IOWA CITY - Community leaders are taking advantage of high gas prices to show there is more than one way to get around town. Johnson County is celebrating bike to work week. A bike, bus, and car raced from Coralville to the Old Capitol took place Monday.

The three racers could joke before the event. And they could tell you a race among bike, bus and car is not a competition, but a chance to get out a message. Iowa City councilman Ross Wilburn said, “There's no difference between taking the bus, taking a car, riding the bike and whatever we all can do to reduce emissions is a plus for all of us."

Wilburn rode his bike. Johnson County Supervisor Rod Sullivan took the bus. The stereotype of public transportation cost him precious minutes.

No one beat Wilburn and his bike. His ride took about 10 minutes. A few minutes later, Coralville city councilor Tom Gill came walking by. He drove. His biggest issue with driving is not gas at $3.60 a gallon. It is parking. Gill said, "I hit the ramp just right. There were some empty spaces, but they were up at the top."

After several minutes, no one had seen Sullivan. We called his cell phone to find out where he was. The bus was stopped at a University of Iowa building. It picked Sullivan up at 12:36pm, six minutes after the race had started. But there were three dozen people on board. He says he only expected about 12 people to be on the bus. Sullivan said, “It's outstanding and people can use it and should use it."

And after all, that is what this race was all about.

There are no hard numbers out, but people who put on the bike, bus and car race say they have seen a dramatic increase in the number of people commuting to work on bike since the first race four years ago.

Email Steve Nicoles at Steve.Nicoles@kcrg.com