Given a safe, flat road you can't beat a bicycle for energy efficiency and cost:
http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/whats-the-worlds-most-energy...
http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/whats-the-worlds-most-energy...
But a car can very easily beat a bicycle on time efficiency, assuming you're going more than half a mile.
A car can also beat a bicycle on opportunity exposure.
Both statements are illustrated by mine and many others' commutes. I drive 40 minutes each way, because I couldn't find a job here, but I could find a job there. I'd love to have found a job here, but at the moment my job is there. The job there would have been unthinkable without a car. Yes, I could ride the bus - train - bus, but it would take hours. For me, a bicycle would never get me there.
One of the many things that's holding back a national economic recovery is that some people can find jobs but can't sell their house to move to the new job. There's not enough movement and flexibility.
In my metro area, I have the opportunity to take any job that I can find, from ten to sixty minutes car radius. That means I eat. That comes from flexibility.
The problem with a car in your situation is contextual. You are supposed to spend that 40 minutes of driving concentrating on driving. Not talking on cell phones, not texting, not talking, not even listening to music but DRIVING. The context of where you are driving "probably" changes too, highway vs. city but I'm guessing that sometimes switching your driving patterns lags a bit after you get off that highway offramp.
On a bicycle or public transportation, the context is completely different.
At the very least on a bicycle you are exercising (we can get into the difficulties later of urban riding). But there are other things, how great you feel, the fantastic views, the feelings of elation, the feelings of extreme accomplishments before the day even starts.
On public transportation you can read, operate your computer, talk to your commute neighbor or get other things done.
FWIW, I draw a 20 mile radius around my house and only look for jobs in that circle. I can figure out how to bike 40 miles a day.
Also: "I drive 40 minutes each way" 1hr20min of driving is not going to translate into 1hr30min of biking, with the only possible exception being if you spent the entire car ride in gridlock or parking lots.
And: "I couldn't find a job here, but I could find a job there". That you can find a job within 20 miles does not help him.
"You are supposed to spend that 40 minutes of driving concentrating on driving. Not talking on cell phones, not texting, not talking, not even listening to music but DRIVING."
Yeah, and I'm not supposed to eat pizza or drink so much...
My commute is in the "good" direction. My average speed is probably 40 or 45 mph, mostly freeway, and the opposite direction is often at a standstill. So it's a fair distance.
I'm all for finding jobs near home, and I moved where I am because there are a lot of jobs in the area. But circumstances put me there for now, not here. When I used to work here I would walk 40 minutes to work, and I liked that a lot.
"You are supposed to spend that 40 minutes ... driving." I used to bike to work when I lived in Seattle, and Port Orchard before that, and I can definitely understand the wish of any biker that drivers would hang up the cheeseburger and just DRIVE. :)
In reality once you get fit you don't sweat much (I get far sweatier on the tube than cycling), and if you're overheating you can always slow down slightly.
* Shower before leaving then you get rid of the dirt + bacteria that makes the sweat smell.
* Wear clean lycra - this wicks sweat away before it has a chance to start smelling.
In London my cycling commute of 1hr would take over 2hrs by car, and 1hr15min by train. Cycling is often the quickest way. You also combine exercise and commuting time which leads to a significant overall time saving. I don't feel the need to do a lot of other exercise after cycling 200 miles a week.
And major cities are major outliers in cycle commuting.
I will use my commute since i know more of the details. Its close to the OP of your reply....
I travel 50 miles per day to work, round trip. This takes me about 65 minutes total on average. That is an average speed o 54 mph.
If i were to bike that with an average speed of 16mph it would take me 3.125 hours.
If i workout for an hour a day, which is a very considerable workout to do daily that puts me at 2.08 hours per day with driving verses 3.125 hours per day for biking. So by driving instead of biking i can still get plenty of exercise to stay healthy and save an hour per day to do other things i enjoy. Family time, cooking, programming, reading, etc.
At this point i would say i will stick to driving. Don't get me wrong, i can't wait for driverless car technology... would love to have yet another hour back per day. the train and bus stuff doesn't work out well in rural pennsylvania. cars are pretty convenient here. the economics of cars works, and has for a long time, and in a capitalist based society, thats a large part of the equation. a lot depends on your measuring stick.
Bikes and public transport are great when it works, and I'd love to take the bus or train, but the metro region and jobs and me are laid out the way they are, and that's (all but) that.
I used to spend an hour a day, three days a week at a CrossFit gym, and a car made that possible. :)
If you're cycling in an urban area, you're going to be doing a hell of a lot more concentrating than the average car driver does on the equivalent journey, or you're not going to be alive for very long.
Of course, housing prices are atrocious, but that's an entirely separate discussion.