COMMUTE CHALLENGE: Taxi vs. Rideshare
We decided to do two rounds: one in the middle of the day during a non-peak commute and another in the evening during the middle of rush hour.
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We sent two ABC7 community journalists, Dustin Dorsey and Melissa Pixcar, from our studio in San Francisco to the Marin County side of the Golden Gate Bridge.
For the second round, Dustin hailed another taxi with Flywheel and Melissa got a rideshare for the evening commute.
COMMUTE CHALLENGE: Rideshare beats out taxi ride in Round 1
Here are the results from ABC7 Community Journalist Melissa Pixcar.
After winning the first commute challenge during non-peak hours I thought I had the win in the bag. I knew this time around we would face more challenges due to traffic, but I was up for the challenge.
What was even more exciting is that our station's helicopter, SKY7 got involved in the fun!
During the evening commute there were a lot more taxis driving around so Dustin was able to get a sixty second head start.
He was so excited and jumped into the taxi right away. Thank goodness my Uber wasn't far behind.
We were off to an exciting start!
Right away I noticed that there were a lot more cars on the road and people walking in the street.
My Uber driver was very quiet. I think he was a little shy or thought it was crazy that we had a helicopter following us.
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5:20 PM Update - we didn't move that far from my last tweet. My adrenaline was going and I started tracking Dustin's tweets to see how far ahead he was. We were driving through North Beach and stopped at a few red lights.
Next we were driving through the Marina. I am not really sure how we got there so quickly but driving through residential areas seemed like it was slowing us down. There were tons of stop signs and pedestrians crossing the street.
The sight of the bridge was like a breath of fresh air. I was starting to feel confident that I was ahead of Dustin.
I was ready to claim another victory!
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I was preparing for my end zone victory dance! I looked at Dustin's last tweet and thought I was winning.
The last stretch of the race was absolutely gorgeous! The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most beautiful landmarks that I have ever seen!
BUILDING A BETTER BAY AREA: Rideshare realities
The finish line and Ted our camera man was insight. Except there was someone getting out of a Flywheel taxi.
It was Dustin! He beat me by seconds! My second trip was 25 minutes long at $28.06 pre-tip.
Congratulations on winning round two Dustin!
The second commute challenge was a blast! We absorbed the gorgeous views for a moment but we were ready to head back to the station. Dustin and I had a long commute back to the East and South Bay.
Thanks to everyone back at the station for all their hard work and all the viewers who got involved in the fun!
Can't wait to do the next commute challenge!