip mostly flat with 3 overpass each direction. 
average 42 minute going to work and 48 go home.
2 - 4 times a week but not consistent. I usually don't ride on Friday
to prepare for weekend challenge.
So far I seems to be the longest commute. anyone ?


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## TrekJeff

Distance of commute around 18miles
6 times a week
Average speed to date is 14.7mph
Terrain is 90% MUT and 10% road.
Other than poor time management I pedal about everywhere I go.
The time of travel varies based on what ever is going on. But the ride home is usually faster as I use that as a workout.


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## lablover

*commute to work*

I think I avg about 3 days a week commuting from April to November. It's a 18 mile round trip commute that I can avg about 15mph, seems uphill both ways.....other days I need a car to run errands and lawn equipment. Feel much better when I commute.


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