WalksOn2Wheels

Why is it that everything I see about cycling in NY seems to point towards a community with a HUGE public profile, yet the city still craps all over you?

I mean, I can get from point A to point B in downtown Dallas or Fort Worth with no major issues and no bike lanes to assist me. But it seems like the bike lanes are as much of a hindrance as they are a help. People "salmoning", pedestrians using bike lanes as extended sidewalks, etc.

Is it just an outsider perspective? Am I only seeing the people who complain? Are they making it out to be worse than it is?

martianone

An "outsider's" answer, first a qualification. I am not a regular commuter in NYC or any other urban area, am a regular commuter in rural fumbuck. However to keep my education current, I visit an urban area 4-6 times a year; usually for about a week- always take my bike and commute about the area. Three urban area's I try to focus my trips to are NYC, Boston and Toronto. Why those areas- because I've lived or worked in them at some time in the past & fairly comfortable getting about in them.
So why the fuss in NYC, especially manhattan ? Density. Studies have shown that too many rats packed together in a compact area - everyone gets a little edgy. Apology to NYC residents for the comparison.
During the past decade, cycle commuting in these areas [in many other urban areas also] has improved. There are more resources and facilities to support cycle commuting and the population in general has become more accustom to it. Those elements help. Some elements still hurt- cyclists are often rude to pedestrians and other commuters, plus don't obey traffic control rules and ride in erratic patterns. Motorists are the same way. Traffic controls rules, for the most part, were devised for a motor vehicle culture, not a cycle culture. Those folks with "protect & serve" written on their cars are often biased against cycle commuter - I think that is a particular rub in many areas. One would think that the protect & serve officials would be more supportive of cycle commuting; but I think it is a job security element. If there were half the cars on the street in Manhattan, fewer blue and white cars would be needed also.

AdamDZ

I think is actually a good comparison The problem is that NYC has a culture of jaywalking, and "not guilty until caught" philosophy. Everybody is breaking laws, irritating each other as result, it's rampant. Plus people in NYC are always late, always in a hurry, and extremely self centered, nothing matters but "ME". If "ME" wants to catch a cab then everybody else should just stop and wait until "ME" gets into a cab, it doesn't matter that "ME" is standing in second lane of traffic inconveniencing others and breaking the law, "ME" is the center of the universe and "ME" is extremely unlikely to be punished because NYPD never enforces pedestrian laws.

math is fun

having lived in Texas and NYC I would say the major problem is that in most of the country people tend to, at least in spirit, follow traffic laws. In NYC people see lane markings signs and traffics lights as merely suggestions. With this mentality things are generally fine in the city when there is light traffic but as soon as there is a slow down such as a garbage truck, someone parking, etc all bets are off when it comes to protected bike lanes and the like. I lived and rode my bike in Brooklyn for about 6 months and during that time I saw all sorts of shenanigans by motorists that had I not been acutely alert to my surroundings would have caused me serious trouble, including people using the sidewalk as a passing lane on one Sunday morning. No where else have I lived where there is such a disregard for traffic regulations.

gresam

The volume of people who walk in DFW is so much less than NYC there is no way to compare or even comprehend if you have not been to NYC. I grew up in NJ and spent many weekends in NYC with my family. Walking everywhere helps you appreciate the city but it also imprinted my mind with just how densely populated it is and how there never seem to be a lack of people wherever you go. My sister lives in Brooklyn so I have still been able to visit but living in DFW now it is pretty obvious how few people depend on their own two legs for any form of transportation.

Lightingguy

A lot of strange things can happen when you get the following:

- The most densely populated urban area in the country. 3.8 million for the Houston Urban area. 18 million for the NYC urban area, so better then 4 times the population.

- EVERY nationilaty from every nation on the planet is present in NYC. A far from homogenized population with every group bringing into the mix it's own "understanding" and interpertaions of what the law is pertaining to traffic flow, pedestrian right-of-way, vehicular laws, bicycle laws and operation, etc... I joke that the locals in my community all walk in the street as there are no sidewalks in their home country. Some real truth to that.

- With all that pressure on the social structure, people are actually pretty decent to one another, given that there's a natural distrust of people from other cultural groups and perceived different upbringings. Witness my "No Sidewalks" comment. I have learned to deal with it and not get upset and mutter "Why don't they use the sidewalk". As a WiKi statistic - "Among the 182 U.S. cities with populations of more than 100,000, New York City ranked 136th in overall crime". Lot to be said for all those people from all those countries not killing each other far more often.

- It's a really really sloooowww progress to get motorists and pedestrians to interrelate to cyclists (this is true of most everywhere in the US, excepting maybe San Fran and the Pacific NW). For one thing, you almost have to separate Manhattan from the rest of the city, as biking in Brooklyn and Queens is somewhat less stressful then Manhattan, if only due to fewer people in more space. The impression most outsiders get of NY is almost always a limited view of Manhattan and is almost always distorted.

The City has really done some great things adding bike lanes, but ton's more need to be done to get cycling to the level of respect it needs to be at. One thing would be a huge media campaign to extole the virtues and advantages to cycling around the city.

Another would be to get the NYPD to stop taking an adversarial stance towards cyclists, especially when it's that time of the month to start racking up the easy tickets. Cops in NYC are generally morons and in general have very little empathy towards the plight of the cyclist in NY. Pretty much everyone I know that cycles in the city on a regular basis has had a run-in with a cop and has been hassled, often for no reason, myself included. So the typical cyclists view of the NYPD is generally a poor one and there's much room for improvement.

That said, there are HUGE numbers of cyclists that act and ride like total idiots and there's no easy way to develop a "group conscience" as it were to attempt to police ourselves. In some respects, I would wish that the NYPD would crack down on some of the idiocy I see - sidewalk riding, wrong way on streets and bike lanes, salmoning, not holding a line, etc.... with the NYPD enacting a "soft gloves" campaing to become the "educator" as it where, as if we're all back in elementary school learning how to bike safely. Better then bull**** tickets that only alienate and teach nothing.

My $.02

Steve B

macteacher

It is because of that above situation that I don't believe in the old belief that 'America is a melting pot'. Far from it...it is as multicultural as U.K, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.