BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

This is hard. Lengthening bike commutes seem just fine to me. Whenever I have the opportunity I will take a longer route on my commute, just for the enjoyment of it.

I have a Twitter history of my various commute modes and times going back over five years. Anyone caring to mine 23,000 tweets is welcome to do so. In general, it takes me a bit over an hour to bike the 11ish miles in, 75-90 to get home. Using transit is comparable. The non-fast bus takes about the same amount of time, the fast bus a bit less, maybe 50 minutes. For me, it's a trade-off of weather, paying fare, trying to get work done on the way, and whether I feel like changing clothes on my way to/from the office. In short, lots of variables; time is not the most important one.

For me, from Central Lawrenceville to eastern Oakland is about the same amount of time by bike or bus: a bit less than 20 minutes in the morning, 15 if I get good lights; 10-15 minutes in the evening. if I take the long way home via the Jail Trail and through downtown it takes 45-60 minutes. i probably pay a little more to live in LV than I would for a less centrally located home elsewhere, but it's very much worth it to me to not have to spend an hour getting to and from work unless I feel like it.

Whether I ride or take the bus + bike it's a bit over an hour each way. PS I really want to hear what Pierce has to say about this.

When I bike, ~15 mi each way. 1 hour in and 1.25 hours home, more downhill in the AM.

Between 25-50 minutes depending on which bike I ride and what route. I try and ride one or two 2+ hour rides on the way to work by taking a long route. The time would be cut down if I was more assertive towards motor vehicles, but I try to avoid dealing with them for the most part. I feel so lucky to love to ride a bike, since I will never have to suffer in some gym or dread getting some boring exercise routine. I wish the masses would understand it, but I don't think they will.

About an hour, door to desk, either by bus or by bike. Distance is about 8.5 miles. Inbound time includes time to secure bike and make quick change of clothing.

> I wish the masses would understand it, but I don’t think they will. Perhaps if fewer bike riders were so condescending toward 'the masses', more of them would be interested in joining us.

Just over 10 miles each way, Mt Lebo to the Strip. 35-40 minutes on the way in, depending on traffic, lights, weather. 50-60 minutes on the way home, depending on the same. Evening commute is mostly uphill, in heavier traffic.

20-25 minutes, from Lawrenceville to the far end of Downtown. Takes a little longer coming home at the end of the day, due to traffic and the hill.

Normal conditions, via greenfield ave 17-20 in, 23-27 back. Add 3-5 minutes for winter. Subtract 3-5 minutes for road route, good conditions, light bogarting.

1:40 to 2:00 depending on weather, fitness, bike. 30 miles from Beaver to downtown. Same time either direction, vs one hour on the bus.

45 mins door to desk, from downtown to Neville Island, busing and walking. I can probably cut this by 5 mins if I took my bike on the bus for that last section on the island. I haven't done this on the bike all the way (just can't get psyched about it), but it would probably be around 45 mins, because it's a more direct route than the bus, which meanders around McKees Rocks before continuing towards Coraopolis. This commute, both by bus and by bike, will likely be shortened once the West Carson reconstruction is completed. If I was driving, it'd be 25-30 mins door to desk, depending mostly on the light to turn onto the McKees Rocks Bridge. Coming home, it's 25 mins on a very good day. Usually more like 35 mins, and up to an hour if there's a lot of traffic on Fort Duquesne Bridge and downtown. Thursdays and Fridays were usually the worst days, particularly once the Pirates start their season.

35-45 minutes, Brighton Heights to South Side; roughly 10 minutes more than driving. Perhaps 5 minutes more in the evening, due to more climbing.

14 min in plus stop time for scone at allegro hearth. About 16 min home.

It takes me 25 minutes just to walk to the nearest bus. I can be downtown or in Oakland in about a half hour by bike.

18 miles from Moon Twp - 1:15 ish in, depending on the light at the Mckees Rocks/65, and closer to 1:30 going home, with all the uphill and prevailing headwinds from the west. About 50 minutes average on the bus.

