in NYC the bike always wins!

In Seattle, where I live, we've already noticed it's easier to get around downtown on a bike, but this is New York!!


http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...e-always-wins/


Some Reasons the Bike Always Wins
By Jennifer 8. Lee
CommuteA commuting race between a bicyclist, a driver and a subway rider ends in a victory for the bicyclist. (Photo courtesy Transportation Alternatives)

A bicyclist, a driver and a subway rider walked into a bar.

No, actually they didn’t. The three actually raced from Fort Greene to Union Square during today’s morning commute to see who got there fastest in Seventh Annual Great NYC Commuter Race, held by Transportation Alternatives (essentially an anti-car lobbying group). Think of it as a more modest version of a planes, trains and automobiles race from New York to Washington.

The race started at 7:40 a.m. at Connecticut Muffin, 423 Myrtle Avenue, at Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, and finished at the corner of 14th Street and Union Square East.

The results: bicyclist wins at 16.5 minutes; the driver gets in at 22 minutes; and the subway rider transit was last with 29 minutes. That’s an intriguing result. (We’d thought the subway would have come earlier than the car given morning traffic.)

“New Yorkers care about the environment, but what New Yorkers really care about is their time,” said Wiley Norvell, the spokesman. “For a huge number of New Yorkers, bicycle commuting is the fastest way to get to work. If you have more than one train for your commute. Chances are a bicycle is going to get there faster.”

Great article! Thanks for sharing.

Great story; thanks for posting.

Pam

A British show called Top Gear (its car centric, but it still loves to poke fun at itself) has done a similar thing in London. They had a bike, a boat, a car and a public transportation rider "race" across London to a municipal airport during the afternoon commute. The bike won, then the public transport rider, boat and car last.

They've also raced a marathon course against a pretty fast runner in London - the runner won.... and a parcours runner across a different city (maybe Birmingham... can't remember) and of course the runner again won. Most any time it means dealing with rush hour traffic the car will lose and usually lose bad. Other things they've done - motorized kayaker vs all terrain rally car, Ferry boat vs driving from England to Norway, Bullet train vs driving in Japan. A dog in a drag race against two Soviet era cars... (the dog nearly won :rolleyes:). The car rarely wins in their "races". Sometimes it real, sometimes it looks pretty set up - but all very funny.

I wonder if the cyclist stopped at all the red lights and stop signs...

Do you wonder if the motorist stopped at all the stop signs and didn't exceed the speed limit when they could?

I don't doubt that the guy driving the car broke some laws.

I find riding in city traffic to be very slow when you actually stop at all the red lights. Just like driving in the city is slow because of all the red lights.

BTW this DC biker always wins.

Sometimes I will race people in cars and the metro AND I ALWAYS WIN. but I try not to jump into races where I will lose like any driving contest based in virginia and maryland.

The public transportation here controls the signals, so that's just not fair!