Better Than the Subway

Biking in New York

In April of 2007 New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his administration’s PlaNYC 2030 environmental initiatives, and appointed Janette Sadik-Khan as Commissioner of the Department of Transportation. Over the past year, Sadik-Khan, a cyclist who often commutes to work by bike, has swiftly reformed the DOT and enacted PlaNYC’s cycling and pedestrian-friendly street improvements. Sadik-Khan hired former staff from the transportation advocacy group Transportation Alternatives including the deputy director, chief consultant, and a former executive director. She took her operation staff to Copenhagen and Amsterdam to see how bike facilities work there.

Since 2000, bike use in New York has increased by 75 percent to nearly 130,000 commuters every day. The city’s bicycle plan calls for 1,800 miles of bike lanes (compared to the city’s 6,000 miles of city streets) of which only 500 miles have been completed to date. Among the 85 miles designated and installed between spring 2007 and 2008 was a 7-block stretch of Ninth Avenue with New York’s first ‘European-style’ fully separated bike lane. What’s most remarkable about this lane is that it was planned, approved and implemented in the space of two months. This is relatively unheard of in the bicycle advocacy world, where persistent advocates often spend years shepherding cycling infrastructure plans through glacial bureaucratic processes. According to the city’s PlaNYC progress reports, 80 more miles of bike lanes will be striped by the end of 2008. Also in the plan: 1,200 new bike racks by 2009, of which 800 have already been installed, exceeding expected targets.

Bloomberg’s proposal to introduce congestion pricing for New York City, (which would also have qualified the city for $354 million in Federal transit funds) was killed in April in a private meeting of the State Assembly in Albany, before the bill could reach the floor for a public vote. The plan would have charged drivers $8 to enter parts of Manhattan during peak hours. It had the support of more than 170 environmental, labour, public health and business organizations but was opposed by representatives from the suburbs. Congestion pricing was just one of 127 proposals in the Mayor’s PlaNYC which aims to reduce the city’s carbon footprint through measures focused on land, air, water, energy and transportation. Details of PlaNYC and progress reports published in April 2008 may be downloaded from the city’s website: www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030

New York City comprises five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island, which have a combined resident population of 8 million. Add to that approximately 40 million domestic and international visitors per year, and you have North America’s most populous urban area and a massive transportation planning nightmare. New York’s subway system, dramatically repaired and revived over the past 30 years by the NYPIRG’s ‘Straphangers’ campaign (www.straphangers.org) is fast and relatively cheap, offering impressive connectivity throughout Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn. But many New Yorkers Momentum asked said that biking was “better than the subway,” and that they enjoy the sights of the city, the exercise, and the speed at which they can travel under their own power. Luckily cyclists can enjoy the best of both worlds here: bikes are allowed on all subway cars at all times for flexibility and combined commuting power.

Manhattan’s bike routes are more complete on the West Side, with the continuous car-free West Side Greenway running the length of the Island along the Hudson River. The East Side also has greenway along its shore, but not as a continuous stretch, making it less than ideal for commuters. A major problem with Manhattan’s bikeways is a lack of cross-town connectivity. For 2008 the city produced one million free maps showing all designated bike routes. While it’s cover proclaims New York to be a “Bicycle Friendly Community”, it also depicts cyclists superimposed over an image of Coney Island’s Cyclone roller coaster. We detect a subliminal warning alerting riders to the adrenaline-inducing plunges that await in an alarming number of potholes and the spine-tingling thrills of dodging aggressive taxis and other drivers.
New York city cyclists seem to regard red lights and one-way streets as optional. As far as bike style, the most ubiquitous distinct look is that of the pizza delivery men on cruisers with giant Wald baskets on the front. These guys are particularly cavalier about the rules of the road. However, the worst offenders as far as traffic etiquette are the slick helmetless young men on racing bikes zipping between cars in an aggressive, even suicidal display of bravado. Otherwise a diverse population can be found riding in the city – from stylish hipsters to bookish grandmas, bikes abound and the general attitude is wide awake and fearless.

The Communicators

transportation altervatives (ta) is a non-profit organization which has worked since 1973 to reclaim New York City’s streets from the automobile. Their policy is to favour modes of travel based on their benefits and costs to society. TA has broad-based campaigns which include comment and involvement in the political and engineering realm, neighbourhood consultation programs, legal testimony, and fun community events including Bike Month and group bike rides including the Tour de Bronx, Tour de Brooklyn, Tour de Queens and the NYC Century bike Tour.
Based in a bright, open tenth-floor office in Chelsea, TA has doubled its staff to 22 in the past two years. A young staff, plus a more receptive city has ushered in a new era at TA. Communications Director Wiley Norvell describes their working culture:“Everybody goes to the mat for whatever they’re working on. The 9 to 5 workday is not observed, everybody works nights, works weekends, but we’re happy to be here. We all derive joy from being on New York City streets on our bicycles.”

