If You Biked To Work, You’d Be Home By Now

Photo courtesy of
‘Commute’
courtesy of ‘DaveFayram’

We all love to complain about our commutes– by Metro, by car, and by bus— and we all think that we have it worse than most people.   Well, the folks at Bike Arlington think that biking is usually the most efficient way to get around in the city, and they’re willing to put it to the test.

If you start or end your commute in Arlington, tell Bike Arlington about it– where you commute, what mode of transportation you use, and how long it typically takes– and they’ll tell you if it’d be faster to bike to work.  They’ll ride your route on bike, time it, and tell you if it beats your current commute.  How great is that?

I’ve always wondered if biking would be faster than a typical Metro commute, and this is the perfect opportunity to try it out without having to figure out a route for yourself.  Stay tuned for updates on Bike Arlington’s twitter page, and keep an eye out as a WeLoveDC author puts her hellish commute to the test!

Shannon grew up in the greater DC area/Maryland suburbs, went to Virginia for college and grad school (go Hoos!), and settled in DC in 2006. She’s an urban planner who loves transit (why yes, that is her dressed as a Metro pylon for Halloween), cities, and all things DC. Email her at Shannon (at) WeLoveDC.com!

4 thoughts on “If You Biked To Work, You’d Be Home By Now”

  1. I used to live in Arlington, near the Ballston Metro. I used to bike to Bethesda from Ballston to catch the Metro up to Rockville. I don’t recall anymore the exact amount of time it took, but I do believe it consistently took only about 5-10 minutes longer to bike up Military Rd in Arlington and crossing to the Capitol Crescent Trail at Chain bridge, then up that trail to Bethesda. The main reason for doing this was consistency – my bike commute always took the same amount of time, whereas taking the metro was wildly inconsistent, and on some days I couldn’t even get on the metro at metro center to get home on the orange line. Reality? Metro is just too inconsistent. Biking lets you breathe and clear your brain – you can’t measure that kind of speed.

  2. So this is a really cool idea. I’ve actually tested this for my own trip.

    My metro commute from Falls Church to Foggy Bottom takes me about 40 minutes door to door and biking it actually only took 10 more.

    The thing that got me though is that once I made it to work, I had to find a shower and you know…look presentable.

    Biking is clearly my favorite way to commute, I have so much more energy in the morning but I just have to allow for more time to clean up once I actually make it into the office.

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