It is not yet clear what the resolution of the recent NYC transit strike will be–there is still no final contract, there are fissures in the support for the tentative contract within the Transport Workers Union, and the Metropolitan Transportation Agency is seemingly taking back one of the items its offered to the TWU as part of the tentative contract. One thing that is clear two week after the strike is that New York can be travelled by bicycle without huge problems and that the city would do well to make the city more navigable by bike. Transportations Alternatives (TA) is heading up this effort, as it has for years with slow but steady progress. TA has been promoting the slogan “Bike the Strike,” and broadcasting impressive alternative transportation numbers like 600,000 biking to work each day of the strike (despite frigid temperatures in the 20s in the morning and evenings).
The strike forced many of us to consider our bicycles in a whole new way.
Part of the discovery of recreational cyclists–who like to take a spin in their neighborhood or in a local park but never saw their bikes as a principal means of transportation–was that the bridge crossings were accessible and navigable. (It must be said, however, that there was so much pedestrian traffic that many times the bridges had to be walked at pedestrian pace and not cycled.) With Madison and Fifth Avenues closed to automobiles, travelling up and downtown on the eastside was convenient and free of the typical risks of riding the streets of NYC. So we found that the basic infrastructure is almost there (excepting dedicated and safe bike lanes in Manhattan and places to store bikes during the workday) for an easy and safe trip to and from Manhattan.
The other part of the discovery was that cycling is just as fast and just as convenient as most modes of mass transit from the outer boroughs into Manhattan and always faster than taking a rush hour trip by car. My commute from southern Brooklyn was 12 miles door-to-door. Typically I take a short bus trip to the local subway line and then transfer to an express line. At rush hour, I can count on a 50 minute trip. Off peak transportant hours, as trains and buses come less frequently, I can count on a trip of 60 minutes to 80 minutes. On my bicycle, the trip took 70 minutes. Most everyone else enjoyed such a quick commute despite traffic confusion and cold weather during the strike. So we realized that the commute by bike is not just manageable but it is much quicker than we would have imagined.
A lot more can be done to make NYC a place where cyclists can travel with reasonable convenience and safety. And, of course, a city where more people bike is also a city that is quieter, cleaner, navigable by cars and trucks that have to be on the streets, and generally more sane. We are a long way from a complete transformation of NYC transportation patterns and infrastructure. But the TA has identified a few simple but key issues that would quickly make NYC a place where commuting by bicycle is a safe and convenient alternative that more and more people are likely to choose.