Here in NYC, we have a great organization called Transportation Alternatives looking out for us. They hold an annual race to see who can get from point A to point B fastest: the bike, the subway or the taxi. Here’s an excerpt from their press release:
On Friday morning, National Bike to Work Day, Transportation Alternatives’ hosted the annual Bike Month NYC commuter race. Three co-workers from the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, who all live in neighborhoods around Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza, raced to work to see what’s fastest: biking, taking the subway or riding in a cab.
And the winner is…Amy DeSalvo, who biked from Brooklyn to Manhattan in 25 minutes. Steve Long came in second riding the subway, at 32 minutes, and taxi rider Anissa Graham came in third at 40 minutes.
“Clearly, the bicycle is the fastest way to get around New York City,” DeSalvo said. “Plus, I burned some calories and saved some money in the process.” The bicycle commute was free, while a subway ride costs two dollars and the taxi trip from Brooklyn to Manhattan cost over thirteen dollars.
The bike won last year, too. Here’s another article about the race on Gothamist, with last year’s results.
You may not be in an area as congested by traffic as New York, but if you’re a city dweller considering the switch to bike, you’ll likely be saving yourself some time. My commute is 7.5 miles each way, and I save about ten minutes on each one-way trip.