Where bikes beat cabs (nearly everywhere)

A new, interactive map shows where bikes beat cabs for speed around the city, and it turns out bikes win a lot.

The map, by Genius software developer Todd Schneider, is searchable by neighborhood and time, meaning that for wherever you are, you have an easy enough reference now for the quickest way to get where you’re going.

“I estimate that 40% of weekday taxi trips within the Citi Bike service area would expect to be faster if [you] switched to a Citi Bike, based on data from July 2016 to June 2017,” Schneider writes in an exceptionally thoughtful post on his personal website. “During peak midday hours, more than 50% of taxi trips would expect to be faster as Citi Bike rides.”

Williamsburg to the East Village? Bike beats car. (Courtesy image)

Checking out some Brooklyn locations, we find that from North Williamsburg to the Lower East Side, bikes beat cabs 59 percent of the time. From Greenpoint to Dumbo, bikes beat cabs 75 percent of the time.

There are several instances on the flip side, though. From Fort Greene to Midtown South, taxis beat bikes 68 percent of the time, and from Red Hook to Tribeca, taxis beat bikes 83 percent of the time.

The whole post, which breaks down the question with more specificity, gets into the higher variability of traffic in taxi trip times and more, is worth a read.