Magazine Taps City Bike-Friendliest In Nation
City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Polly Trottenberg announced that bicycling magazine named New York City the top U.S. city for cycling, highlighting the sustained and continuing efforts by the agency to engineer safer streets for bicyclists and investments in infrastructure.
New York City moved to first from seventh place in just two years since the publication last ranked U.S. cities nationwide with populations of 100,000 or more in 2012, reflecting the transformation on New York City’s streets to a place where cycling is safe, convenient, fun, and increasingly the transportation mode of choice of New Yorkers on the go.
“As bicycling magazine notes, New York has-against all odds-embraced and has been transformed by a mode of transportation which is inexpensive, burns no fuel, emits no carbon, helps tackle obesity, connects people to their communities and let’s face it, brings joy.” said Trottenberg. “New Yorkers love to cycle and they bring an energy and passion that only this city can produce. I want to thank the past leadership at DOT and our current bike lane innovators who helped make New York the best biking city in the U.S.”
“Since Bicycling’s 2012 ranking, the cycling landscape in New York City has undergone a radical transformation. More than 96,000 annual members subscribe to the nation’s largest bike share, Citi Bike and over 350 miles of new bike lanes have finished installation under former Mayor Bloomberg,” said Bicycling Editor-in-Chief, Bill Strickland. “Newly elected mayor, Bill de Blasio, has publicly vowed that by 2020 bicycling trips will double citywide. The dedication by advocates, cyclists, and the DOT to making NYC streets safe for riding has landed NYC deservedly at the top of our list.”
“With greenways, bike paths and mountain bike trails throughout NYC Parks, the cyclist in New York City has a wide array of choices, throughout all five boroughs, to enjoy bicycling in a safe and beautiful environment. These picturesque routes are a key part of New York’s standing as the best biking city in the United States,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP.
Protected bike paths have led to safer streets for all, a new report recently released by DOT confirmed. The report contains an analysis three full years of before/after crash data of over 7 miles of protected bike paths.
The study, regarded as the most comprehensive of its kind in the U.S., shows that on streets with protected bicycle paths, injuries to all street users declined by 20 percent. These results confirm the safety benefits of protected bicycle paths and DOT has committed to add five miles of protected paths each year, the equivalent of 100 city blocks.
In 2014, the DOT has already installed over two miles of protected paths in neighborhoods as wide ranging as Manhattan’s West Village and Canarsie in Brooklyn.
New York City now has over 900 miles of bike lanes across the five boroughs, with more than 600 of those on city streets. The DOT’s protected bike path design has been emulated by cities and states around the country–from Chicago to Washington, D.C. to Austin, Tx. Since 2002, cycling ridership has quadrupled in New York City. This year DOT is on pace to add over 58 bike lane miles to the network, one of the largest single year expansions in history.
The expansion reflects a partnership with local communities, particularly in Brownsville/East New York in Brooklyn; Long Island City and Ridgewood; and Washington Heights in upper Manhattan, where DOT and community stakeholders have worked closely for months to identify over 25 miles of new bike infrastructure for these neighborhoods.
DOT has also made progress on increasing bike parking as the bike network continues to grow, with 21,300 bike racks currently installed, and over 1,000 installed this year alone. Currently, close to 1,000 single space parking meters have been converted to bike parking. There are 40 locations for bike corrals, with an additional 24 planned in this year.
With the launch of Citi Bike in May 2013, New York City became the largest U.S. city in America with a bikeshare program. Last week, New Yorkers surpassed 12 million trips on Citi Bike since its launch, demonstrating its integral role as part of the city’s transportation system. In its 15 months on city streets there have been no fatalities or serious injuries on Citi Bikes. Overall, the DOT continues to make street safety improvements as part of citywide Vision Zero initiative.
Every day in New York City 342,000 trips are made by bike and 54,000 of those trips are to and from work. Within the bike share service area alone, 113,000 bike trips are made daily, 80,000 on private bikes and 33,000 on bike share. The DOT’s In-Season Cycling Indicator tracks cycling ridership over time and shows a steady increase since the beginning of the last decade.
Therewasa9percentincrease in cycling in one year alone from 2012 to 2013 (the most recent year for which data are available), 31 percent since 2009 and threefold growth since 2003. With the dramatic increase of riders, risk of serious injury has dropped by 74 percent from 2001 to 2013 as cycling becomes an integrated and safe part of the city’s transportation system.
