Comments on: Cycling Still Offers Quickest City Commute

By: southbrooklynphysicsclass

southbrooklynphysicsclass — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:43:55 +0000

Did Jamie take any shortcuts? Sidewalks? One-way streets?

By: gecko

gecko — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:26:21 +0000

36. Cacofonix, There’s definitely alot to be said in favor of a high quality of life. Apparently, the people here on the East Coast like to do things the hard way.

By: Cacofonix

Cacofonix — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:16:25 +0000

I am a former New Yorker who occasionally commuted 2.2 miles to midtown and now lives in the San Francisco Bay area and now commutes by bike 6-plus miles to and from the train. I find the discussion fascinating. Out here, while bicyclists and motorists complain about each other, bikes have become small but generally respected part of the daily transportation network. “Share the Road” signs are ubiquitous. Every commuter train between SF and SJ has a dedicated bike car; they are full in the spring, summer and fall.

So anti-bike prejudice is neither inevitable nor destined to last forever. But I sure encountered more of it in NYC than I do in northern California.

(PS: I’m in my 50s; my commuting pace, in casual work clothes on a hybrid, averages about 17mph in the morning (downhill) and 9-10 mph in the evening (uphill). Sweat happens, but mostly on the way home.)

By: Urbanis

Urbanis — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:26:12 +0000

Another interesting race that T.A. should consider is having one contestant do a combined bicycle/transit ride vs. a contestant driving a car. I think an important message to promote is that bicycle and mass transit combined is competitive with driving for longer distances–i.e., cycling can be part of a suburban commute as well! I know a few people who ride Metro-North from upstate locations to Grand Central and then bicycle to work. Indeed, on Sunday, I rode my bike 2 miles from Inwood to the Fordham Metro-North station in the Bronx to take the train to Bronxville.

By: Old Reliable

Old Reliable — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:25:39 +0000

For a lot of commuters the bike wins big over months and years because of reliability, not a one time speed advantage. My bike trip always takes 30 minutes door to door. Whereas my subway trip might take 25 minutes or might take 40 minutes. Subway day mean leaving home fifteen minutes earlier if I absolutely have to be on time.

By: Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:31:30 +0000

Kelly:

It’s not exactly the same thing but I think these guys are trying to get Google Maps to include a “Bike There” feature:

http://googlemapsbikethere.org/

By: Urbanis

Urbanis — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:44:16 +0000

Or perhaps it should be from Broadway and Dyckman to City Hall, so the transit rider doesn’t have to do a mode switch.

By: Urbanis

Urbanis — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:40:58 +0000

Jamie says in the video that she can get from the LES to Washington Heights in 45 minutes while it takes her an hour by subway. I think next year’s race should involve a similar route; say, from Broadway and Dyckman in Inwood to Union Square. There are plenty of uptown commuters to the CBD–why focus on Brooklyn all the time?

By: kelly

kelly — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:02:14 +0000

Thinking about biking to work now that I won’t have to be in the Bronx at 8 am. Wondering if there is anything like hopstop for bicyclists… you know, take the maps of bike routes, paths, etc. and put them into a searchable route-finding format… you know what I mean? various options could be available… shortest route, most bike laned route, etc. apologies if this already exists and/or has been posted about recently.

By: gecko

gecko — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:08:57 +0000

27. Urbanis, Trains are not human-scale vehicles. They are designed to deal with humans in bulk and being 1000s of times heavier than humans must be supported by rather inflexible infrastructures ill-suited to change, adaptation, and a broad diversity of ad hoc and ongoing transportation needs. They are not distributed and on-demand and depend on commuters come to them unlike cars and bicycles.

Cars at about a ton are 10 times human scale and are extremely destructive, impractical, and inconvenient especially, in urban environments.

Bicycles at 25 pounds are less than human scale and do not require any where near the infrastructure of cars.

Having minimal protection, bicycles are dangerous even without the serious harm that can be caused by cars, as they can be ridden off roads and cliffs, into trees, other bikes, pedestrians, etc. They also depend entirely on human skills: human power, reflexes, a certain amount of athletic ability, to name a few which also means that not everyone can or is willing to use them.

