Bike or Train

When I first moved to Bishop’s Stortford in 1996 I was working in the City (of London). The only sane means of transport for getting to work was to use the train. So I bought a house a short walk from the station and bought a season ticket each month. Nothing much changed for about seven years. Then my employer announced an office move to Canary Wharf in the London Docklands. For those who don’t know the anatomy of London, Canary Wharf is an office village about 5 km east of the City, and is attempting to take over the City’s position as the financial centre of the UK – an aspiration which it has so far been quite successful in realising.

The problem for those of us living out to the North of London is that public transport links to the London Docklands are poor, to put it mildly. The only obvious route is to go into the City as normal, and use public transport from there. This adds a further 30 minutes to a journey of about 1 hour, giving a total daily commuting time of 3 hours, not to mention an additional GBP50 per month.

The only real alternative is to use the road system. This is another situation altogether. Bishop’s Stortford is right next to the M11 motorway which takes you down to the north east corner of London and connects with the A12 Eastern Avenue and A406 North Circular roads. These are fast dual carriageways taking you further into London, and, crucially, into Canary Wharf without touching any urban roads. Of course using a car is an option, but has two draw-backs: namely that the roads get very busy during the morning and evening peaks, and the size of a car makes it expensive to park during the day.

So the only viable solution is a motorcycle. On a bike I can jump all the queues and park for free in the office car-park. The journey time is as little as 40 minutes on clear roads and seldom more than 50minutes even in the heaviest traffic. A bike is a completely different experience from a train, but I settled into the different routine well enough for the first year. Then, in the spring of this year, I was told that due to overcrowding of the office, we were being moved back to the City for an unspecified period. I still visit the Canary Wharf office a few times each week, but when I have to go to the City, I use the train. This has got me thinking about the relative merits of the two means of transport which are so different in nature. There are definitely some positive points about using the train – I’m writing this on a train, something I can’t do on a bike – for example. But if I had used the bike today, I would have been home by now and I could type this in the comfort thereof. I’v compiled a list of plus and minus points for each of the two forms of transport.

Train:
Plus points:

• Gives me 1.5 hours of time when I can read or use a laptop
• Requires about 30 minutes of brisk walking per day to keep me fit
• Allows me to relax and even sleep when I’m sleep deprived
• Low risk on the cost front – Cost is fixed (unless I forget to buy a ticket)
• Low risk on the safety front.
• Relatively comfortable, most of the time.
  

Minus Points:

• Takes twice as long as the bike
• Costs about twice as much as the bike
• Timetable is quite inflexible, so if I’m 1 minute late for the train I can be 30 minutes late for work.
• When things go wrong they go badly wrong, and you’re helpless.
  

Bike:
Plus points:

• Much quicker than the train
• About half the price of the train (though costs are harder to quantify)
• I’m not tied to a timetable
• Even when roads are blocked there’s a way through the traffic.
  

Minus Points :

• Takes all concentration, so I can’t read or work in transit
• Can be quite uncomfortable in the rain or in cold weather
• Relatively high risk of death or serious injury
• Relatively high risk of financial loss due to accidents or speeding fines

On balance, an impartial reader might think that train has the upper hand. If you gave all the points equal weight you’d probably come to that conclusion. But the one point that clinches the deal for the bike is that it gives me an excuse to ride the bike every day. For those not familiar with riding, you probably won’t understand that; if you compare it to driving a car you won’t see the connection. There is a saying that if I have to explain it, you won’t understand, and that applies very well to riding a bike. Those who don’t ride, don’t know. It might be chucking down with rain; it might be freezing cold, but I’d rather be on my bike than in a comfy train. Riding into the City I don’t enjoy it so much – the urban traffic is an acquired taste – but whenever I can find an excuse to go into our Canary Wharf office, I’ll be there on my bike.