The few times I have used mass transit in New Orleans I was sitting there on the bus or trolly wondering if I could have just walked to my destination faster. Certainly I could run there faster. And we all know, soon as we hit the Downtown Grid on our bikes there is no competition to be had.

So, last week I had jury duty and had to get myself to the courthouse a bunch of times. I wondered about mass transit again, so I did a Google query from my house to the courthouse. This is what I found:



Of course, I rode my bike. And the Google bike routes (they offered 3 of them) were right on. I was surprised at how good their suggested routes were! In fact, one of them was the route I intended to use TURN FOR TURN! Amazing.

Wondering about time? From the time I twisted my key in my front door to lock it to the time I touched the door handle at the courthouse...15 minutes. I rode a leisurely "no sweat" pace and locked up just feet from the jury pool entrance. I used my "sacrificial" bike just in case as the courthouse is not in a rich neighborhood. No one touched it for five days. Success! I am now jury-free for two years.