Average commuting speed in London?

barrybridges

I know this is a how long in a piece of string type question, but for those who commute into and out of central London, what do you think your average speed is, taking into account time spent waiting at traffic lights (if you do), congestion, delays etc...

I'm trying to work out how long it might take me to get into London from where I live. If I knew that, from experience, your average speed is 8mph, I can work out whether it's worth it (I live some way out in Surrey)

Jamey

I live in Croydon and commute to Shepherds Bush and if you're talking about a proper, honest average (as opposed to a "my computer pauses when the bike isn't moving" average) then I'd say that truthfully it's probably about 12-13mph for me.

But I'm not a particularly fast rider.

That said, however, I have managed a (true, proper) average of 16mph before on a nice day when I was feeling energetic and the majority of the lights were in my favour.

Clever Pun

check out the average speed thread....

All my averages are rolling 17-20...

It also depends where in 'central london'

I'm also near croydon, I take the A21 in and it's a pretty fast ride

Avoid the A23 it might seem direct but it's rubbish and slow as hell

Jamey

A rolling average is no use to someone who's trying to work out what time they'd need to set their alarm clock for each morning, though

W1

10 miles - 40 minutes.

Aidy

The average speed through central London doesn't reflect the average speed of getting to central London.

Presumably the majority of your commuting distance wouldn't be spent in London proper.

mrc1

My 6 mile commute takes between 20-25 mins depending on the amount of traffic I encounter (my route includes old street, moorgate, bank and london bridge so i get caught by lots of traffic lights). Without traffic lights I could make it in about 15!!

toontra

You need to choose a route with as few lights as possible. An example - the Embankment is way quicker than going through the west end if going east-west. A decent route should allow you to keep close to 14-15 mph.

asprilla

My 17 miles into London takes between 55 and 75 minutes depending upon a number of completely random factors.

nich

I think I'm going to purposely lower my average to 1mph.

Last couple of days have been a nightmare for me with pedestrians stepping out.

Had to give a bloke an 'oyyyyyy' as he walked in front of me. He was looking completely the wrong way and came within a few inches of a collision :?

I'd say it depends on the route and what time you leave.

By leaving 10 mins earlier I find my main route out of London (Bank / London Bridge) is a bit quieter. I don't have to contend with so many people walking in front of me, and there seems to be less crazy cyclists about trying to kill me.

Once your out of the main city area you should be able to find a decent route with Bus Lanes and pick up good speed.

Avoiding areas like train stations also seems to be a good idea, they get packed with people going / coming home

Clever Pun

Jamey wrote:

A rolling average is no use to someone who's trying to work out what time they'd need to set their alarm clock for each morning, though

I know that.. that's why I said rolling, also the fact I go 17+ mph makes not difference to him if he can't cycle that fast etc etc

The first ride in you leave plenty of time especially if you've not done the route before as you will mess it up at some point

squired

I live in Croydon and have commuted into both the square mile and Knightsbridge. When commuting into the square mile my typical ride of 21 kilometres took about 50-55 minutes including stopping. Going home you could add 5-10 minutes on top of that. The thing I found was that hammering it between traffic lights made very little difference to the overall time (and thus speed) because there were so many red lights. I was riding through over 100 sets of lights and remember counting 40 reds one time I cycled home.

Working in Knightsbridge was a similar distance, but the roads were quieter and the total number of traffic lights was far far lower. On that route I could take 10 minutes off the above times without much additional effort due to the conditions.

So, in other words, the route is the master and red lights will be the biggest factor limiting your speed.

Jamey

Agreed.

gaz545

I also live in croydon (a lot of us here today) and commute to westminster and it takes around an hour to do.
I've got resonable pace but due to 100+ lights on all of my routes i have no chance of getting a decent average, my averages work out between 12.5 and 15.5mph depending on lights, traffic and my legs.

Canny Jock

Stopping at all red lights and not being silly - 12-13mph actual, from South East London (Hither Green) to the City (London Bridge north end).

Headhuunter

Pretty much 22-24 mins rolling time for me to cover 6 and a bit miles from SE4 to EC1N (Chancery Lane). Add another minute or 2 for waiting at traffic lights. Avg speed is usually 16-17mph, it ranges from about 4mph (crawling around cars in queues and hovering, waiting for lights to change) to max speed of about 30mph (downhill)

Bassjunkieuk

Seems Croydon should have been nominated for centre of cycling (or some such award!) as I'll raise my hand for coming from that area as well :-)
I commute to several different sites in central London and one in Thames Ditton.
My journey times vary from about 40 minutes to cover 8.5 miles (south side of Vauxhall Bridge) up to around 55 minutes to cover 11 miles (Mornington Crescent).
As has been said the route you choose and what your comfortable cruising speed is ultimately determines how long it will take you. In the above 2 examples I take completely different routes, with the one heading out to Morning Crescent taking me over the hills in Crystal Palace, but then I have a little slow at the start following by a nice (but ultimately shorter timewise) chunk of high speed action :twisted:

As CP said allow yourself plenty of time on your first attempt, I vastly over-estimated how long it would take me to cycle to Westminster CIty Hall on Victoria Street the first time I commuted into town and consequently ended up arriving about 40 minutes early! After a while you get used to the routes and traffic levels and can then make guess-timates at journey times - my estimated time for my jaunt from Thames DItton to London Bridge during the rush hour yesterday was only about 5-10 minutes out, I actually arrived sooner then I expected :-)

lost_in_thought

gaz545 wrote:

I also live in croydon (a lot of us here today) and commute to westminster and it takes around an hour to do.
I've got resonable pace but due to 100+ lights on all of my routes i have no chance of getting a decent average, my averages work out between 12.5 and 15.5mph depending on lights, traffic and my legs.

