She Tried Commuting to Work by Streetcar. It Took as Long as Walking.

One of the big knocks on modern streetcars is that they exist primarily for tourists and not for everyday transit riders or commuters. Rebecca Burns of Atlanta magazine (and our Future of Transportation series) put that question to the test last week on the city's newly opened 2.7-mile downtown trolley loop. She tried riding the streetcar to work for a week from her home in Cabbagetown to the magazine's office near Peachtree Center.

The piece is delightful and worth a full read, but for those only interested in the final score here it is: it would have been quicker to walk. Burns writes that she can make the trip on foot in about 35 minutes. On the trolley she tallied 333 minutes across 8 commutes, good for just under 42 minutes a pop. Even tossing out an outlier trip that took more than an hour, her average commute exceeded 38 minutes.