More holistic working methods have also emerged. Wiley explains: “We used to have a very firm division of labour. We had two or three people who worked full time on bicycles, one or two who worked on pedestrians, we had some people who worked on seniors, children and traffic safety. Our campaigns are getting more holistic. We’re developing an overlay of parking reforms, bicycle improvements, pedestrian safety measures and new bus routes for a complete streets package.

TA now enjoys a better working relationship with the city, though that is also among its major challenges. “We have about 18 months left with a pretty progressive regime, the most progressive we’ve had and we’re still navigating how to work that. We have this saying that we’re a watchdog, not a lapdog. The challenge is figuring out how to get the maximum possible return without spoiling our relationship or being seen as somehow ungrateful for the positive change that’s happening.”

Executive Director Paul Steely White describes TA’s success at reaching the public: “We inherited an organizational culture that is about using the media to affect our goals. It’s largely based on Gene Russianoff’s approach to public interest advocacy. Gene Russianoff is a legend here in NY who brought the subways back from the brink through his role with the Straphanger’s campaign. Gene likes to say that in public interest advocacy media coverage is the ‘coin of the realm.’

“With the media here in NY, that’s arguably more important than anywhere else because it’s such a saturated media environment. We’ve gotten very savvy about how we issue reports, cultivating relationships at key newspapers and media outlets, understanding what motivates reporters and media… and being creative about how we organize events. www.transalt.org

New York Kids Learn and Earn a Bike

Recycle a Bicycle is a program which teaches bike mechanics to children and youth through three New York City public schools as well as after-school programs. Recycle a Bicycle removes bikes from the waste stream, provides skill and camaraderie for young people, and encourages biking as an everyday form of transportation. Children generally volunteer 18 hours of service with the program, which earns them their own bike. Often kids put in more than the minimum required hours, finding a supportive and lively learning environment in the program. www.recycleabicycle.org

in the photo: recycle a bicycle instructor xavier (gold chain) with some of his students and a boom box trike he built at recycle-a-bicycle

Ready for Prime Time

One of the easiest ways to tap into New York’s transportation culture is to sample the prolific and entertaining output of StreetFilms. Clarence Eckerson Jr (formerly of Bike TV) along with Elizabeth Press, have evolved StreetFilms into a short, sharp, and sassy series of videos documenting the progress, mourning the losses, and celebrating the victories of New York transportation. StreetFilms is also traveling a lot and broadening its scope to include stories from more cities around the US and internationally. The films are a great resource and a who’s who for New York’s vibrant transportation scene.
Since positive change is taking place at the city level, StreetFilms works less to cajole and enlighten New Yorkers with examples of good planning and programs from other places, and more to educate the public and get them onside for the improvements the city is now making. According to Clarence, “Even the DOT will give us a little heads up before anybody else that they’re going to change these streets and we go out and get a little ‘before’ video. The most powerful thing is what it looked like before and after.” www.streetfilms.org

Cycling Skills Education and the Big Bike Ride

Bike New York organizes the Annual 42-mile Five Borough Bike Tour which, this May, sold out one month in advance and saw 30,000 participants. Bike New York also offers bike skills classes for about 3,000 adults and children annually and has begun offering their riding courses including Savvy Cyclist, Bike Drivers Ed, and Teach your Child to Ride, through the Parks Department. Bike New York has six full time employees as well as a number of seasonal part-timers. www.bikenewyork.org

in the photo: amelia, hanna and rich of bike new york

The Activists

time’s up! is a non-profit environmental group run entirely by volunteers who use direct action, events and educational programs to inspire, educate and make New York streets “less toxic.” Founded in 1987, the group holds regular bike repair workshops (though they have recently lost their shop space and are seeking a new home), and has created some of the city’s more provocative and entertaining grassroots events, such as the Bicycle Lane Liberation Clown Brigade who use humour and drama to educate car drivers about the bicycle lanes in New York City, as well as a recent doggie pedal parade. times-up.org

Ciclovia in Manhattan

Following the example of Bogota Columbia’s Ciclovia or Car-free Sundays, Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Sadik-Khan have announced three consecutive Car-free Saturdays (August 9, 16 and 23) running the length of Park Avenue below 72nd Street. The street will be closed to motorized traffic from 7am to 1pm.

About the Author

Amy Walker is the publisher of MOMENTUM. She likes riding her bike better than sitting at the computer. [more...]