About 18 minutes from Oakland to my desk at Mercy. 25 going home. About 20-30 minute bus+15 minutes walking, if I bus. About 45 minute walking. In this century, I haven't driven to work.

@Chrishent; have you tried taking the 14 outbound from Allegheny Station (next to the Casino) as far as Glenfield with your bike, then biking I-79 to Neville Island (yes, it is permitted there.) Works better outbound than inbound, I fear. But, the 14 is almost certainly faster than the 21.

Forest Hills to Oakland, around 6 miles, about 35 minutes inbound, 40 outbound (I'm old, fat, and slow). Driving is only 5-10 minutes faster.

Multi Mode Bike 10 miles to T @ Station Square then a short ride to work . 1 1/2 hr 40 minute to drive

@swalfoort, I considered that option but I doubt it's gonna save me much time, if any. Bus travel time is about the same (30 mins) but the transfer distances between home/pick up bus stop, and drop-off bus stop/work are longer in both cases. Plus, my stop on Neville Island is the last one in Zone 1, so there's those savings, too. Aaaaand, by taking the 21 I get a good view of that famous Pittsburgh sunrise when the bus is looping around the McKees Bottoms (seriously, it's pretty sweet)

@Chrishent; I understand the sunrise appreciation element.

When I commute it's either multi-modal with folding bike (4.5 miles to South Hills Village Mall ~30 minutes, T to 1st Street ~40 minutes, 2.5 miles to work ~8-10 minutes; in reverse exactly the same; sometimes my wife is not comfortable with me riding USC and Bethel Park and gives me lift/picks me up at South Hills Village Mall) or just by a road bike (18 or 22 miles -- depends on the route ~1h40m-2h).

Door to door, its between 35-40 minutes going in, and 45-50 minutes coming back. My commute is from Shadyside (Shady ave / Walnut St) to US Steel Bldg. I usually tack on another 10 minutes to account for changing clothes/ cleaning up both ways, since I have to dress for a professional environment. By car it's usually a flat 30 mins, by bus its usually about the same when taking into account waiting times and walking.

50 minutes from Greenfield to Penn Center East in Monroeville. There are several major climbs and I think I am the only commuter to go from the city to Monroeville.

@ShooFlyPie ... go from the city to Monroeville Wow. Respect, dude. Helluva ride.

I think I am the only commuter to go from the city to Monroeville.

Well, there's me. And I see @Jaysherman5000 sometimes when I ride the bus instead -- I don't know if he ever rides out here.

@jaws: I ride out to Monroeville as rarely as I can because I really hate the route. That first run up Penn Ave out of Wilkinsburg is just a big mental challenge for some reason. I've done it plenty of times, but if I can, I prefer to avoid it. The last time I biked to work was early January when we got our first real snow event of the season. The 67 showed up with a rack that was frozen stuck and wouldn't move. Instead of waiting another 45 min to bet on the next one not being frozen, I just rode for about an hour to get to work. If it weren't below freezing that morning, I would have arrived having sweat through my work clothes. For the commute home, I've been making myself bike it a least 3 days a week since the New Year. It takes just under an hour to go 11.5ish miles, with about 1100-1200' of climbing (according to ridewithgps). Maybe I'll give the ride to work another shot now that the snow is gone.

Morningside to federal street/north Ave on North side via jail trail/downtown (about 11 miles each way). Under 40 minutes without snow and ice on the way in at 5am. More downhill. Stupid light cycles on blvd of the allies annoys me and additional lights on Baum also annoy me in the past few years. Commite home is sometimes an hour if I leave work ariund 5pm. More uphill. the traffic on blvd of the allies, morewood, and Ellsworth also slows m down. If I leave work at 6, usually 50 minutes. If I take the short way by cutting over to Liberty, penn, and 9th street bridge, I can get there in 20-25 minutes (7 miles in). I once got home in about 30-35 minutes. I like to avoid Liberty outbound through Bloomfield. Too many cars in the bike lanes.

