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Commute times for those who use public transportation

mrgreen4242

mrgreen4242

macrumors 601
Original poster
I live in the 'burbs of a midsized midwest American city and so have, basically, no access to public transportation. I always wish we had a train or something to go across town, where I work, but got to thinking that my commute is really pretty short and includes all travel, door to door.

So, I'm wondering, those of you who take a train or other public transportation to work, how long is your trip from home to the pickup point, the drop off spot to your actual work, and the time spent on the train as well. Comparatively, how many miles are you traveling and if you drove a car (cost, and environmental concerns aside) how long would it take you?
 
To get to school, it takes 5 minutes to walk to the bus stop then about 10 minutes on the bus itself. It costs $1.67 per bus ride (6 tickets for 10 dollars...) By car, it's 10 minutes flat. It's about a 1 mile commute through not so heavy traffic, but lots and lots of stop signs.
 
About 50-55 minutes at an old job across town. I had the uncanny ability to sleep and wake up at my stop. It ended up being $1.78 a day when using the 31 day pass. I tried to use the pass as much as possible for personal transportation as well.

My current job is only just over a mile away from home. I try to bike there in the summer as much as possible. I hate biking when it's cold.
 
Poll please.

The key thing with public transport is to get the route you take right, and websites like tfl.gov.uk's journey planner help a lot with that.
 
40 minutes if I walk the whole way.
25 minutes if I walk to the DLR station and take that.

Edit to add: Cost is £1.30 each way to take the DLR. I try and walk to work and DLR home, but if it's raining or whatever I take the DLR both ways.

If I drove it'd take at least as long as the DLR due to the traffic, I'd burn less than £1.30 in petrol, but parking for the day at Canary Wharf would be about £20 a day so completely and utterly not worth it.
 
I live in a city on the north american west coast with a half million people and OK public transportation. OK in that you can get from any one point to any other but depending on where you're going it might take a while.

I work from home but when I have to go to a meeting or pick up materials from someone I have to go downtown (~6 miles door to door), which means that if it's not pleasant weather I'm taking the bus. That's a five minute walk to the stop, a five minute wait if I didn't check the schedule, then fifteen minutes on the bus, then another two to five minutes to walk where I'm going. Two bucks or 2.25 depending on the time of day usually gives me enough time for a round trip.

It's about a fifteen minute drive downtown by automobile, the bus and drive times are the same because there are no stops between my stop and downtown. The trouble with driving starts when you have to park- parking downtown is either time or cost prohibitive depending on whether you choose street or lot parking. Once I was going to visit a friend who lives downtown and I drove around for half an hour looking for a parking spot before I just went home and got my bike.

The bus becomes less of a time saver when you have to get from the north end to the south end, or the west end to the east side. Downtown transfers can take up to twenty minutes and unless you're on an express you'll be making stops every couple of blocks. My trip downtown takes about 25 minutes, but if I were going to a northern neighborhood my commute would be more like an hour each way. At that point the price goes up as well because you can't make a round trip within transfer time when you're actually transferring.

Personally I find that being a passive participant in a commute is less stressful than actively being at the helm, regardless of how long it takes. I'd rather spend an hour on the bus than 30 minutes driving in traffic.
 
mrgreen4242 said:
Comparatively, how many miles are you traveling and if you drove a car (cost, and environmental concerns aside) how long would it take you?
Click to expand...

Eraserhead said:
Poll please.
Click to expand...

ummm i kinda beat you Mr.Green4242

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/872202/

I did a thread that's very similar to this🙄

Called: How Many Miles do you drive per day on average?

and it does have a Poll🙄

But for me it's 2 hours...back and forth from home to school
 
It used to take me about 40 minutes to commute from the suburbs to downtown (10 minute bus ride, 30 minute train ride), but since I've moved to the inner city it's only a 10 minute bus ride to downtown. Public transportation fare is $2.75 for 90 minutes, or $83.00 for a monthly pass.
 
I don't have to commute anymore, thankfully. But my previous times were:

London: 1hr30 to 2hr15, cost nearly 10GBP (Train + Tube)
Manchester: 25min (Bike, yeah I know you said public transport yada yada)
Belfast: 20 to 30min (Car)
Edinburgh: 0 (Home Office, Godly, but does have downsides)
 
There's also a poll on whether or not you have an apple sticker on your car, we can just merge the three since they're all, y'know, basically just polls about stuff.
 
