10 reasons to commute by bike
The average UK car commuter spends roughly 50 minutes a day in traffic, and most of that time is spent doing nothing. Just sitting, idling, watching the car in front inch forward.
Multiply that by five days a week and you're looking at around sixteen hours a month spent sitting in a metal box, doing nothing, while the engine burns fuel you could have spent on almost anything else.
Do the maths for a year and the numbers start to feel absurd. If you drive ten miles each way, five days a week, that's roughly 5,200 miles over twelve months, in a vehicle that's parked 95% of the time it exists. Now do the same calculation on a bike. Ten miles each way, five days a week, and you've just covered a distance that would take most people a week of dedicated cycling to match, and you've done it in the time it would have taken to sit in a car anyway.
Switching your commute, even just a few days per week, to a bike could see about £200 back in your pocket each month, especially when you factor in fuel, parking and depreciation. That’s the headline. But there’s more to it than that.
Here are my ten reasons to commute by bike, and most of them have nothing to do with money at all.
1. It’s FUN!
Unless you love traffic jams, or having your face stuck in someone’s armpit on public transport, cycling is a much more enjoyable way to start your day. Riding bikes is simply fun.
2. It’s an easy way to fit exercise into your day
No more lack of time excuses. A cycle to work each way could easily mean you meet the exercise guidelines of 150 minutes a week, all without the added pressure of heading to a heaving gym.
3. No traffic!
Cycling helps you bypass all the roadworks and traffic jams, reduce the number of cars on the road which benefits the environment, and potentially, it allows you to get to your destination quicker and in a much better mood!
4. Fresh air
Breathing in fresh air can work wonders for your mental health, and especially for your stress levels. Plus there’s nothing stopping you taking a scenic way home, and avoiding all the traffic for even fresher fresh air!
5. You can customise your journey to suit your needs
Do you want to take to the roads and take advantage of any cycle infrastructure? or do you want to take the more scenic route and avoid potholes and close passes? What ever works for you, maybe even a bit of both. Remember less traffic generally equates to less stress.
6. Reduce your carbon footprint
Cycling to work really is the eco friendly way to travel. A choice that doesn’t produce any gas emissions, and you’re fighting climate change one pedal stroke at a time.
7. Be mindful and enjoy the scenery
Commuting on a bike allows you to pick a journey away from busy roads where you can take in the beauty of your surroundings. Just resist the urge to race. Instead be mindful. Feel the wind, notice the sounds of nature, the rustling trees, the birds. Take it all in and appreciate the freedom of two wheels.
8. It could save you a small fortune
Petrol and diesel prices aren’t decreasing any time soon, let alone any maintenance costs you have to foot the bill for. You could end up putting more money in your own pocket as I’ve already mentioned. Money that’s better in your pocket than someone else’s.
Remember the golden rule of bike ownership. N+1. Commuting by bike could fund the purchasing of more bikes. It’s a win-win!
9. When you’re on a bike you’re not doom scrolling!
Have you ever looked around on public transport, or even at passengers in cars, and noticed everyone is on their phones? Studies show the deleterious effects of mindlessly scrolling - your attention span, critical thinking, and all round enjoyment of the world around you are at risk the more you scroll. So, given you can’t scroll while riding (unless you’re competing for a Darwin Award), cycling could save you from phone induced brain rot.
Many of you will sit in front of a screen all day at work, so why not give your brain a break, saddle up, and ride to work?
10. The roads will be safer for everyone!
If the number of people commuting by bike increases, the demand for cycle lanes, cycle parking, and proper cycle infrastructure will increase. So, if everyone doing short journeys by car switched to a more sustainable form of transport such as a bike, the volume of traffic would decrease. Meaning all those motorists that wrongly accuse cyclists of getting in the way and causing delays, rather than the amount of vehicles on the roads, will likely get to where they’re going quicker, less angry and less stressed. Less motorists on the roads equals safer roads.
If you add up the fuel saved, the parking fees avoided, the gym membership that quietly stopped making sense, the hours of traffic time converted into something that actually counts as a morning, the case for commuting by bike is easy to make in a spreadsheet. But I don't think that's the real argument. The real argument is the one that doesn't fit in a cell: the fact that you can arrive at your desk having already been outside, having already moved, having already had a small unstructured stretch of time that belonged to no one else but you. That's not something you can put a price on, and it's not something a car, however efficient, will ever give you back.
“If you’re the kind of person who keeps talking yourself out of commuting by bike, my advice is embarrassingly simple — just do it once. ”
One morning. One route. You don't need to commit to a year, you don't need to buy a new bike, you don't even need to be in shape. Stop sitting on the fence. The fence is a lot less scary from the other side. You just have to ride over it.