Depends on how you define efficiency. Dollar, energy, space, and health: bicycle wins out hugely. Time depends on your route and local infrastructure, and if

Depends on how you define efficiency. Dollar, energy, space, and health: bicycle wins out hugely. Time depends on your route and local infrastructure, and if you count in time you spend at the gym to make up for being sedentary in the car and at the service shop for regular maintenance. If dropping off the kids with your current cycling equipment is really, really hard, then perhaps your setup is deficient. A lot of what makes school drop off in particular difficult is the sheer mass of cars, which are hardly efficiently using the space or time of everyone there.