To get on my bus to school, I first have to walk 3 minutes to the bus stop (I'm lucky that I'm so close). Then the bus takes me to the interchange (it so far has taken around 40 minutes). I have to walk to my other bus stop there, and then I wait ten minutes for my next bus to come. Then that bus takes me to school (around 15 minutes)! So it takes me around about 1 hour 10 minutes.

King Mook Mook
 
niuniu said:
I don't have to commute anymore, thankfully. But my previous times were:

London: 1hr30 to 2hr15, cost nearly 10GBP (Train + Tube)
Manchester: 25min (Bike, yeah I know you said public transport yada yada)
Belfast: 20 to 30min (Car)
Edinburgh: 0 (Home Office, Godly, but does have downsides)
Click to expand...

What would you reckon be the easiest way to go from Heathrow to Oxford?
 
About 45 minutes door to door, including a stop over at panera bread for coffee. I drive 3 miles to the subway, which I take into the city then switch over to a trolley and finally walk to my building
 
Jaro65 said:
What would you reckon be the easiest way to go from Heathrow to Oxford?
Click to expand...

Oxford bus, every half hour 8-6 every hour or less the rest of the time (24hr),cost £20 one way £22 return.Journey time 90 mins. It's not a commuter service but for those flying out or into Heathrow,there's probably alternatives for daily travel but I don't know them.
 
I go to uni via train everyday in Sydney. It's 12 minutes walk to the station, 48 minutes on the train, and about 10 minutes to the uni.

Repeat for the ride home. And I wonder why I hate going to uni for 1 hour of lectures....
 
Peterkro said:
Oxford bus, every half hour 8-6 every hour or less the rest of the time (24hr),cost £20 one way £22 return.Journey time 90 mins. It's not a commuter service but for those flying out or into Heathrow,there's probably alternatives for daily travel but I don't know them.
Click to expand...

Bus is the cheapest way to get around the UK. You can also take a train from Heathrow Airport to Paddington station then from there to Oxford. I don't like bus travel much so am happy to pay a bit extra. Usually faster too..
 
niuniu said:
Bus is the cheapest way to get around the UK. You can also take a train from Heathrow Airport to Paddington station then from there to Oxford. I don't like bus travel much so am happy to pay a bit extra. Usually faster too..
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I like the buses and do London/Bristol quite often on Megabus usually only £2-3 and as it's during the daytime the buses are usually half empty and those travelling tend to be students or alternative types and it makes for a fun ride.🙂
 
Peterkro said:
I like the buses and do London/Bristol quite often on Megabus usually only £2-3 and as it's during the daytime the buses are usually half empty and those travelling tend to be students or alternative types and it makes for a fun ride.🙂
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What, you don't like being crammed into a train full of angsty suits coughing, tutting and choking over each other? 😱 😀
 
Melbourne.

No idea how far my job is away from my house.


I walk 30 seconds to a tram stop (like a bus, but it runs on a set of rails, and it looks a bit like a train).

I travel 5 minutes via tram to a train/subway station. I travel for 20 minutes. From the hospital, I wait for a shuttle bus and take it for around 5 minutes.


TOTAL travel time: 45-60 minutes.

If I drove: Probably 45 minutes.


COST: Around $2000 AUD per year. That's around $5.50 per day for all forms of transport if I ONLY take the tram to and from work. Totally worth it. However, I take it more often than that. Even on weekends, I may take it 4 times a day, so the cost is insignificant to me.
 
niuniu said:
What, you don't like being crammed into a train full of angsty suits coughing, tutting and choking over each other? 😱 😀
Click to expand...

I do that as well Paddington/Stroud and I much prefer the bus,they recently had a promo where first class was the same price as cattle and by Reading I'd left first class and sat with the plebs,much nicer.🙂
 
Here in Lyon, I take a combination Metro/Bus route. It takes me anywhere between 45 minutes and an hour to get from where I live to where I work - both of which are on opposite sides of town.

I just bring a book and I'm good for my hour commute 🙂
 
I live just under 20 minutes walk from work. I think if I used the Tube it would take roughly the same amount of time door to door so don't bother. Two stops with a change in between.
 
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