Under Mayor Bloomberg's tenure, New York City has made great strides in improving its bicycle infrastructure. But as his final term comes to an end, some fear the next mayor may "end this period of bike-friendly programs and policies."
Despite widespread support for bike lanes (66 percent of New Yorkers called them a good idea; 27 percent a bad idea in a recent Times poll), and the proven value of bike commuting during recent crises, Matt Flegenheimer reports that, "[i]n the early stages of the campaign for mayor, the candidates have expressed little enthusiasm about the expansion of bike lanes, and a few have made comments that suggest they may seek to erase some of them."
"Asked about the candidates’ apparent reticence on bikes, [Janette Sadik-Khan, the city’s transportation commissioner] said, 'A lot of people would like to see their numbers polling like bike lanes.'”
"And yet, cycling advocates find themselves straining to persuade any prospective successor to Mr. Bloomberg to expand upon, or even to preserve, the gains made under his watch."
FULL STORY: Anxiety Over Future of Bike Lanes
Bike Lanes As Training Wheels
A friend introduced me yesterday to rambunctious bicycling advocate Fred Oswald via a recent article out of Cleveland’s press. Much debate swirls around his not-so-uncommon opinions. Mr. Oswald’s argument can be boiled down to two points: supporting a critical need for much more bicycling education on sharing public roadways with other vehicles, and fighting an industry-borne fallacy that breaking up streets with allocated spaces, such as bike lanes, is good for the biking community. The former is, of course, not contestable. We all agree that safety and training are absolutely critical to developing a strong and healthy bicycling community.
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