7NEWS put the T to the test on Friday, sending two crews from Park Street station to Braintree.
One took the Red Line while the other rode a bike, setting out to see who could make the trip faster.
The team started their trip just before 5 p.m. Friday when most people leave work. Only nine minutes into the trip, the T had traveled one stop to Downtown Crossing. 7NEWS photographer Dusty made it into the South End.
At 5:30 p.m., Dusty and the bike were more than two stops ahead of the train.
Dusty said he started to slow down as he entered Quincy. Still, the train remained behind Dusty just before 6 p.m. as it entered Wollaston station in Quincy.
In the final stretch, the T pulled ahead, beating the bike to Braintree by a narrow margin.
The Red Line commute took 1:06 from Park Street to Braintree. Dusty got there in 1:10 on the bike.
Though only slightly slower, Dusty said the ride on the bike was very different from a ride on the train.
“On the T, I’m sitting there, I’m reading a book,” he said. “Riding is a totally different experience. I wasn’t reading a book, I was reading which car was going to turn right in front of me, how fast I was pedaling, which gear I’m in hitting that hill so that I can get that extra second.”
“It’s a totally different animal,” Dusty said.
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