Originally Posted by
closetbiker
and in terms of getting around in a city, the article correctly says,
Not only is the treadly mankind's most effective means of transport, it's also often the swiftest. In commuter races held across the globe, all modes of transport compete against one another; car, bicycle, train, bus, even helicopter. Often the first person to arrive across the metropolis at Point B is the bod aboard the bike.
so I think in terms of the article saying, "bikes are the most efficient!" isn't too much of a stretch
To be fair, such races typically use extreme cases -- it's basically rigged. We [the readers in general, not cyclists specifically] are supposed to think that the car will win with it's increased speed, and we're supposed to root for the "underdog", but they've come up with a situation where being able to bypass traffic (usually by breaking the law repeatedly) will let the bike win by a small margin. But your average cyclist probably couldn't reproduce the results.
In Austin, getting from one end of the city to another, a car is a good deal faster than a bike in almost all cases. A bike does win big in cases when roads are closed for special events and you can't park anywhere near where you're going, however.