NYC: Not Bike Friendly

idlewild · June 2007

So I biked from PH to the Rockaways and back via Far Rockaway to Rockaway Blvd.-> North Conduit.....we need more paths/lanes.

erikka · June 2007

yes.

http://www.bikenewyork.org/ does a lot of advocacy work, but right now bike lanes are sort of useless since they're mostly used for double parking. I'd like to see them crack down on that, then focus on making them more user-friendly.

idlewild · June 2007

Indeed. indeed! The double parking is another major problem. DOT, outside of the gov and mayor is in charge of assigning lanes, correct? It gets very annoying to keep having to do laps in Prospect Park because you get fed up riding in dodge city with all the maniacs behind a wheel, and lack of bike lanes.

boygabriel · June 2007

I feel like this is a very long-term issue. The whole American/NY'er psyche is going to have to change towards biking. Society is just going to have to become more tolerating of biking. I think it's going to happen, it's just going to take a while.

Only recently has America started to wake up out of its obsession with cars. For decades we took for granted that cars were at the center of American life, but now we're realizing they're not.

It's going to take a while.

erikka · June 2007

There's a looooooong backstory to this, but the person who handled bike lanes left the DOT last year out of frustration for the beauracracy he had to work against, and said that they pretty much made it impossible to do his job. Boygabriel is right--this is a long term issue--unfortunately a lot more people will probably die or be injured before they take action.

Thank Robert Moses.

rose · June 2007

I can't understand why they don't put the bike lanes next to the sidewalk, so there would be a buffer of parked cars between the bike lane and traffic. It seems like this would be much safer, and also solve the double-parking problem. Someone here posted a picture from somewhere in Europe (I think) where they had bike lanes set up that way and it seemed so logical.

detrop · September 2007

i just got a bike and rode it for the first time in park slope and clinton hill this weekend. riding on the streets is downright scary. between crazy drivers, potholes and "the door zone" i was an anxious wreck!

limestonekid · September 2007

Subject: Re: NYC: Not Bike Friendly

Idlewild wrote: So I biked from PH to the Rockaways and back via Far Rockaway to Rockaway Blvd.-> North Conduit.....we need more paths/lanes.

What route did you take?

I ride out to the Rockaways quite often and I don't find it all that bad. Down Rugby Road to Neptune and then from Eammons you hop onto the greenway. It's pretty painless and pretty quick too.

meredithb · December 2007

Rose wrote: I can't understand why they don't put the bike lanes next to the sidewalk, so there would be a buffer of parked cars between the bike lane and traffic. It seems like this would be much safer, and also solve the double-parking problem. Someone here posted a picture from somewhere in Europe (I think) where they had bike lanes set up that way and it seemed so logical.

Because that would cost a shit load of money. When this city was built do you think they cared one bit about bicycling?

And it's very doubtful that they will redo most/all of the sidewalks (especially now that there are trees on most) just to put in protected bike lanes.

Sad.

homeowner · December 2007

This is what I don't understand. The city screws up perfectly good traffic by adding bike lanes to streets, but bikers don't use the bike lanes and instead ride on streets that they really shouldn't be on. Example I saw three fools on fixed gears riding in between the left and center lane on Flatbush Ave at Schemerhorn Street. There is a bike lane one block over on a street that has far less traffic. So why are these fools riding down Flatbush Avenue?

NYC: Not Bike Friendly

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories