Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Rush Hour Race

Livable Streets Alliance, and the Somerville and Cambridge Bicycle Committees are sponsoring a commute challenge where three commuters- one in a car, one on a bike and one using the T race from Redbones in Davis sq to Genzyme in Kendall.   It's a "door to door"  race, so walking to your parking or to the train, and finding a parking spot at the other end are included in your overall time.
My money is on the bike, but at least the person on the T can read while they wait or ride :)

They've been doing this in NYC for many years, and the cyclist won for at least 10 years in a row. I know that the Scientist and I used to be neck and neck on our commute, but I know I'm a lot slower now that I don't filter.   If you can find a route that's all bike lanes, I suspect that the bike might well win though, especially since the parking time is negligible.   Who do you think will win? Do you think it's a fair "fight"?
UPDATE:   I hear a rumor that Josh from Bike Safe Boston has agreed to be the biker-  will he ride the Paper Bike?

10 comments:

  1. Davis -> Mass Ave -> Somerville Ave -> No. Beacon -> Hampshire - > Kendall is pretty much all bike lane.

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    1. That's one option, but the traffic lights between Davis and Beacon can be a slowdown.

      Another option:

      Davis -> Summer St. -> Bow St. -> Somerville Ave (Union Square) -> Columbus St. (Cambridge) -> Hampshire -> Kendall.

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    2. ooh, yeah, after I was posting that, I was starting to think about the lights issue and dodging Beacon because of it. Somerville Ave seemed like a viable option, but routes the rider a little further north than is direct and somewhat goes against cycler's idea of doing all bike lanes (but I'd agree that Somerville Ave -> Webster -> quick left/right on Cambridge to Windsor -> Bristol is probably the fastest route if one doesn't mind filtering)

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  2. Our community does a similar thing every spring. It's sort of a race through downtown. The participants have to check in at various businesses. Without a doubt, the bikes always wax the competition.

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  3. Does the time the cyclist adds by securely locking count? I know that costs me at least a couple of minutes each morning.

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    1. Steve, I don't know for certain, but I think so. In Boston however, locking a bike takes a lot less time than finding a car parking spot. To be completely fair they should make the car find street parking, but I think they're going to allow them to park in a building garage, but they'll then have to walk from their parking spot to the "finish line"

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    2. I also lose a lot of time by reading and commenting on cycling blogs. The cyclist ought to have to stop at a Starbucks for a while. The motorist, of course, would have to detour to drop off kids in one of those school traffic jams, and the transit rider should have to make at least one transfer. This could be an all-day contest!

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    3. heh, if this were being done after Hubway is installed in Camberville, then it's just a matter of docking and undocking a bike. One time, when N and I were in Montreal, she brought her bike and I opted for Bixi and we were pretty evenly split about who got to a venue first based on docking vs. locking

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  4. Rush hour, with mostly bike lanes? Bike for the win!

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  5. The rumors are true, I'm the biker! Although I'll be riding my single speed track bike, not the Paper Bicycle. While my beloved Paper is extremely quick off the line, it doesn't have the right gearing to produce the high top speed I'll need to beat a red line train.

    Against the car, it would be no problem.

    http://bikesafeboston.com/post/22297394812/the-rush-hour-race

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