Photo by Ed Yourdon via flickr.
For all you two-wheeled warriors out there in the neighborhood (and those who love and hate them), there’s a lot of news you should know about. Let’s review:
1. A bike path cutting across Central Park at 96th Street opened around Christmas, according to the Columbia Spectator. Upper East Siders fought this path, but they lost. Ha!
2. According to The Epoch Times, the city has revealed the pricing structure for its bike-sharing program, which will roll out this summer: “$90 to $95 for an annual membership, $20–$25 for an unlimited weekly membership, and $8–$10 for an unlimited 24 hour membership.” The city still hasn’t revealed where exactly the bike-sharing stations will be set up.
3. Mayor Bloomberg vowed in his State of the City address last week to crack down on delivery bike riders who do not observe safety rules in the upcoming year, giving hope to our columnist Malcolm Carter. They will also have to wear clothing identifying the name of their employer. (Also good news for bicyclists: the mayor says the city will ticket speeding drivers, although I will believe that when I see it.)
4. Also in the State of the City address, the mayor vowed to expand the city’s network of protected bike lanes. The Upper West Side’s Columbus Avenue bike lanes appear here to stay. But will the community embrace protected lanes on Amsterdam Avenue, which was part of the original plan? Let us know how you feel about potential lanes on Amsterdam in our poll below:
[poll id=”7″]
GREAT news !! Thanks.
Bike lanes are good however Columbus Avenue has been gridlocked since the bike lanes were installed – largely due to the failure of the City to enforce double parking and no parking rules that now, having lost a full traffic lane, have tipped a previously non critical traffic situation to critical. In the morning, the illegally parked cars connected to the police precinct in the low 80’s on Columbus make it even worse. The City needs to get serious about enforcing parking/standing regulations before it mucks up Amsterdam- the last northbound avenue that actually still moves.
Ken’s right about Amsterdam and the grid locked clog that is Columbus. It seems to me that the bike lanes are, in general, way under utilized. 1st Avenue is a good example: I drive it every day from 72nd to 86th. It has a dedicated bike lane on the left and, aside from a few delivery bikes, I rarely see a bike rider, commuter or otherwise on it. And the same is true for Columbus. It should be noted too that here in New York we have something called winter and save for a few true believers, there aren’t many bikes to be found in their lanes once the weather gets cold. We live on an island; we need cars and trucks. Traffic today is worse than it was a couple of years ago – and for a look at the latest DOT botch up, just stand on Broadway at 72nd Street at virtually any time of day and watch the southbound traffic back up past Fairway and Citarella. This slowdown can’t be helping to improve our carbon footprint…which I thought was the object of the exercise.
I’ve tried biking home from the Whole Foods Supermarket to the apartment on 106th between Amsterdam and Manhattan, and it was uncomfortable. It would be nice to have a safe place to ride northbound, as it would give me more options for buying groceries.
Funny. Amsterdam (the city) and Copenhagen have something called winter, too.
We live on an island. There’s not a lot of room for cars and trucks.
If you get out of your car and actually hop on a bike or just spend some time observing (particularly not during the coldest months of the year) you’ll find that the new protected bike paths on Columbus and 1st and 2nd Avenue are, in fact, quite heavily used by a rapidly growing number of cyclists.
Every time I use the east side Manhattan bike lanes I find myself stopped at traffic lights and even getting stuck in bike traffic behind groups of cyclists. I am actually quite stunned by the large number of cyclists I see using these facilities. I never used to see this many bikes on the street.
The reason why you think that “nobody” uses these bike lanes is because bikes are small, quiet and constantly moving. Bikes don’t clog up the street, honk their horns, spew exhaust or otherwise make a big show of themselves like cars do. This doesn’t mean that “nobody” is using them.
Moreover: Columbus Avenue was heavily-trafficked and gridlocked before the bike lane. This notion that the bike lane has caused more traffic just doesn’t stand up to any sort of reality test.
Have to disagree with Dane regarding traffic on Columbus – here is the reality – before the bike lanes, traffic began backing up during morning rush at 63rd/64th – now it at 93rd/94th. Just enforce the parking regs and it will not be a problem!
West Side readers, Bicycle’s are here to stay, they are good for so many reasons and bad for speeding vehicles, which I would humbly suggest are not good for anyone. When I look at old photos of New York streets and see throngs of pedestrians walking on the streets in all directions it makes me think of heaven. Cubsidedon