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25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

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Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#11

Post by Theodores »

As a cyclist, familiar with riding from Paddington to an office, the comparative times are of great interest. I cycled ten miles from Paddington due north on the A5 Roman Road.

The bicycle, naturally aspirated with no motor nonsense, was competitive going north, it took me to my destination quicker and more reliably.

I just went into Google Maps and checked what the ride time would be going to Whitechapel. The bicycle would get there in 38 minutes, which is a lot more than the 16 minutes that Google says the tube would take.

But would I leave the bike at home and take the tube?

Well, no!

It takes five minutes to get from the train to the platform, to wait for an underground train, which will be packed. At the other end, it will take me five minutes to get from the tube station to a nearby office. Then there is the need not to be late, so an added ten minutes would be needed - no rocking up at work at 8.59, I need that to be 8.50.

Even though the journey from platform to platform might be 13 minutes, it is going to be half an hour.

Now the 38 minutes of cycling time looks pretty good. Plus, once I have aced the route, I will cut that down to 30 minutes, with no reason excluding earthquakes or asteroid strikes to be delayed - bicycles always find a way and the timing is reliable. Tube trains mysteriously stop in tunnels to dwell there randomly, possibly even broken down.

Then there is the cost. I have no idea what tube journeys cost nowadays, but say it was £4 or £20 expenditure a week to take the tube. Small change but there is opportunity cost with that - the bicycle is a mobile gym, and an hour a day of cycling at speed due to not wanting to be late would mean that I would not have to do stupid things such as pointlessly lifting weights in a gym so as to conform to society's workout expectations.

So, how much does the gym cost? That would be ten hours a week, getting there, lifting objects pointlessly and poncing about having a shower. Oh yes, it might cost £5 to £10 too.

By riding I would also be freeing a seat for the 70% of the population that are obese and effectively disabled as far as cycling is concerned. I would also be another cyclist on the road, therefore making it safer for others to cycle due to the safety in numbers effect.

My eye health would be better too. If you have to look to the next set of lights and also the road in front of you or behind you, then that exercises the eye muscles - gyms don't do that and being in tin boxes and tunnels does not help with eye health either.

There is also a physical buzz to cycling that you don't get from marching around tube stations.

Hence, although the tube train sounds really good and sounds really fast, even with the lengthy dwell times, the bicycle is the far better option, just so long as you are not part of the 70% obese. Furthermore, the hour of sprinting across town with pedals getting actually pushed on, would mean that I would have no danger of getting obese. Plus I would never have to waste my life in those dark satanic mills known as gyms.

Life hack number one for London - get a bike and ditch the tube.

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#12

Post by djtango »

switch007 wrote: post #6

It’s hard not to think Londoners are entitled and ungrateful. No other part of the country has ever had so much spent on mass transit nor will it ever. They have the finest public transport in the entire UK, and always will. I bet you can’t regularly do 1-40 mile journeys at the same speed and cost regularly anywhere else in the UK. The media recently tried to make out the Elizabeth line was one of the worst services…

I fully appreciate where you're coming from and everything you've said is true. But I feel like your opinion may differ if you lived on the south end of the Northern line and had to commute during summer. Doubly so if you were slightly shorter and had to spend your daily commute with your face in someone else's sweaty armpit...

The truth of many parts of London commuting is it's really quite unpleasant in many ways and so you're trained to really wish to spend as little time doing it as possible. If the heat, noise, air quality and congestion don't bother you there's also the threat of violence. A friend was assaulted (perp got GBH iirc) on the Victoria line and I've seen a fight break out on the escalators of Green Park at 9am...

I'm sufficiently jaded by public transport in London that my preferred means of getting around if I'm on my own is a lime bike. Any journey under 5 miles will probably be faster and considerably more pleasant.

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#13

Post by eptcyka »

Theodores wrote: post #11

As a cyclist, familiar with riding from Paddington to an office, the comparative times are of great interest. I cycled ten miles from Paddington due north on the A5 Roman Road. The bicycle, naturally aspirated with no motor nonsense, was competitive going north, it took me to my destination quicker and more reliably. I just went into Google Maps and checked what the ride time would be going to Whitechapel. The bicycl…

Shouldn't you add another 10-15 minutes to your bike ride for having a mandatory shower at the end of the ride?

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#14

Post by benj111 »

Is this a continuation of 'first world problems'? 'London problems'

Oh no, my train waits it the station for nearly a full minute.

The fact that there actually is a train, the train isn't a converted bus that was supposed to be a temporary measure 30 years ago, that's it's deemed viable to actually make a 13 minute train journey, the fact that presumably the train isn't 13 minutes late and in fact turned up, and the fact that in my experience, a 60 second stop is good would suggest to me that there's no need to complain.

Edit: to the downvoters. London has by far the best public transport in the country. Nowhere else has an underground system with trains every 5 minutes. The complaint is about a train waiting at the station for generally less than 60 seconds. For the rest of the country that would be a compliment not a complaint.

