What Speed Does Google Maps Assume for Biking?

For many of us, biking is the best way to get around. It’s environmentally friendly, it’s a great workout, and it can be surprisingly fast.

Google Maps is a handy tool for finding the best route for your bike ride, but have you ever wondered how it calculates travel times? Turns out, there’s more to it than you might think.

How Fast Does Google Maps Assume You’ll Bike?

Google Maps uses a variety of data sources to estimate travel times for biking, including historical traffic data, live traffic data, and user-submitted data.

In addition, Google takes into account the average speed of bikes on different types of roads. For example, on a busy street with a lot of stoplights, Google will assume a lower average speed than on a quiet side street with no stoplights.

Interestingly, Google doesn’t just use one default speed for all bike routes—it actually adjusts the assumed average speed based on the time of day and day of the week.

That means that if you’re trying to estimate how long it will take to bike to work during rush hour on a Monday morning, Google will assume a lower average speed than if you’re trying to estimate how long it will take to bike to work on a Saturday afternoon.

Conclusion

So, the next time you’re planning a bike ride using Google Maps, keep in mind that the estimated travel time is just that—an estimate.

Depending on the time of day and day of week, your actual travel time could be faster or slower than the estimate.

But in general, Google does a pretty good job of estimating bike travel times—so you can rest assured that you’re getting somewhere close to an accurate estimate.