Wow, 2.5 miles? Walk. Just walk. Enjoy the world. Take an umbrella if you have to, wear a sweater if you have to. Listen to podcasts or audio books if you don’t like the downtime, or maybe that or music if you just don’t like the environment or don’t enjoy the world. Just walk. 48 mins is pretty slow for 2.5 miles, too. Get it down to even 45, and you’re doing 90 mins' exercise a day without even thinking about it, which is plenty to have positive health benefits, with the additional benefits of clearing your head, zero daily cost and zero initial outlay, without risking bad drivers or lorries murdering you on a bike, and without even having to do any geometry, Euclidean or otherwise. Really. Just walk.
They (jokingly?) mention it at the end but I felt like through the whole reading I was internally screaming “bike”. Probably the most “optimized” long-term investment you could make. Fun way to go about all this though.
I have a combined app for travel in Berlin. It compares public transport, taxi, multiple car-sharing options (based on the closest car), bike-sharing, walking and bike.
Bike is always the fastest. I call it the “troll app” now.
A neat hack is a foldable Bike: if you run into bad weather, you can still choose a Taxi or a car-share and just put it in the trunk.
Also, he talks about high cost for the bike (not sure what kind of bike he wants to buy, I heard from my US colleagues that people only buy expensive all-terrain bikes over there) but he totally skips over the fact that it also gives him exercise so it can save him both time and money by needing to go to the gym less.
My commute happens to also be exactly 2.5 miles, also on mostly-flat terrain. I’ve gotten the bike ride down to 20 minutes, and I’m not particularly in-shape. I also find it enjoyable how it gives me some thinking time to bracket my day; I don’t personally get that kind of pleasure from taking a car.
He could certainly do this ride with a $150 road bike, though I’d recommend spending a little more for something with higher-quality parts, but only to someone who knows how to tell the difference. For a first-time cyclist I’d suggest spending as little as possible and expecting it to be a learning experience as to what’s worth spending more on next time.
He says he got his cost down to about $8 a day, at which price the bicycle would break even in four weeks. It will need occasional maintenance, but not nearly that often.
I’m sure it’s true that some people buy mountain bikes because they don’t know any better and reason that if it costs more, it must be more useful, even for their commute. Road bikes are definitely common, though, and the SF bay area - where this author is based - is one of the least bike-unfriendly areas of the country.
Not everybody is physically capable of riding a bicycle, and it’s worth pointing that out, but it’s not clear whether that’s the case for this author. If so, his analysis certainly covers the remaining options.
Indeed. That’s what I was waiting for: a bicycle. A 2.5 mile ride on what looks to be nearly flat road should be a piece of cake on even an inexpensive used bike. No need for more than three speeds (maybe even just a single speed if he’s got the legs). At $10/trip (equivalent to Uber Pool) fifty days would cover a very nice used bike or inexpensive new one.
Personally, bicycle commuting been great for my fitness and outlook.
You can maybe figure out the correct cost of time at different levels of comfort by asking how much someone would have to pay you for you to be willing to do “extra” of it. E.g. how much would you want to be paid per-minute to take a random ride in an uber, on the muni, etc. not as part of your commute.
As others have said, a bike, or a folding one if you don’t have anywhere to store one, is well worth trying. Maybe you can hire one short-term, or buy a second-hand one with well-known depreciation rates?
/going to try getting home via my new Strida for the first time this evening
Wow, 2.5 miles? Walk. Just walk. Enjoy the world. Take an umbrella if you have to, wear a sweater if you have to. Listen to podcasts or audio books if you don’t like the downtime, or maybe that or music if you just don’t like the environment or don’t enjoy the world. Just walk. 48 mins is pretty slow for 2.5 miles, too. Get it down to even 45, and you’re doing 90 mins' exercise a day without even thinking about it, which is plenty to have positive health benefits, with the additional benefits of clearing your head, zero daily cost and zero initial outlay, without risking bad drivers or lorries murdering you on a bike, and without even having to do any geometry, Euclidean or otherwise. Really. Just walk.
They (jokingly?) mention it at the end but I felt like through the whole reading I was internally screaming “bike”. Probably the most “optimized” long-term investment you could make. Fun way to go about all this though.
I have a combined app for travel in Berlin. It compares public transport, taxi, multiple car-sharing options (based on the closest car), bike-sharing, walking and bike.
Bike is always the fastest. I call it the “troll app” now.
A neat hack is a foldable Bike: if you run into bad weather, you can still choose a Taxi or a car-share and just put it in the trunk.
Name or link, please?
It goes under the weird name of “Ally”. https://www.allyapp.com/
Thanks! (Although bbbike finds best routes.)
Also, he talks about high cost for the bike (not sure what kind of bike he wants to buy, I heard from my US colleagues that people only buy expensive all-terrain bikes over there) but he totally skips over the fact that it also gives him exercise so it can save him both time and money by needing to go to the gym less.
My commute happens to also be exactly 2.5 miles, also on mostly-flat terrain. I’ve gotten the bike ride down to 20 minutes, and I’m not particularly in-shape. I also find it enjoyable how it gives me some thinking time to bracket my day; I don’t personally get that kind of pleasure from taking a car.
He could certainly do this ride with a $150 road bike, though I’d recommend spending a little more for something with higher-quality parts, but only to someone who knows how to tell the difference. For a first-time cyclist I’d suggest spending as little as possible and expecting it to be a learning experience as to what’s worth spending more on next time.
He says he got his cost down to about $8 a day, at which price the bicycle would break even in four weeks. It will need occasional maintenance, but not nearly that often.
I’m sure it’s true that some people buy mountain bikes because they don’t know any better and reason that if it costs more, it must be more useful, even for their commute. Road bikes are definitely common, though, and the SF bay area - where this author is based - is one of the least bike-unfriendly areas of the country.
Not everybody is physically capable of riding a bicycle, and it’s worth pointing that out, but it’s not clear whether that’s the case for this author. If so, his analysis certainly covers the remaining options.
Indeed. That’s what I was waiting for: a bicycle. A 2.5 mile ride on what looks to be nearly flat road should be a piece of cake on even an inexpensive used bike. No need for more than three speeds (maybe even just a single speed if he’s got the legs). At $10/trip (equivalent to Uber Pool) fifty days would cover a very nice used bike or inexpensive new one.
Personally, bicycle commuting been great for my fitness and outlook.
Did he say how he got home in the afternoon? Is that not another $10 ride?
So >$500/month on commuting? That’s the cost of a decent bike every month.
It blows my mind that people would consider Uber a viable option to commuting.
Note to self, need to use this information on my spouse… See my new bike is a bargain compared to Uber! :)
[Comment removed by author]
You can maybe figure out the correct cost of time at different levels of comfort by asking how much someone would have to pay you for you to be willing to do “extra” of it. E.g. how much would you want to be paid per-minute to take a random ride in an uber, on the muni, etc. not as part of your commute.
As others have said, a bike, or a folding one if you don’t have anywhere to store one, is well worth trying. Maybe you can hire one short-term, or buy a second-hand one with well-known depreciation rates?
/going to try getting home via my new Strida for the first time this evening