Bike parking in Brooklyn — bye bye cars!
By Jenn (TinyChoices.com) | July 31, 2007
In astonishing NYC bike news, the city removed car-parking spaces, paved over a 76- foot section of street, and installed 9 new bike-parking racks outside of the Bedford Avenue L stop in Williamsburg. Did you hear me? Listen up people, this is important: the city removed car-parking spots in order to make more bike-parking spots. This sure seems like an official acknowledgement that bikes are a valid form of local, neighborhood-based transportation.
“It’s the first time in city history that we’ve actually taken away parking spaces – three parking spaces in this case – to accommodate bikes,” says DOT Commissioner Jeanette Sadik-Khan.
“It’s more convenient than ever to bike and ride – bike to the station, hop on the subway,” says Josh Benson from the DOT Bicycle Program.
I recently walked around Williamsburg with friends from out of town, who could not understand the enormity of why this is such great news for New Yorkers. So here’s why: Biking around NYC has exploded in popularity in recent years, and yet there are rarely enough places to park our bikes. By encouraging more citizens to include biking in at least part of their commute, NYC would: a. reduce laziness-induced obesity; b. help reduce already-overcrowded mass transit; c. get more bikers on the roads which would in turn make it safer for all bikers to be on the roads in the first place (safety in numbers); and d. have happier citizens, cause biking is such an endorphine rush!
Here’s a cool video from the folks at NYC Street Films (via Gownaus Lounge):
“70% of households in North Brooklyn don’t own cars, so this is making improvements for the super majority of non-driving New Yorkers.”
Is this a perfect solution? Is it now safer to bike around the streets of NY, while seemingly invisible to the tractor-trailers that we’re forced to share the road with? Nope. But I say, way to go, DOT. This Tiny Choice impacts the quality of life here in a real way– it’s a great small step. Keep it up!
Topics: Transportation | 11 Comments »
great news! they should do this in, oh, say, the LES where you usually have to walk several blocks away from your destination to lock a bike – or, god forbid – have to lock to a tree. while i never ever ever park my bike near trees, lots of people do. yesterday i saw an absolutely brilliant combo bike rack/tree fence on east 4th street that had the capacity to hold about 9 bikes (properly locked up, ofcourse) and thought that it wouldn’t be that expensive or intrusive for the city to install more of them around town.
Plus, did you know that you could be fined $1000 for locking your bike to a NYC tree? Score one for trees!
I love the bike rack/tree fence – I saw one once
I’m rethinking Murray’s Bagels on 6th Ave & 13th because although they have yummy vegan spreads available, the parking meters were recently replaced by a giant multi meter for the block, so my locking options are tree or not very secure using the cable around the giant muni meter. I go for the second option hoping my bike will be okay for the seven minutes it takes me to get my bagel.
Oh yeah, the Williamsburg parking thing is cool, too
Jenn – great blog! I plan to be a regular reader.
If you’re all ready for some weirdness, I’m someone who never learned how to ride a bike as neither of my parents did. Frankly, as a child it was not something I missed although I hated being made fun of. :-)
So of course, as an adult it’s going to be much harder to learn although I’d like to someday. But frankly, the thought of riding a bike in a huge city scares the bejesus out of me. Especially the way I’ve seen people drive here.
While I know I am in the minority, I can’t be the only one. Any thoughts?
Hey Laura!
How about this class at the Learning Annex– also, I’d be that many bike shops can hook you up with lessons! :)
UK is pretty flat, so cycling is a indispensable part of commuters lives here. There is this particular brand (Brompton) which makes bikes that fold down to a size of briefcase. You see all these people working in London offices moving in the city with their bikes, then putting them on train and going to their homes in another town. Most companies have showers for these employees!
My home is 5 mins walk from work, so I just walk (I can even crawl, it is THAT CLOSE :-))) ). But for going down to town, if I am by myself, it is so much fun!
Here is my latest bike rescue project:
Before: http://www.flickr.com/photos/architect/943304624/
After: http://www.flickr.com/photos/architect/942462425/
Yay!..
K.
I LOVE the Learning Annex! I can learn how to ride a bike, how to get rich from real estate and how to be more alluring. YAY!! :-)
Thanks for the tip Jenn!
that’s great! here in Portland, the city just converted a few parking spaces on the busiest part of SE Belmont to bike racks too. I think the ratio is 2 car spaces = 21 bike spaces.
I’m impressed, Brooklyn!
Koray – I dream of having a brompton! Stacey (she’s been commenting around here too) has one, and it is so cool. Living in NJ and taking public transit into NYC means that if I want to bike around town I need to get a folding bike of some sort…
Yep, I have a Brompton (as you may have read about in the NYT)- and though I use my other bike most days now, it is convenient if I think I may be drinking too much at night to ride home and I can easily just pop it on the subway or in the cab. It is also convenient for when I go to NJ because of the bike restrictions on rush hour NJTransit trains
And, yes, Laura, riding a bike in a city can be scary, but I think being underground can be a little scary too – especially with all the groping going on in the subways
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