I was the Department of Transportation’’s assistant commissioner under Mayor Ed Koch, who, buoyed by a visit to Beijing, where he saw bike lanes used by tens of thousands, envisioned a network of physically separated bikeways up and down Manhattan.
In the summer of 1980, the mayor directed the department to install bikeways. From Washington Square Park to Central Park, the curb lanes of Fifth Avenue, Broadway and Seventh Avenue were separated from traffic by asphalt islands, giving bikers a lane of car-free roadway all their own.
Within days the complaints started to pour in. Most of the grumbling was from pedestrians concerned about reckless cyclists coming close to knocking them down (the three deaths were fresh in their minds). Some were from drivers who felt there was more congestion because of the loss of a lane.
The department’’s investigation found that pedestrians considered the bike lanes to be extensions of the sidewalk; they stood in the lanes waiting for the lights to change, where bikers often yelled at them. (The conflict between bicyclists and pedestrians is much more visceral than any between car drivers and pedestrians. You can see a biker’’s face and hear his words.)
Mr. Koch made his own observations and found many bike riders traveling outside the lanes. He had us install traffic signs along the bike lanes in typical Koch-ese —— ““Use it or Lose it.”” But even though the lanes were largely successful —— and car traffic didn’’t slow nearly as much as people thought —— criticism mounted.
During a limousine ride up Avenue of the Americas with Mr. Koch and President Jimmy Carter, Gov. Hugh Carey pointed out the bike lanes to Mr. Carter and joked, ““See how Ed is wasting your money.”” Within weeks, the mayor directed us to remove the barriers separating the lanes, which afterward were designated only by painted lines.

The Lanes That Failed
““I was swept away by the thought of what could be when I saw a million bikes in Beijing. And I see two in New York City —— on a Sunday.”” With these words, in November 1980 Mayor Edward Koch removed the barrier-separated bike lanes he had installed one month earlier between Greenwich Village and Central Park.
The 6- to 8-foot wide lanes ran northbound on 6th Ave. and southbound on 7th Ave., Broadway and 5th Ave. Chronically blocked by pedestrians, food vendors and trash, they were shunned by some cyclists, who found riding in traffic more efficient. Taxi and trucking interests protested taking street space for ““invisible cyclists,”” although DoT reported both lower accidents and increased riding on 6th Ave.
The last straw for Mayor Koch was when Governor Carey derided him for his bike ““fetish”” after a too-close encounter with a cyclist. The lanes, which were conceived and executed without consultation with the bicycling community, were the Mayor's last move on behalf of cycling. This retreat and Koch's escalating hostility to cyclists —— culminating in the 1987 Midtown bike ban —— set back NYC cycling for a decade. Future bike lane experiments must put a premium on consultation with the cycling community, enforcement of the lanes' integrity, and patience. A one or two month transportation experiment proves nothing.
A remnant of the 1980 bike lanes survives on 6th Ave. between 34th and 35th Streets.

Mayor Edward I. Koch became frustrated when bike lanes that he had built on main thoroughfares like Fifth Avenue and Broadway, which were separated from motor vehicles by asphalt islands, were criticized by drivers and pedestrians and, even worse, ignored by many cyclists. As a result, he ordered that the islands be removed.