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BIKE TO TO WORK BOOK BIKE WORK BOOK
COMMUTER CHALLENGE Bikes are the fastest urban commute vehicles by far (but you can go slow if you want to)
B
icycle advocacy groups the world over regularly stage ‘commuter races’, pitting cars against bikes and buses in rush hour traffic. Bikes always win. As the races as run by pro-bicycle groups they must be rigged against cars, yes? In all likelihood they are. Bicycle advocacy groups will choose the most congested streets for the race to take place. Bicycle advocacy groups also stage the race over short urban distances – typically under five miles – and will choose the worst time of the day for the car. 8.30am. This is unfair on the automobile. Of course, cars are going to be slower in “I’ve always gummed-up traffic, and at the peak periods of the day ie the times people are loved cycling...I trying to get to work. think that if you To even up the balhave a meeting in ance the BBC’s iconic motoring programme London and it’s Top Gear, ran a rush 45 minutes away, hour race across Lonyou can get in an don in November hour-and-a-half’s 2007. The BBC put its star presenters in decent aerobic a car, on the Tube, on a bicycle, and in a exercise.” 225bhp racing speedRichard Hammond, boat on the Thames. presenter of BBC’s Presenter James motoring programme May said: “It’s a race Top Gear to find out what is the quickest way to cross a busy city. Car, bicycle, public transport, whatever?” The route chosen was Kew Bridge to London City airport, 18.8 miles of what the BBC admitted was an “automotive quagmire”. Presenter Richard Hammond on the bicycle reached the URBAN SPEED USA airport fifteen minutes ahead of Jeremy Clarkson in his CouCars go faster in America, gar speedboat. but only by a measly 2mph. Richard May in the car, came last, slower even then The Stig According to US traffic on a combination of buses and London Underground. information company A statement from the BBC said “the bicycle came first, then INRIX, the Cross-Bronx the speedboat, then the [Tube], and finally the car. Ahem.” Expressway in New York is In November 2008, Jeremy Clarkson wrote in The Times congested 94 hours a week, that the poor, downtrodden motorists faces a slow future: “Avcars average a speed of 9 erage speeds are coming down too, by nearly 1% between 2005 and 2007. In the rush hours the mph. It’s no better on the average speed in many built-up areas is less than 15mph.” West Coast: some of the In fact, according to a 2006 press release from car maker Citroen, it could be a lot less. Citroen most epic traffic jams on said the average speed of a car in London during peak periods is just 7mph and that motorists earth are on the Interstate waste up to half of their commute time stuck in jams. 5 and 405 N/S corridor of However, that was a guestimate from the French car maker. SatNav systems can now send California. real speed data to central hubs. For instance, US traffic information company INRIX says that on