Metro D Line Subway Rider Takes First Place in Race vs. Car and Bike Competition

The results are in from Tuesday’s D Line Dash! The speedy new D Line handily triumphed over its competitors. Streetsblog’s commuter race pitted a cyclist, a driver, and a subway rider racing their way seven miles from Beverly Hills to downtown Los Angeles.

Unsurprisingly, the D Line subway rider – Kalayaan Mendoza of People for Mobility Justice – won without breaking a sweat. What’s most surprising is how close the competition followed Mendoza.

There were only nine minutes difference between first and last place. The driver – Rachel Reyes of L.A. Podcast – came in just two minutes ahead of bicyclist Michelle Moro – whose @miche1ada TikTok vids promote bike and transit.

CicLAvia Chief Strategist Tafarai Bayne kicked off the race noting that Metro’s expanding rail system is giving people real choices. “With rail stations here, Crenshaw, Santa Monica, and Culver City bringing more choices to more Angelenos on an everyday basis,” Bayne noted, “today we get a glimpse of our future where getting anywhere in the city means feeling empowered to hop on a bike, hop on a train, or hop in your car.”

Bayne set the three racers off at 9:01 a.m. from the street level of the new Wilshire/La Cienega Metro Station.

Streetsblog L.A. founder Damien Newton and Torched L.A. founder Alissa Walker waited at the finish line, just inside Pershing Square park, across the street from the Metro B/D Line Station.

Streetsblog will post short video coverage of the race soon; for now enjoy results and highlights below.

First Place: Transit Rider Kalayaan Mendoza – 36 minutes

Mendoza took Metro’s sparkling new Metro D Line extension.

“The D” is scheduled to depart every ten minutes. Much to the chagrin of our D racer Kayalaan Mendoza, the 9:13 a.m. train did not pull out of the Beverly Hills station until 9:16 a.m. It turns out unexpected and unexplained delays – the bane of many a transit rider’s existence – can happen even on our newest, shiniest lines.

But from there, it was smooth sailing. The quiet trip even gave her time to catch up on some light reading. Eight brief stops later, she pulled into the station and had another couple of minutes of walking before surfacing in Pershing Square as the resounding winner.

Second Place: Driver Rachel Reyes – 43 minutes

Google directions sent Rachel Reyes on a driving route of Olympic proportions… meaning mostly along Olympic Boulevard. In about a half-hour of driving, Reyes was twice forced to swerve to avoid collisions. The worst was near the start, when a Beverly Hills driver did an abrupt illegal U-turn crossing just less than ten feet in front of Reyes’ grille. “They nearly T-boned me!” said Reyes.

Reyes might well have driven home the gold medal if not for the inevitable parking at each end. Reyes found unmetered street parking about a 3-minute walk from the station in Beverly Hills. At Pershing Square, she paid to park directly under the park. Don’t get her started on gas prices!

Third Place: Bicyclist Michelle Moro – 45 minutes

Moro took the lead early. Biking straight down Wilshire Boulevard, she was already past La Brea Avenue – about a third of the way to downtown – before Mendoza or Reyes left Beverly Hills.

Wilshire doesn’t have bike lanes, but Moro noted that Wilshire’s peak hour bus lanes (which are open to car traffic at 9 a.m. and open to bicyclists at all times) were nearly clear of car traffic.

In Koreatown, she shifted a block south to 7th Street. Featuring basic bike lanes, fewer hills, and no freeway ramps, 7th is the route of choice for many cyclists heading into downtown. Moro arrived at the Pershing Square finish line just two minutes after Reyes, though the bike came out way ahead of the car in terms of climate, exercise, health, and gas prices.

Thanks to the entire crew – and of course the awesome sponsors Cohen Law Partners, the David Bohnett Foundation, and HaydenAI – that pulled off an exciting race.

Stay tuned to Streetsblog social media for fun recap videos coming soon.