Advocacy & Safety - NYtimes: estimated 200,000 New York city daily cyclist counts

article from NYTimes, estimated 200,000 people now cycle in NYC daily.

i bet they could make it a million a day if they tame the gorilla in the room, as Mikail Colville-Anderson would say. (apologize for the spelling!)

new count estimates 200K cycle daily in NYC (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/more-than-200000-a-day-now-cycling/)


a few quotes:


I think it’s kind of amazing,” Mr. Komanoff said, comparing the number of riders now to the 1980s. “I think it is now legitimate to refer to cycling as a mainstream mode of travel. And to me, that is a profound development.”

and
Build it and they will ride. ......
“More and better designed bike lanes, that’s clearly what’s fueling this growth,” said Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for the bicycling and pedestrian advocacy group, which has conducted an annual cycling estimate for nearly two decades.


yeah, baby. keep at it, NYC!

yes, but there are some, most of whom that have never ridden there- but some that have, that the uptick in numbers and the relative flatlining of cyclist injuries and deaths have absolutely nothing to do with the added bicycle infrastructure like bike lanes and paths. :rolleyes:

Bridge and SI ferry count from 26,000 to over 42,000 in two years time. Buzzman, you think the recently improved bicycle infrastructure and more effective planning for bicycle traffic could of had anything at all to do with the uptick?

sure as the naysayers will be sure to chime in - correlation is not causation :roflmao: but occam's razor is usually pretty sharp despite it not being a scientific method in and of itself.

200,000 in NYC? That's probably about equal to the number of daily cycle commuters in the entire rest of the country.

Of which 175,000 were ticketed for not riding in the bike lane when avoiding a delivery truck parked on the BL.

-Kurt

how glib.

how would that work, exactly? bicyclists in New York state are legally allowed to leave a bikelane to pass a parked vehicle.

what's needed in NYC is stricter enforcement of parking violations so as to keep the streets safer for all road users- double and triple parkers appeared to be a large problem when i visited NYC.

how glib.

how would that work, exactly? bicyclists in New York state are legally allowed to leave a bikelane to pass a parked vehicle.

what's needed in NYC is stricter enforcement of parking violations so as to keep the streets safer for all road users- double and triple parkers appeared to be a large problem when i visited NYC.

It's impossible in a city like New York (and others) for delivery vehicles to not occupy the bike lane at some point. Nothing would ever get delivered. I'm fine with delivery vehicles in the bike lane as long as other motor traffic is fine with me merging to go around it.

i disagree that travel lanes really HAVE to be used for parking, but in the process of making cities more bicycle-friendly perhaps some acceptance of illegal parking should be accepted.

I think cities could get a lot of revenue from ticketing cars and towing more aggressively. There's a 3PM parking ban on many streets downtown here, and literally hundreds of tow trucks start towing ticketed cars at 3:01 every day.......costs each motorist a couple of hundred dollars to get them released.

I mean, cars are being towed literally wholesale off the streets here. NYC could institute a similar ticket and tow program to spank parking violators into submission.

shouldn't break those parking rules!

. . . double and triple parkers appeared to be a large problem when i visited NYC . . .

Last I heard double parking is required for commercial vehicles unless a bike lane is present. Triple parking, though still optional, is highly recommended because of the resulting festival atmosphere.

There's a 3PM parking ban on many streets downtown here, and literally hundreds of tow trucks start towing ticketed cars at 3:01 every day.......costs each motorist a couple of hundred dollars to get them released.

I mean, cars are being towed literally wholesale off the streets here. NYC could institute a similar ticket and tow program to spank parking violators into submission.

shouldn't break those parking rules!

I love me some anti-car laws and all, but...

No way could this ever be instituted.

"Everybody out to their cars! It's 2:59!!!"

Utter chaos.

There are 8.364 Million people in NYC. More than that a 3PM. 19M in the metro area.

600K in Seattle proper and 3.4M in Seattle/Tac/Bellevue Metro Area.

Huge difference.

Give NYC credit. Since I moved out in '04, they've closed Times Sq. to motor vehicle traffic, and are going to be doing something soon with Union Sq. For such an immense city, they're being very forward thinking.

yes, but there are some, most of whom that have never ridden there- but some that have, that the uptick in numbers and the relative flatlining of cyclist injuries and deaths have absolutely nothing to do with the added bicycle infrastructure like bike lanes and paths. :rolleyes:

Yes, those folks contend that bike lanes cause deaths and they work hard to deny any correlation between cycling infrastructure and modal share. :rolleyes:

While deadly bike lanes DO exist, and many bike lanes can be quite marginal, I doubt that all cycling infrastructure is a waste of money and I believe that a more even focus on transportation diversity will tend to encourage other transportation use beyond that of the personal motor vehicle.

Congratulations New York! Sadly, 1/5 million cyclist commuters isn't bad in a city of 8 million by night and 15 million by day.


correlation is not causation

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/correlation.png

Correlation doesn't imply causation, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing "look over there".