But.... I thought you were one of the fastest people in London? :?

FrankM

Agree with the others. Here are my stats for yesterday, which as you can see involved waiting at lights for 14 minutes; that's in addition to slowing down for traffic where I haven't actually stopped and waiting at lights where the GPS is still recording movement:

Time: 01:40:25
Moving Time: 01:26:41
Avg Speed: 14.5 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 16.8 mph

kelsen

Another one here commuting into central London from Croydon - the Manhattan of the South East (allegedly)

gaz545

lost_in_thought wrote:

But.... I thought you were one of the fastest people in London? :?

oh god :roll:

Bassjunkieuk

lost_in_thought wrote:

gaz545 wrote:

I also live in croydon (a lot of us here today) and commute to westminster and it takes around an hour to do.
I've got resonable pace but due to 100+ lights on all of my routes i have no chance of getting a decent average, my averages work out between 12.5 and 15.5mph depending on lights, traffic and my legs.

But.... I thought you were one of the fastest people in London? :?

gaz is quick, not many people I find on my route give me as much competition as that morning I bumped into him in Streatham! Aside from the near miss with that van it was a fantastic ride in :-D

boneyjoe

Streatham/Croydon border to Farringdon - about 9 miles - ave 13 to 15mph, incl stops

lost_in_thought

gaz545 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

But.... I thought you were one of the fastest people in London? :?

oh god :roll:

Hey, you said it!

kelsen

lost_in_thought wrote:

gaz545 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

But.... I thought you were one of the fastest people in London? :?

oh god :roll:

Hey, you said it!

Before Gaz goes back and edits it...

gaz545 wrote:

No point in comparing avergae speeds. mine is only around 14mph over my commute. but i have london rush hour traffic to deal with and over 100 traffic lights but i'm still one of the fastest people on the road in london and not many commute further than me in london (not that i know everyone's distance, just doubt many people commute over 30 miles per day.)

Sorry Gaz!

lost_in_thought

kelsen wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

gaz545 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

But.... I thought you were one of the fastest people in London? :?

oh god :roll:

Hey, you said it!

Before Gaz goes back and edits it...

gaz545 wrote:

No point in comparing avergae speeds. mine is only around 14mph over my commute. but i have london rush hour traffic to deal with and over 100 traffic lights but i'm still one of the fastest people on the road in london and not many commute further than me in london (not that i know everyone's distance, just doubt many people commute over 30 miles per day.)

Sorry Gaz!

dresbo

kelsen wrote:

Another one here commuting into central London from Croydon - the Manhattan of the South East (allegedly)

what he said.

How come we all live in Croydon? It's probably because it sprawls over most of southern outer London.

Me - 40 minutes for 10 miles....but I am one of the fastest in London..

Bassjunkieuk

We should start our own Croydon SCR splinter group, like the yokels did :-)

Harry B

lost_in_thought wrote:

kelsen wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

gaz545 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

But.... I thought you were one of the fastest people in London? :?

oh god :roll:

Hey, you said it!

Before Gaz goes back and edits it...

gaz545 wrote:

No point in comparing avergae speeds. mine is only around 14mph over my commute. but i have london rush hour traffic to deal with and over 100 traffic lights but i'm still one of the fastest people on the road in london and not many commute further than me in london (not that i know everyone's distance, just doubt many people commute over 30 miles per day.)

Sorry Gaz!

*Snigger*

This 30 miles a day, is that both ways? If so 15 miles is waaaaayyyyy low. I do 20 miles home and with a PB of 1 hr 13 I must surely be the FASTEST IN LONDON 8)

jonginge

Harry B wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

kelsen wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

gaz545 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

But.... I thought you were one of the fastest people in London? :?

oh god :roll:

Hey, you said it!

Before Gaz goes back and edits it...

gaz545 wrote:

No point in comparing avergae speeds. mine is only around 14mph over my commute. but i have london rush hour traffic to deal with and over 100 traffic lights but i'm still one of the fastest people on the road in london and not many commute further than me in london (not that i know everyone's distance, just doubt many people commute over 30 miles per day.)

Sorry Gaz!

*Snigger*

This 30 miles a day, is that both ways? If so 15 miles is waaaaayyyyy low. I do 20 miles home and with a PB of 1 hr 13 I must surely be the FASTEST IN LONDON 8)

No, I'm the fastest*

* nowhere near true

Bassjunkieuk

In gaz's defense he is doing some fairly crappy (road and traffic wise) miles. I'm fortunate in that I can peel off the A23 just as Streatham finishes/starts (depening on your viewpoint!) and head towards Thornton Heath - I think he carries on down the A23 which is just a pig!