I technically am in Wilkens Township at the white office buildings of Penn Center East. Jay, I don't even take Penn. I leave 15217 out on Forbes and hit Regent Square/ Wilkinsburg on South Ave. Cross Penn on E. Swissvale ave to Montier to Laketon Rd. Make a right onto Collins road which is a steep hill up through very suburban Forest Hills. Take a couple of turns (At first I got lost alot), get to Beulah road for very short segment to cross William Penn. Go to other side by taking the lane and making a left onto Churchill Road up through Edgewood country club. Make a left down very steep Harrison Road to Rodi road, and up to my office at Penn Center East. The route is hilly, but it is rather easy. Yeah, going out on Penn is more direct, but I loop around a few other roads. I work at home and travel a bit, so It's not like I do it every day, but from March-October when there is more daylight I do it often.

@ShooFlyPie: Yeah, I hadn't thought about going that direction, but I could take Montier to Marie->Sloan->McNary (reversing my usual route home). That might make the first part of the commute more bearable. For me, I don't mind the actual climb up Penn, it's the combination of a steep climb, narrow space (due to streetside parking), and cars that routinely pass too closely regardless of my lane position that make that leg of the journey such a mental barrier. Other than that, it's really just my own stubbornness against waking up early enough to make that morning commute and still have time to shower once I get to work. But who knows, since you've opened my eyes to an easy path around Penn, maybe I'll give outbound (or even two-way) commuting another shot.

I live in Mt Lebo, work in Robinson. T+ Bus + Shuttle = 90 min Bike + Bus + Shuttle = 60 min I have yet to bike the whole thing, but it is my goal for bike to work day this year. I don't bike much at all on the return trip, aside for a mile from Gateway to Station Square. Hopefully I'll up my game there as well this summer.

htric, kudos to you! That's a trip that's immensely more difficult than it really should be. Let me know if you need any tips/tricks on navigating the Robinson end.

edmonds59, I would love any insight. Right now my commute is bower hill, cochran, greentree, hope hollow, through carnegie and catch 28x at Bell. once I do the whole thing I will take campbells run to either church hill or around the back of pep boys, then through the mall and down over montour, then up hookstown grade, to fedex drive. FedEx dr is too steep for me, and on the 3 times I walked my bike up, it felt as though my coworkers were trying to kill me. My pain points are mostly in the afternoon. I start work at 7 am, so other than fedex hill things are pretty calm. On the way home, going through the mall area seems suicidal, despite the meaningless sharrows. Rather than going up cochran I would probably zig zag through the neighborhood.

Holy cow, Fed Ex. Almost anywhere is easier to get to than Fed Ex. The 28X hopper is a really good option. Campbells Run really sux. But I will think on this.

I used to work at FedEx circa 2010. Commuted there by bike from McCandless a few times. I'll dig up the threads later. Hookstown is definitely better than FedEx Drive, particularly on a double-crank, which is all I had at the time.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/6828503 Does this help with the route to Robinson? Climbing 60 could be awful after 6am though.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7325129 -- this is aproximately my buddy ride from home to work (with modification since we both used to work at Computer Associates). http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7325199 -- I would go like this. http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7325213 -- this is long but after aproximately 6 miles you are on Panhadle and Motour Trails up to Fedex Dr. http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7325250 -- last couple of miles are from trail to Fedex Dr from other direction to avoid Fedex Dr climb. You can combine any parts od different rides.

My commute from Forest Hills to the airport is 28 miles and takes me 2 hours. I drive to work and ride home and the next day I ride in and drive home. The worst part of the ride is west Carson to the west end circle.

Mikhail route 1 is the way to go (except do Hookstown at the end). Rt 2 - Noblestown Road west from Carnegie is twisty with poor sight lines and speeding douchebags, and adds miles.

Crafton to North Shore is ~30 minutes on the way in, ~35 on the way home. Those figures depend on wind and which bike I'm riding, and they're door to door. When I drive, it takes about the same amount of time because of traffic, but I save some time by only getting dressed once. What I don't save is aggravation at sitting and waiting to get on the West End Bridge for 20 minutes in the afternoon.

Brighton Heights to Shadyside, 9 miles, ~40 minutes either way.

