Bicycle culture

Bike Share Program Eats Cars in NYC, Spits Them Out in Brooklyn

May 5, 2013

 

Citibike and Citibank...the Odd Couple

I got excited the other night and snapped these photos of the *sneaky* Citi bike people (they even have fancy branded trucks!) installing some new infrastructure right off 5th Ave by the famed Flatiron Building. I really can’t believe it’s finally coming together.

In typical American, if not New York fashion, people are VERY wary of others telling them to step aside…from bankers to busboys, many New Yorkers are angry at the bike share program for displacing their well-fed and luxuriating selves.

The history of Denmark is such that, fortunately, (and as I understand it) its love affair with the car was short-lived after WWII, and the bike’s “market-share,” let’s say, never had time to lose ground. Indeed, as we can see below,

The Bicycle "Craze" in 1895 New York City (photo courtesy UW, La Crosse; Punch Magazine)

pre-automobile NYC was also quite bicycle-friendly (ok, yes, it was quite a different time…but still) before the advent of the car. We then, though, unfortunately did engage in a tryst with the automobile industry and are still trying to break free…hence the troubles we have culturally with cycling in big cities like NYC. People simply aren’t used to bicycles, nor should they be, really. But it’s time to get a clue.

Of course per usual, the media blows things out of proportion, though people are indeed upset about the coming increase in bikes on the road and, in this case, the program itself. I would almost fault The Gothamist for helping to spread a negative image of Citibike, but really they’re just riding the wave. I encourage you to read the following story of several so-called victims:

Citi Bike Ate My Car

There does seem to be some sort of snafu; but as someone who lives at the nexus of many a 5th Ave parade can attest to, the NYPD usually *does its best* to warn people of towing a few days in advance of things. Perhaps this situation was different, if not poorly-run, but in even one of the greatest cities in the world, there’s allllways something to complain about. The bike share program is just another scapegoat. Fortunately, this time, the car-eating monster is here to stay.

PS-the comments below that article are the PERFECT representation of the conversations going on…and as you can see…they’re not quite so informed…

 

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CitiBike: Brooklyn Edition

April 27, 2013

Brooklyn CitiBike Station

There’s a lot of hype around NYC’s new CitiBike bike share program…I was recently forwarded this article by multiple people excited about it…5000 memberships in two days! Even the Danish should be impressed with that. Copenhageners across the pond have to understand that this is very exciting for us for predominantly the following reason I’m sure I’ve expressed before: more cyclists on the road will build awareness that will translate into more infrastructure and safer commuting for all. It goes without saying that Copenhagen’s bike share program is NOT the dominant force behind its cycling prowess…but in a city where bikes have taken a back seat (no pun intended) for so long…we simply need more cyclists on the road so that people realize they’re here to stay. And they get out of the way.

That historical perspective is shared in this witty ad on a CitiBike station I passed in Brooklyn yesterday…

“New York is almost 400 years old…about time it finally got a bike.”

Now, of course, it’s largely inaccurate because before the car, NYC was teeming with commuter cyclists alongside pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages…but…we’ll let historiography slide for the sake of the program.

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Biking for a more equitable society (sort of)

April 14, 2013

Promoting women bikers in NYC, Photo courtesy: WE Bike NYC

I recently came across an article discussing a non-profit’s work with women cyclists in NYC…an effort to get explicitly women on the bike paths. A great idea, I believe, as I do see a gender gap on the road for sure (albeit a shrinking one).

City Bike Company Brooklyn Cruiser Program Partners with WE Bike NYC

It reminded me of a Danish program that promoted biking among the recently emigrated as a form of not only social improvement but social integration (becoming Danish OBVIOUSLY involves becoming a biker). An example can be found here (from 2007).

I continue to write about the bridges between cycling in Copenhagen and NYC, and this very niche work only makes the relationship seem more robust. We are SO far behind Copenhagen, but if anyone is going in the direction of the Danes, it’s us!

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It’s a bird…! It’s a plane…! It’s … a bike lane extension through an NYC construction site!!!!!!

March 3, 2013

Construction on 9th Avenue

That was a Superman reference for anyone not familiar with the American comic. I snapped this photo today riding down 9th Avenue…I approached a probably 20-block-long construction site in the West 40s and just as I rolled my eyes and thought, “Ok time to piss off some Taxicabs on the street,” lo and behold there stood an EXTENSION of the bike lane through the construction site!! I was flabbergasted and quite excited.  I remember in Copenhagen this was occasionally a problem as well, but most of the time (on the few construction sites I saw…) an effort was made to extend the bike lane to some degree, at least superfluously. The case is not often so in NYC. As I’ve said many times, though…times, they are a’ changin’ in Manhattan, and in only in a few short years. Woo!

