The Wall Street Journal - 23.10.2019

A10B| Wednesday, October 23, 2019 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**

Participants say the ride

takes about 90 minutes com-

pared with an hour by train.

Cycling times, however, are

more consistent. While the

train ride can vary 30 minutes

or more depending on the

day’s glitches, “nothing that

nature or traffic can throw at

me changes my cycling arrival

time by more than a few min-

utes,” says 43-year-old de-

signer Aaron Deutsch.

T

he cyclists debate

whether their strategy

saves money. An un-

limited train pass between

Ridgewood and New York

Penn Station costs $298 a

month, or $3,576 a year. But

cycling costs can also add up.

Members have spent any-

where from $1,000 to $8,

for their bicycles. One spends

$65 a month on a Manhattan

gym membership so he can

shower and change his

clothes, plus $6 a day to park

his bike in a garage. Some

admit to spending more on a

head-and-tail-light set than

many people would spend on

a bicycle. But they agree on

the benefits: fresh air, cama-

raderie, improved mood, and

exercise. “Any money savings

is secondary to the peace of

mind I get,” says Steve Kang,

a 49-year-old NBC executive.

A bicycle commute, of

course, is one of the more

popular alternatives. The

number of cycling commut-

ers grew from 15,000 in

2000 to 48,800 in 2017, ac-

cording to the city’s trans-

portation department.

M

ore unusual modes

of commuting at-

tempted in recent

years include a software en-

gineer who took to crossing

the Hudson River on a home-

made folding boat, an app

developer who rode an elec-

tric unicycle 11 miles from

Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, to

Manhattan’s Union Square,

and a startup founder who

paddled between Hoboken,

N.J., and Midtown in a kayak.

It’s no wonder people keep

experimenting. According to

fleet-management firm Geo-

METRO MONEY|By Anne Kadet

Putting a New Spin on the Commute Grind

Over a de-
cade of experi-
mentation with
his 5.5-mile
commute be-
tween Brook-
lyn and Manhattan, architect
Brendan McNee has “explored
numerous ways of avoiding
the subway,” as he puts it.
He crossed the Williams-
burg Bridge for several years
on a bicycle before switching
to a Honda scooter and then
a motorcycle. Each method
had major drawbacks. But
now he thinks he’s found the
best solution. For two years,
he’s been zipping to work on
an electric skateboard that
can top 20 miles an hour.
The 37-year-old rides in the
bike lanes whenever possible
between Greenpoint in Brook-
lyn and SoHo in Manhattan.
The commute takes exactly 20
minutes, he says, compared
with 40 on the train.
So far he has spent $3,
on gear including $2,300 for
his custom board, $870 for
upgrades and fixes, $90 for a
helmet and $20 for lights.
That averages out to $126 a
month, he notes, compared
with $127 for a 30-day un-
limited ride MetroCard.
Mr. McNee’s solution is just
the latest in a long history of
New Yorkers seeking a better,
faster way to commute.
For two decades, Rob
Kotch has been making the
trek between Ridgewood,
N.J., and his Midtown Man-
hattan office by bicycle—
miles each way. “I got tired
of the train ride and just
started riding in,” says Mr.
Kotch, who is 62 and owns a
Manhattan delivery company,
Breakaway Courier Systems.
He often joins fellow mem-
bers of the Ridgewood Com-
muter Group, a band of cy-
clists who meet at dawn to
beat the traffic. They ride over
the George Washington Bridge,
even in the rain and the snow.
“It’s all about having the
right equipment,” Mr. Kotch
says.

tab, New York City’s 3,287,

commuters endure the na-

tion’s longest average travel

time: 43 minutes, compared

with 32 for Los Angeles.

One of the most dramatic

shortcuts accomplished in

New York City commuting

history must belong to David

Pike, who crosses New York

Harbor on a jet ski.

Before he started motoring

from Jersey City to Red Hook

in Brooklyn, his daily com-

mute by shuttle bus, PATH

train, F train and B57 bus took

more than 90 minutes each

way. “It was unreal,” he says.

The Sea-Doo trip takes 15

minutes, “and it’s the best

feeling in the world,” Mr.

Pike says.

Because he owns a busi-

ness, the New York Trolley

Company, based in the

Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, he

docks his craft for free.

Costs include $1,000 for the

used Sea-Doo amortized over

three years and $6 a day for

gas. He estimates his com-

mute costs $47 a week com-

pared with the $85 a week

he spent on public transit.

The cheapest commuting

method, of course, is walk-

ing. Not surprisingly, consid-

ering the city’s density, 5.9%

of New Yorkers walk to work

compared with 2.7% nation-

wide, according to CityLab.

