Seattle race proves tech is answer to city’s traffic problem

It wasn’t a person traveling in a car that won the race through Seattle amid rush hour. It wasn’t even on a bicycle. What won the race between GeekWire staff was a Onewheel.

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The contributing writer on the Onewheel traveled from Fremont to Flatstick Pub in Pioneer Square in 31 minutes — a distance of more than 4 miles — starting at 4:54 p.m.

The average weekday commute time between the start and end of the GeekWire race is 24.45 minutes, according to INRIX data cited by GeekWire. That is up by about 2 minutes over 2016. Anyone who has spent time trying to move around the city in a vehicle knows the pain of trying to travel efficiently. According to Kirkland-based INRIX, Seattle drivers spent 13 percent of their driving time in congestion last year.

So it shouldn’t be any surprise that the second fastest mode of transportation in the GeekWire race was a bike. It took GeekWire Editor Todd Bishop 37 minutes on a Spin bike — one of three private bikeshares currently operating in Seattle. More specifically, the bike he used is known as a “smart bike,” loaded with tech that allows riders to rent them with their smartphones.

After that, a driver of a ReachNow came in third at 35 minutes; an UberX customer took 41 minutes; a Lyft Line took 44 minutes — all forms of transportation that incorporate site-to-site transportation and utilize a smartphone.

A personal car took 49 minutes; and riding the bus took 50 minutes.

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