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The hills are alive…with the sound of my disc-brakes

February 24, 2013

The fleet! Looking south (with creepy tourist)

Yep, feast your eyes. My *commanding* fleet of cykler parked right out on 5th Avenue (that’s the Central Park Zoo in the background). I’m oh-so proud. I want this piece to relay both bike storage and commuting issues in NYC and CPH…my unnecessarily complicated month-long story is actually rather revealing. (…boredom alert…)

Why, you ask, did I have to acquire two new bicycles this past month? (the left-most bike isn’t mine…it’s been sitting there for a year according to the Central Park Zoo janitorial staff) After a few years of zipping around on my imposing-but-don’t-worry-I’m-really-not-a-professional-cyclist Trek racing bike, I recognized that it might have been a bit impractical for everyday use (though it did make me look SO cool). I suppose it took me long enough. Another important issue was that I had to bring it inside each day. As is part of the argument against helmets (notice I didn’t take a side just there), any extra, seemingly unnecessary task involved with cycling just discourages people from doing it…be that having to put on a helmet, affix a lock, ride on the street alongside a gynormous bus, et cetera. Some of these things are necessary, but bringing a bicycle inside heavy, wrought-iron doors should not be. The problem is, as would be in Copenhagen, storing a “fancy-looking” bicycle outside is just asking for it to get stolen. Especially given where I would be leaving it, I knew I had to purchase the ugliest-looking bike possible, and probably the least expensive.

Denmark has dba.dk (shady) … and the US has Craigslist (shadier). It actually took a while, but I found a probably 30-year old Royce Union cruiser bike in Forest Hills (Queens), so I hopped on the train with $80 (though, yes, I know no one even pays that for a bike in Denmark :) ) and picked it up. If the situation wasn’t shady enough, the bike certainly lived up to its circumstance. But, that was just the point. I took it back, fixed it up a little at my local bike shop, and parked it outside on the rack. The difference between CPH and NYC, though, is that as crappy as it was, I still needed TWO ridiculously strong locks to ensure that it wouldn’t get stolen…one humungous Kryptonite “New York Forgetaboutit” chain (lol) to affix the frame and front wheel to the rack, and a u-lock to lock the back wheel to the frame. Oh, and I didn’t mention that Pedal Pusher tethered my seat to the frame. Those get stolen all the time too. In Copenhagen, all I had to do to lock up my unassuming bike in front of my friend’s place was take a small Abus cable to the front wheel and wrap it around a pole. My, wasn’t that easy…of course bikes get stolen all the time in Copenhagen, to the tune of 60,000 per year, but let’s just say that the culture of “sharing” is a bit different there. Mine was never stolen from in front of the house, in any case.

I realize you’re all getting sleepy by now…so I’ll hurry up. I’d solved the storage situation, parking my super comfy Rolls Royce…er…Royce Union on the street, but did I mention it only had 3 gears? Riding around with a 21-gear racing bike makes one used to switching around all the time…and perhaps it jaded me and made me forget how surprisingly hilly is the island of Manhattan. New York is definitely not Copenhagen. On my first trip up to school on the new bike…I had…a bit of trouble. Not that anyone knows what these names mean…but biking over the knolls of Central Park, up Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill, and Morningside Heights is quite the workout…with a bike that doesn’t ease up. I had done it many times very easily on the racing bike but this was unbearable…it even seemed like the trip back was uphill too! In any case…I knew that I had to expand my fleet at this point, once again. While in Copenhagen it seemed like the only hill I ever went up was on my way to dreaded Amager, my recently-daily commute was like 30 minutes over that bridge…

A hybrid bike was now what I sought and my friend Harold, king of the roads of Boston, recommended this one (in black). While, yes I’m a total Danish n00b for buying a new bike (doesn’t having 3 bikes make up for it?), this bike is absolutely perfect. It really completes the collection (haha), and riding up Central Park West in an ACTUAL BIKE LANE is a taste of Heaven. And, yes, it has disc-brakes.

PS – I totally mounted this on the KHS allllll by myself. If you knew me, you would be very, very, very proud :)

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