To save time, some pick up

the pace. Meg Lappe has

taken to running the 4.5 miles

between Cobble Hill in Brook-

lyn and her office at Gear Pa-

trol near Madison Square

Park in Manhattan. The 27-

year-old editorial coordinator

enjoys the challenge of weav-

ing around the pedestrians.

Her running commute

takes 40 minutes—same as

the F train. But compared

with the subway, which

leaves her feeling squished

and squeezed, the journey is

exhilarating, she says. “And I

don’t have to work out the

rest of the day.”

anne [email protected]

Meg Lappe crosses the Brooklyn Bridge on her 4.5-mile run to work. Architect Brendan McNee commutes by electric skateboard.

KEVIN HAGEN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (2)

GREATERNEWYORKWATCH

NEW YORK CITY

Suit Faults USPS on

Cigarette Smuggling

New York City and California

sued the U.S. Postal Service on

Tuesday to stop tens of thou-

sands of cigarette packages

from being mailed from foreign

countries to U.S. residents, say-

ing the smugglers are engaging

in tax evasion while postal work-

ers look the other way.

The lawsuit in Brooklyn fed-

eral court blames the Postal Ser-

vice for deliveries from Vietnam,

China, Israel and other countries,

saying the failure to enforce a

federal law aimed at banning

cigarette mail deliveries costs

California an average of $19 mil-

lion annually in tax revenues,

and New York City and state

more than $21 million each year.

The lawsuit seeks a court or-

der to force the Postal Service to

intercept and destroy packages

believed to contain cigarettes.

The Postal Service doesn’t

comment on active litigation,

spokesman David Coleman said.

“Cigarette smuggling doesn’t

just break the law—it endangers

the health of countless Ameri-

cans and enriches terrorists and

organized crime,” New York City

Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a

news release. “Yet despite all of

this, our nation’s own postal ser-

vice has ignored the practice and

enabled one of the biggest kill-

ers in our country.”

—Associated Press

CONNECTICUT

Students Charged

With Shouting Slurs

Two University of Connecticut

students have been charged

with yelling a racial slur outside

a campus apartment complex in

an episode that was caught on

video and has led to protests at

the school.

Jarred Karal, of Plainville, and

Ryan Mucaj, of Granby, both

identified by police as 21-year-

old white men, were charged

Monday with ridicule on account

of creed, religion, color, denomi-

nation, nationality or race.

The charge is a misdemeanor

that carries a possible sentence

of up to a year in prison. Phone

and email messages were left

for the two students, who are

due in court Oct. 30. It wasn’t

known Tuesday whether they

had lawyers to speak for them.

Police said the young men

were among three people seen

on the video walking through

the parking lot of UConn’s Char-

ter Oak Apartment complex on

Oct. 11. Two of the three use the

racial slur several times and

laugh, police said.

The slurs were recorded by

an African-American student

from an apartment window and

posted on social media.

That student told police he

wasn’t sure whether the men

saw him or were directing the

racial epithets toward him.

—Associated Press

NEW JERSEY

Hepatitis Treatment

Urged for Ex-Inmates

New Jersey should mandate

hepatitis B and C screening and

treatment for former prisoners,

along with dozens of other ini-

tiatives, as the state addresses

how former inmates reintegrate

into society, a state commission

said Tuesday.

Former Democratic Gov. Jim

McGreevey, alongside lawmak-

ers, former inmates and other

stakeholders unveiled their 100

recommendations as part of the

Commission on Reentry Ser-

vices’ 101-page report to the

governor and Legislature.

The report comes amid

changing attitudes about crimi-

nal justice among policy makers,

who in New Jersey did away

with the cash-bail system in

2017, and have shown interest

in addressing factors leading to

imprisonment and recidivism.

The commission looked at a

half-dozen different categories

aimed at helping inmates after

they are released from prison, in-

cluding health care, addiction treat-

ment, job training and housing.

Among the commission’s

findings was that mental and

physical health conditions ham-

per ex-inmates’ return from

prison. The report also said that

up to 35% of prison populations

are likely to have a strain of

hepatitis.

—Associated Press

A rally was held Tuesday to promote early voting in New York ahead of the Nov. 5 election. This is

the first time early voting will be allowed in the state. Voters can head to the polls Oct. 26 to Nov. 3.

SETH WENIG/ASSOCIATED PRESS

alexa

3NYP

FREE INSIDE THE

OUT

TODAY

THE

DESIGN

ISSUE

Michael Kelly shows

off the home

‘House of Cards’ built

GREATER NEW YORK

NY