The Scenario…

As a student, I relied heavily upon public transportation and my bicycle to get between classes and locations off campus. Many of my friends also relied on this hybrid method of transport, and used both methods regularly.

One common question, especially when traveling shorter distances, was if the bus or bicycle will be faster. Depending on the traffic and bus schedule, it was many times faster to use a bicycle than to wait for a bus. However, riding long distances can be slower than the bus, and bicycling in acclimate weather is not fun.

The Solution…

Given that I encountered this problem on a daily basis, I put together a small, responsive, web-application which solves this issue! What Should I Ride determines the travel times between two points (or your current location to a remote point) by bus and by bicycle, determines the weather at both ends, and makes a recommendation about what transportation method is optimal. The recommendation algorithm takes both weather and distance/time into account. It also allows for an “appointment” time – this will also tie into the recommendation if one transportation method will not arrive at the destination in time for the given time.

The solution is fully responsive for mobile devices, and leverages the Yahoo Weather and Google Maps APIs.

Given that it is not tied to a particular geo-location, I have used it with great success in Tel Aviv, Israel, and my friends have used it while traveling abroad in Europe.