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May 30, 2008

Bike vs. Car vs. Transit

by Elizabeth Press

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Transportation Alternatives held its 7th annual Commuter Challenge pitting cyclist, driver, and bus/subway rider in the ultimate showdown of which mode of travel can be quickest (and cheapest!)

In the end, the bike proved swiftest over the 4.5 mile course which began in Brooklyn's Fort Greene and ended in Manhattan's Union Square. Jamie Favaro rolled up in just over 16 minutes and took home the gold and a bouquet of flowers for her efforts. Driver, Emmanuel Fuentebella (22 minutes) parked his car and sprinted to a surprise second place finish. Shortly after, disappointed MTA rider April Greene came in last at 29 minutes. But, as Wiley Norvell noted at the finish line, Transportation Alternatives also measured the carbon footprint of all the the riders and Greene came in a close second behind the cyclist.

12 Comments

Last comment by Angela Leave a comment »
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    Gargamel Tralfaz!

    Hooray! Bikes rule....

    May 30, 2008 at 8:45 am Link # 1
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    npGREENWAY

    Has somebody filmed one of these in Portland yet? I've heard of them happening, I just haven't seen them filmed like this yet.

    Nice video friends. Great work!

    May 31, 2008 at 1:19 am Link # 2
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    nick g

    but what they didn't include in their calculation was the value of the transit riders' ability to do other things while riding the train with her fellow new yorkers - such as improve her vocabulary and mental dexterity by doing a crossword puzzle, or raise her gpa by doing extra-credit homework, save time by applying her makeup or eating her morning muffin, gain enlightenment through silent meditation or even lighten the mood of her fellow passengers by singing them a little song or reading them a poem. to say nothing of the incalculable value of sartorial expressions of style, the simple pleasure of a shared smile and the promise of romance with the cutie sitting across from her! all that, for only $2! what a bargain!

    June 1, 2008 at 9:38 am Link # 3
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    Guess Who Won?

    Found a nice video from StreetFilms.org via a post at mrbrown.com.

    June 1, 2008 at 1:18 pm Link # 4
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    bikeme

    Great film! Didn't know about this competition until this year. Luckily now I count on the Streetfilms crew to keep me informed and entertained.

    While I'm glad the cyclist won, I'm also happy Emmanuel and April didn't let Jamie's victory "crush their souls." April did sum it up pretty nicely at the end - She would have been a lot happier if she had ridden her bike.

    June 2, 2008 at 5:21 am Link # 5
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    Robert

    They need to calculate how many times people get mugged in their car or while riding a bike vs. the subway.

    June 10, 2008 at 4:24 pm Link # 6
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    Wes

    Awesome. Go bikes.

    June 10, 2008 at 6:33 pm Link # 7
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    Angela

    Cool. But I do want to point out that you need to factor in the carbon footprint of manufacturing all these forms of transportation, no? Or, as they all need to be manufactured, does it balance out?

    June 15, 2008 at 8:30 pm Link # 8
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    Ted

    Great film. Excellent concept. We need more healthy competition like this to demonstrate the superiority of bikes.

    But where was the helmet on that bicyclist?! Come on! Biking in NYC without a helmet?! Forget muggers?! Shame on that cyclist for demonstrating such irresponsible behavior.

    -Ted

    June 18, 2008 at 1:25 am Link # 9
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    Jen

    Did anyone notice that that car driver was using the bus lane/HOV?

    August 8, 2008 at 7:03 pm Link # 10
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    Streetfilms » A Streetfilms Record!

    [...] Bike vs. Car vs. Transit (17,958) [...]

    August 13, 2008 at 11:21 pm Link # 11
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    Angela

    Great story, with gas prices the way they are mass transit is a must!

    August 17, 2008 at 1:18 am Link # 12

Comments for this post will be closed on 16 October 2008.