Paris, London, Stockholm, Copenhagen, etc, all have devoted large areas in the city to pedestrian and biking roads, enabling safer public spaces and room for community.
New York has so many streets, why not occupy some of them for public space and green areas? Starting with the space outside public institutions such as schools, that really could benefit from such enlarged space for community and play. Dangerous street outside school at 7av/2 street, where the sidewalks are overcrowded at pick up time.
Bike lanes do not worsen congestion, contrary to popular belief. Data from the DOT has shown that congestion can actually be reduced by street redesign that adds bike lanes because when everybody is in their designated place, traffic flows more smoothly. Plus, a well-designed bike lane that feels safe and gets you where you want to go encourages more people to try cycling, and there is safety in numbers. Fewer cyclists will run red lights or ride on the sidewalk out of fear for their own safety if our streets are designed to be safer. I know it's hard for drivers to accept proposals that may reduce on-street parking in their neighborhood, but we're facing a crisis of both congestion and safety. We need redesigned streets from which all New Yorkers can benefit, and so we're going to have to accept fewer parking places. Cars are private property being stored on public streets, and they shouldn't be allowed to have a stranglehold over redesigns from which everyone can benefit. That's simply a sacrifice that needs to be made for the sake of saving lives and moving everybody around faster.
As a bicyclist in NYC for ten years, I've been thrilled to watch the increase in bike lanes and the growth of the Citibike program. For the people I know, bike lanes & bikeshare have meant a lot more bicycling throughout NYC - I'm wondering if the body of empirical research suggests that dedicated bike lanes do indeed have this effect broadly. It certainly feels safer to be separated from traffic, though sometimes pedestrians will feel bolder stepping in to a bike-lane without the traffic light permission, but overall seems very worth it to me. Would like to see more East-West protected bike lanes (there are a few, Grand St. comes to mind, but currently mostly north-south of course on the avenues) and would like to see overall amount of bike lanes increased (right now an East-West bike path is avail. around every 15 blocks in Manhattan under midtown). I think it's increased drivers' awareness of bicyclists generally, and hence bike & overall safety. My top priority is a protected bike lane on Christie Street by the Manhattan bridge, where traffic snarls and cars idle in the lane in Chinatown near bus stops and stores for deliveries, that's a real pain point on my commute and general cyclists headed to Brooklyn.
Paris, London, Stockholm, Copenhagen, etc, all have devoted large areas in the city to pedestrian and biking roads, enabling safer public spaces and room for community.
New York has so many streets, why not occupy some of them for public space and green areas? Starting with the space outside public institutions such as schools, that really could benefit from such enlarged space for community and play. Dangerous street outside school at 7av/2 street, where the sidewalks are overcrowded at pick up time.
View this comment in the discussion thread
Bike lanes do not worsen congestion, contrary to popular belief. Data from the DOT has shown that congestion can actually be reduced by street redesign that adds bike lanes because when everybody is in their designated place, traffic flows more smoothly. Plus, a well-designed bike lane that feels safe and gets you where you want to go encourages more people to try cycling, and there is safety in numbers. Fewer cyclists will run red lights or ride on the sidewalk out of fear for their own safety if our streets are designed to be safer. I know it's hard for drivers to accept proposals that may reduce on-street parking in their neighborhood, but we're facing a crisis of both congestion and safety. We need redesigned streets from which all New Yorkers can benefit, and so we're going to have to accept fewer parking places. Cars are private property being stored on public streets, and they shouldn't be allowed to have a stranglehold over redesigns from which everyone can benefit. That's simply a sacrifice that needs to be made for the sake of saving lives and moving everybody around faster.
View this comment in the discussion thread
As a bicyclist in NYC for ten years, I've been thrilled to watch the increase in bike lanes and the growth of the Citibike program. For the people I know, bike lanes & bikeshare have meant a lot more bicycling throughout NYC - I'm wondering if the body of empirical research suggests that dedicated bike lanes do indeed have this effect broadly. It certainly feels safer to be separated from traffic, though sometimes pedestrians will feel bolder stepping in to a bike-lane without the traffic light permission, but overall seems very worth it to me. Would like to see more East-West protected bike lanes (there are a few, Grand St. comes to mind, but currently mostly north-south of course on the avenues) and would like to see overall amount of bike lanes increased (right now an East-West bike path is avail. around every 15 blocks in Manhattan under midtown). I think it's increased drivers' awareness of bicyclists generally, and hence bike & overall safety. My top priority is a protected bike lane on Christie Street by the Manhattan bridge, where traffic snarls and cars idle in the lane in Chinatown near bus stops and stores for deliveries, that's a real pain point on my commute and general cyclists headed to Brooklyn.
View this comment in the discussion thread