Many years ago, a major software manufacturer had some good advice to its software designers: If a user says that a program or application that a designer has built is difficult to use, the user is correct. A designer is not correct ignoring the objections of users. The same goes with transportation vehicles.

By: Vroomfondel

Vroomfondel — Fri, 30 May 2008 20:01:50 +0000

Nick,
Thanks for pointing me to the bike commuter survey — lots of valuable information!

The results of the survey confirm my initial suspicion, though. The maps showing origins and destinations of bike commutes suggest that bike commuters mostly live in the Upper West Side or in Park Slope and work in the Central Business District (I’m oversimplifying, of course).

The survey doesn’t show any bike commuters from remote parts of Brooklyn and Queens, so that those areas don’t affect the average length of a bike commute. People from those parts do take the subway, however, which skews average times in favor of bike commutes without actually proving that bikes are faster.

It might be better to compare modes according to average speed. For my own commute, I estimate 12mph by bike and 10mph by subway/foot. That’s not a big difference, but biking has another, much neglected advantage: Consistency. When I hop on my bike, I know I’ll be in my office 25 minutes later. When I take the subway, I allow for delays and service interruptions and still suffer the occasional surprise. Driving would be a complete lottery, with open-ended delays due to traffic.

By: Urbanis

Urbanis — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:55:24 +0000

Hi Gecko (#26), your point sounds interesting, but I’m not sure I understand it. In what way is a train not a human-scale vehicle? I think they accommodate people quite nicely. Also, the infrastructure required by cars and bicycles (paved streets and roads) is enormous and expensive. Can you elaborate on that (and the disadvantages you see with bicycles)?

By: gecko

gecko — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:38:33 +0000

25. Urbanis, Trains with more express routes, fewer stops at higher speeds might help but, it seems that infrastructures required by trains are inconvenient, inefficient, and expensive mainly because trains are much too large being far beyond human scale.

It seems that the best transit system would be based on human-scale vehicles leveraging off the significant advantages of bicycles as demonstrated by this race. Of course, the disadvantages of bicycles would have to minimized.

By: Urbanis

Urbanis — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:26:58 +0000

@Gecko #24: I completely agree. Even just having more express routes with fewer stops AND running the trains at higher speeds between stops on all routes would make a big difference.

By: gecko

gecko — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:06:08 +0000

22. Urbanis, That’s right, transit is slow and inconvenient and could be done a lot better to more closely meet the needs of many of the people who use cars.

By: JT

JT — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:22:22 +0000

fort greene to union square in 16.5 minutes is unBELIEVABLY fast. where exactly in fort greene did it start?

By: Urbanis

Urbanis — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:54:44 +0000

I think the event was a fabulous promotion for cycling. The only unfortunate message it may have sent is that mass transit is slow (and a less desirable mode than driving). As Larry said, if the driver had been forced to look for parking, and the transit rider hadn’t been forced to do a switch from bus to train, perhaps the transit rider would have come in second (or even first) place? And time is not the only reason to choose a transit mode. The cyclist gets fresh air, views, and exercise, the transit rider gets to read, work, or relax, while the driver has to pay for gas, look for parking, etc.

Also, let’s not forget about the joys of walking.

By: Larry Littlefield

Larry Littlefield — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:30:39 +0000

If it was completely rigged, the driver would have finished third. Why not have everyone head up to Midtown at say, 5th and 44th, and have the driver try to find free parking and walk from it? He’d still be looking, unless he had a placard.

By: Spud Spudly

Spud Spudly — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:11:37 +0000

You got that right Larry. So what if they brought in a fast rider and forced the metrocard chick to take a bus? It’s their event, and if there’s one thing TA’s good at it’s promotions. What should they do, invite all the TV cameras and then take a chance that the MTA rider might catch a fast train? (I say this in serious admiration of TA’s public relations, not as a shot against the event itself.)

By: Andy B from Jersey

Andy B from Jersey — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:06:47 +0000

I said this on the earlier thread related to this topic.

Most people buy a cup of joe as they head to work. Next time require the participants to buy a bagel and a cup of coffee along the way with receipts to prove the time of purchase. You could give the driver a 10 minute head start and he still would be beat by everyone else. THAT would prove something!