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#15

Post by dboreham »

eptcyka wrote: post #13
Theodores wrote: post #11

As a cyclist, familiar with riding from Paddington to an office, the comparative times are of great interest. I cycled ten miles from Paddington due north on the A5 Roman Road. The bicycle, naturally aspirated with no motor nonsense, was competitive going north, it took me to my destination quicker and more reliably. I just went into Google Maps and checked what the ride time would be going to Whitechapel. The bicycl…

Shouldn't you add another 10-15 minutes to your bike ride for having a mandatory shower at the end of the ride?

Bakerloo line in summer, same thing.

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#16

Post by mhh__ »

switch007 wrote: post #6

It’s hard not to think Londoners are entitled and ungrateful. No other part of the country has ever had so much spent on mass transit nor will it ever. They have the finest public transport in the entire UK, and always will. I bet you can’t regularly do 1-40 mile journeys at the same speed and cost regularly anywhere else in the UK. The media recently tried to make out the Elizabeth line was one of the worst services…

British people in general are massively blinkered about trains. There are obviously flaws but if I said that I've seen Germans using british trains as an example of punctuality I'd imagine most people moaning about trains would be confused.

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#17

Post by benjaminwootton »

clarkdave wrote: post #9
djtango wrote: post #2

The Elizabeth line (Lizzie line??) is a bit of a quandary for me... Was so excited about it opening and I still get excited about riding it. Although the tunnels are already notably less pristine, so I'm glad to have seen them when they almost sparkled. That all said, at least according to google maps and citymapper the Eline seems to be a little situational. For example, if you're on the Met line and want to go to C…

Indeed, the interchanges can be quite arduous, as it tends to be very deep, and usually quite a trek from the other lines in that station. This also means it can take a good chunk of time to even get to or from the platform. For example, if you wanted to go from Farringdon to Liverpool St, Google Maps would suggest using the Elizabeth line, but, in practice, it's usually better to use the sub-surface lines (Metropoli…

It’s probably faster to walk from Farringdon to Liverpool Street!

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#18

Post by namdnay »

djtango wrote: post #2

The Elizabeth line (Lizzie line??) is a bit of a quandary for me... Was so excited about it opening and I still get excited about riding it. Although the tunnels are already notably less pristine, so I'm glad to have seen them when they almost sparkled. That all said, at least according to google maps and citymapper the Eline seems to be a little situational. For example, if you're on the Met line and want to go to C…

it's amazing for getting in from heathrow too...

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#19

Post by switch007 »

djtango wrote: post #12
switch007 wrote: post #6

It’s hard not to think Londoners are entitled and ungrateful. No other part of the country has ever had so much spent on mass transit nor will it ever. They have the finest public transport in the entire UK, and always will. I bet you can’t regularly do 1-40 mile journeys at the same speed and cost regularly anywhere else in the UK. The media recently tried to make out the Elizabeth line was one of the worst services…

I fully appreciate where you're coming from and everything you've said is true. But I feel like your opinion may differ if you lived on the south end of the Northern line and had to commute during summer. Doubly so if you were slightly shorter and had to spend your daily commute with your face in someone else's sweaty armpit... The truth of many parts of London commuting is it's really quite unpleasant in many ways a…

I do get it. While I haven’t commuted, I’ve travelled many, many times around London including rush hour. Have smelled many armpits on the tube and even worn earplugs on the central line. (I have commuted in another European city however)

But London is a victim of its own success. It will always be hot busy and crowded. This is just like almost every other major city in the world - hot, crowded public transport at rush hour. What do you want? Every mode cooled to 17c and seats for everyone?

Nobody is forced to live in London, especially the younger ones with no ties who moved there to climb the ladder.

We really need to distribute the economic activity around the UK by properly investing in other towns and cities

Re: 25% of the 13 minute journey from Whitechapel to Paddington is spent not moving

#20

Post by awjlogan »

Theodores wrote: post #11

As a cyclist, familiar with riding from Paddington to an office, the comparative times are of great interest. I cycled ten miles from Paddington due north on the A5 Roman Road. The bicycle, naturally aspirated with no motor nonsense, was competitive going north, it took me to my destination quicker and more reliably. I just went into Google Maps and checked what the ride time would be going to Whitechapel. The bicycl…

Completely agree - London's not that big, and it's great to travel around on the surface and experience all the different neighbourhoods and seasons. Generally, any distance inside Z1/2 will be faster, or at least competitive, by bike. My usual King's Cross to Kensington was around 20 mins by bike, same trip on the Tube was 40 mins + £3.50 (or whatever it was), and bus, well, bring a book... Despite the good cycling infrastructure, it definitely helps to have some confidence and road sense, which I can see would put some people off, but with more and more people cycling that gets better too.

I didn't really like London, but getting out on the bike changed that considerably - it's a beautiful city, with a lot more greenery than is normally credited. The Tube map, great as it is, inherently distorts distances and directions and learning how the city is really connected is enlightening.

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