Numbers prove bike riders in NYC are insignificant.

Yes, ridership has gone down in since 2007.

...except it hasn't.

Ok.

The only thing this proves is that no one knows the most accurate way to count cyclists. I think the DOT's method of counting them at key places is far better than asking a small set of people how they get to work.

I don't know Park Ave in the Bronx, many bike lanes were added in the 70s, they are narrow, on too busy streets, and on streets that don't go where cyclists need to go. Building bike lanes that are physically separated from traffic, like the PPW bike lane in Brooklyn, attract people to use them and to commute by bike, if the lanes go where they want to go.

When I ride to work or to the store, I always see other cyclists using the lanes I use. On a really nice day last week I saw tons of cyclists on Vanderbilt Ave. The nice weather will bring them out. Making safer bike lanes will bring them out as well. I know cycling is growing because I have been cycling daily in NYC since 2004 and I see more and more bikes.

Slope1980 said:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/city_bike_numbers_unwheel_oxUsOOOEkKcCRR1kj77SvJ

Interesting! Cue bike apologists in 3..2..1.....

And your point is?

the numbers can prove lots of things.

Do they answer the question, do we want food, dry cleaning,business and legal documents to be delivered by motorized transport? Are we as a population smart enough to know that NY streets, many designed originally for one way horse driven wagons are not big enough for the demand. Is 4 plus dollars a gallon and rising a forewarning for alternative transportation?

It is funny that lots of other utilities are in a scurry to change habits of their customers. Electricity providers realize that house full of electronics that didn't exist when the grid was designed are straining the system more and more each year. ConEd plays Wack-a-mole with wiring and interconnection problems 24/7, they can't keep up w the repairs and retrofits needed for reliable power.

The rise in car ownership and registered vehicles in NYC is an alarm bell to anybody in planning. The streets are just as bad, the government putting in pay as you go schemes everywhere. Raising parking fees, adding meters where there were none. Street cleaning and repair are sub-par at best. Bicycles and pedestrians cause very little damage to the roads, Nike's create few potholes. We need streets for cars,buses, ambulances, service and delivery vehicles.

Bicycle use is one way to cut down on litter and road damage. I can't remember when I saw a load of scrap lumber or metal fall out of a bike basket, but a trip down Atlantic or 4th ave will reveal that those materials fell off of a car or truck yesterday.

I would encourage bicyclists to obey the laws. Spread out, don't ride to close together, when and if you feel a door of a car might open, stay far enough away as to not be hurt or killed. When you stop at a stop sign, make sure to are far enough in the road so that all drivers can clearly see you. This will most often impede traffic in all directions.

Just arriving at a red light and taking your rightful and lawful place in the road will slow traffic. The bicycle and inherent things about it are in need of 2 or 3 ft effective space as the rider starts to accelerate and puts their feet securely on the pedals. I am sure all the anti-bike bitchers will be glad to overtake you as their vehicles with often 100's of horsepower goes by. If bikes are used lawfully,correctly and safely auto traffic will be slowed.

Anybody who lives in the area knows that the Bergen bike path, very wide and well marked is often made unusable by cars, both moving and parked. I ride from Bedford on Bergen to the other side of Brooklyn often, I have never ridden the entire distance without double and triple parkers, building materials, auto repairs, road construction,people using the bike path as a passing lane being part of the commute. The police while serving everybody equally need to apply the law with an even hand. Any meter readers/aux cop can take a golfcart style police vehicle and generate 100's of tickets and revenue just on Bergen from Nostrand to the BQE without leaving the vehicle in most cases.

The original poster should have written that they want more cars or nothing at all because they just don't like bicycles and the people that ride them. We don't need any elabirtae study, or statistics to show that all transpotation costs are going fucking crazy in price.Slope 1980 is very average, making comments about economics as an insult. I went to the Irsih American day parade w freinds,They are all all old timers from Park Slope, acouple of them 70 year residents. I listened to them and the anti-bike views as should on the blvd as the tiny parade came by. They were not able to put their finger on it. New bike lane thatwas not cleared for the event. Bikers that didn't have sense enough not to whiz by strllers and small kids while they gathered for the parade. The police stood there clueless. They should have asked riders to walk bicycles for the distance of the parade or use the park while the event was underway. Just two assertive cops at both ends could have almost elliminated bike, parade watcher potential conflict. The people I was with used the air head cyclists tofurther the arguement against bike paths, bike use, bike anything. As slope 1980 points out he will not be told waht to do by a person he feels is less than him. He should start to get used to it

The *real* takeaway from all of this - someone out there fantasizes about me ripping my shirt off in the rain.

Is there a link to the actual study? I don't see anything at www.furmancenter.org

I also moved this thread to the general Brooklyn page as it's not specific to Park Slope

Slope1980 said:classic. leave it to whyfi. when wrong, simply deflect with humor.

You (and the author) either -

A) haven't thought about what can and can't be inferred from the numbers.

don't have the faculties to understand what can and can't be inferred from the numbers.

So why bother?

Boygabriel said:

Is there a link to the actual study? I don't see anything at www.furmancenter.org

It seems to be taken from the US Census. Of course, the problem is that it's only counting those that selected bicycling as their primary method of commuting. In other words, if every single NYer rode their bike to work two days a week (and had a different mode of transport the other three), the Census results would show zero ridership, even though lane usage would be absolutely overwhelmed. The TA study, however, actually counts the number of bicyclists (at certain locations) on any given day.

Slope1980 said:

Can't speak for the author but I certainly have WhyFi.

If you've thought about it, I guess that we can strike option A.

Seconding WhyFi - the US Census study on commuting patterns is flawed, simply because it only asks one question:

What is your primary means of commuting to work?

So if you ride your bike part-time when the weather is good, and take the subway (or drive) at other times, you don't count as a bicyclist.

Even moreso - this doesn't address all the people who ride for reasons other than commuting to work. What about running errands? Going to the park? Visiting friends? Going for a spin around the neighborhood?

Here's a question: when was the last time you drove in NYC for pleasure?

Because I took a spin on my bicycle around Brooklyn on Monday because it felt awesome.