@stefb, getting to 60 would probably be more work than reward. @Mikhail, those are very helpful. I've been staring at maps for almost a year now, and I haven't thought of anything that good. I really like the first 2 you shared, and I will have to try them out. It stinks that although I'm near the montour trail on each end that it would take so many miles to actually make use of it.

In my 20 years in Pittsburgh (living in Squirrel Hill) my commutes have varied from less than 10 minutes (to CMNH- this gave me a few minutes wiggle room) to what is now out to Camp Horne Road (about 1:20 to work, a bit longer coming home) which I only ride a few days a week mainly due to varied work schedule. I did have a 13 year stint to the North Shore which was somewhere in the 30-35 minute range going to work, a bit longer coming home. I was very regular on this one- rarely missed riding, although sometimes snow or ice made it an interesting and longer ride.

Not to hijack the discussion, but this seems like a fitting place to do this. I would like to thank Patrick for helping me fix my chain this morning around Allegheny Center. I was able to finish my morning commute which would've been a nightmare otherwise.

Mikhail route 1 is the way to go (except do Hookstown at the end). Rt 2 – Noblestown Road west from Carnegie is twisty with poor sight lines and speeding douchebags, and adds miles.

I rode all of them multiple times. I still prefer Noblestown/Michaels. :) But that's me. I did not road Hookstown for more than 4 years (since CA and I departerd:)) but it was pretty shitty road in terms of asphalt. It was OK to ride it up but absolutel terrible to ride it down. May be they fixed it? There are a couple of rides from Trek store in Robinson. Paul (manager) usually organizes them. One of them is for C class riders -- pretty relaxed. And Paul is an old guy. You can stick to him and ride together. A lot of good info on local roads would be your prize. :)

My commute from the South Hills is about 45 minutes, give or take a few. Which is about as long as it takes me to drive the same route. Or about as long as it takes for the T (if you include wait times).

Coming down, you could just take the main FedEx Drive, which was in great shape in 2010. As I recall, though, it was easier to get from the bike rack in the rear of the building out to Hookstown Rd. Going up the other side to Ikea, just take the lane, even if you're slogging up it at 4 mph. Someone wants to go faster, that's what the passing lane is for.

I tried @ShooFlyPie's Laketon/Collins/Beulah route in this morning and I think I prefer Penn. Laketon is much quieter, it's true, but Penn is so much nicer to climb -- one long moderate climb instead of a few short nasty ones. OTOH if you really don't like traffic, it's the way to go. It's two-lane suburban roads the whole way.

I commuted this morning to Penn Center East. Maybe I will try Penn tomorrow. Looking on the map my way does add some extra miles. I am leaving soon actually and I go up Harrison Road to Churchill road and that is one of the steepest roads I climb in this metro. I actually enjoy traffic and vehicular cycling. However, that is mostly in the city and closer dense suburbs. When I venture out to the burbs I get more scared of higher traffic roads with suburbanites.

One day back in February, I biked from Wm Penn Hwy at Rodi Rd to Rt 48 and Northern Pike, and claimed the lane the entire distance, both directions. It wasn't fun, particularly in that long climb out of the valley just east of Rodi. Both directions. I am being very nice and proper in saying it wasn't fun. There are a lot of words I would like to use.

Yeah, that's not advisable. Old William Penn is much better.

Stu, You should have a pair of truck nutz on your bike.

Somewhat related to this topic: "the average Pittsburgh commuter wasted 39 hours while stuck in traffic last year and burned 21 additional gallons of gasoline" http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2015/08/26/Traffic-congestion-costs-average-Pittsburgh-commuter-889-a-year-study-finds/stories/201508260192

I'm really anxious to see how little gas I use with full-time bike commuting. When I was driving a car back and forth to the South Hills, I was sitting in extra traffic for 20 minutes on average every day. Crap, is that 80 hours a year?? By bike: From Polish Hill to Chateau: 23 minutes in the AM Chateau to Polish Hill in the PM: 30 minutes

I'm spoiled. My commute is a 4 minute walk from home to office. Everything is give and take - there are disadvantages to living downtown, but...so many advantages. My stress level is negligible.