Brooklyn Spoke

The bike sharing phenomenon continues to spread.  New Haven, CT is looking into getting a system up and running.

Travers said bike-share systems avoid the threat of bike theft by using custom parts that can’t be used on other bikes. There’s no incentive to strip the bikes. “The bikes tend not to get stolen,” Travers said.

Another theft deterrent: bike-share bikes are not exactly hip-looking. “It’s like a sensible shoe.”

I’ve been following the efforts of Kim Burgas, Kimberly Kinchen, and Rod Huntress as they get the NYC Biketrain movement off the ground.  I’ve even joined in on one of the Brooklyn rides.  It’s a fun way to get to work and a safe introduction to bike commuting for anyone who might be a tad too nervous to try it alone.  Plus, unlike a regular train ride, it’s all but impossible to sit next to someone clipping his fingernails.

Rod Huntress sends in this description of the NYC Biketrain and the plans to keep it growing.

I always wondered why New York City bicycle commuters so rarely talk to each other. We all share the same moments of sudden beauty, the same unrelenting traffic, the same fat and growing catalogue of bike lane obstructions.  In short, we’re in this together. And what happens? We hit a red light and everyone stares silently into the middle distance, ignoring each other the way we would if we found ourselves riding the same New York elevator.

The NYC Biketrain is one excuse to ditch that façade of urban indifference and actually talk to your fellow commuters.  We commute in groups on specific routes, both for the social and safety benefits — bike trains are made for would-be bike commuters who appreciate the safety in numbers riding in a group affords.  And, yes, we hang out and chat with each other at red lights. (And if you don’t feel like talking, that’s OK, too. Every bike train has an optional quiet car.)

The NYC Biketrain held its first breakfast last week at Red Lantern Bicycles in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.  We talked, got our morning caffeine dosage up to acceptable levels and carbo-loaded with goods from Blue Sky Bakery.  Then six of us took part in a bike ride into Manhattan.

That’s a pretty good size for this kind of group commute – large enough for visibility, small and nimble enough to slip through the left-turning traffic along the protected bike lane on First Avenue.  I led the ride (that’s acting as the “conductor” in bike train lingo), and a colleague from work played caboose. People broke off along the way to go to their jobs: at Union Square, at the UN, up into the far reaches of Midtown.

More breakfast meetups are planned in the coming weeks, and a regularly scheduled Brooklyn bike rain will launch soon (there’s already one running two days a week from Upper Manhattan to Midtown).  Bike trains on Bike to Work Day, May 18th, are also in the works.

For now, the best place to keep track of NYC Biketrain is on Twitter at @nycbiketrain and at On Your Left.  You can also send an email to nycbiketrain AT gmail DOT com.

Image via Streetsblog

I’m co-hosting a short bike ride with Eric McClure of Park Slope Neighbors next Sunday, May 6th at 12:00 noon as part of the Municipal Art Society’s annual Jane’s Walk program.  Our “Jane’s Ride” will focus on a certain bike lane, the majestic plaza at one end of Prospect Park, and all of the history and political intrigue surrounding both locations.

How did an eight-foot wide strip of green paint, less than a mile long (which by most accounts transformed Brooklyn’s Prospect Park West from a three-lane, speeding-plagued arterial into a traffic-calmed neighborhood street appreciably safer for biking, walking and driving) become the front line in the global battle over bike lanes? How is Grand Army Plaza, one-time home of the Death-o-Meter and written off for decades as an inhospitable and impenetrable “traffic peril,” being transformed into Brooklyn’s pedestrian- and bike-friendly town square? Pump up your tires, strap on your helmet and join us for a family-friendly exploration of two of Brooklyn’s most startling public-space transformations.

This is an all-ages ride that will last about an hour and a half with frequent stops.  Please meet at Prospect Park West and Union Street.  Per New York law, helmets are required for all children 14 years old and under.  No RSVP necessary.  The ride happens rain or shine.

And if you’re in the mood for other great ways to explore Brooklyn, check out the full Jane’s Walk schedule.  A wide range of walks are scheduled for the entire weekend.

Image: NYPress

The second annual New Amsterdam Bicycle Show is next weekend, April 28th and 29th, and marks the unofficial start to Bike Month.  I had a great time at the show last year and it sounds like this year’s will be even bigger and better.

Just like last year, the show is hosting “Bikelandia,” a series of talks, readings, and panel discussions featuring an especially intelligent and handsome roster of bike-related personalities.  Speakers include Bike Snob, Ben Fried from Streetsblog, Clarence Eckerson, Jr. from Streetfilms, and The Guardian’s Matt Seaton, who’ll be talking about his Bicycling Magazine feature on bike lanes.

I’m hosting a “Bike Share Sneak Peak” at the show on Sunday, April 29th at noon:

Doug Gordon, the editor of BrooklynSpoke.com, presents a sneak preview of New York City’s new bike share system. Representatives from the New York City Department of Transportation and the people behind Bike Share will talk about their plan to put 10,000 bicycles and 600 stations in Manhattan and Brooklyn this summer.

My guest will be NYC DOT Policy Director Jon Orcutt, one of the driving forces behind the city’s bike share plan.  I can’t promise answers to your most pressing questions (Who’s the sponsor?  What color are the bikes?  Will I get stations in front of my apartment, office building, and favorite restaurant?) but it should be a fun and interesting look at bike share systems around the world, what lessons New York City has learned, and where some of the stations will go when the system launches this summer.

I’m a big bike share geek, so this is a huge honor for me and should be a lot of fun.  We’ll leave time for questions from the audience, so bring your curiosity and your enthusiasm for bike share!  Plus, stick around after and we’ll grab a beer.

As a special offer to Brooklyn Spoke readers, I’m pleased to offer a 10% discount on New Amsterdam Bicycle Show tickets purchased online.  Type code NABKLS into the box labeled “redeem” when purchasing yours.

Remember when Marty Markowitz claimed that DOT had secretly tipped off cyclists to ride the Prospect Park West bike lane and inflate DOT’s cycling counts?  Well, if you live on Plaza Street, Marty tipped you off to last night’s Community Board meeting about the Plaza Street bike lanes.  Granted, the letter isn’t specifically targeted to motorists, nor does it explicitly call for them to speak out against the plan, but the tone is pretty clear.

I’ve joked before that any claim a bike lane opponent makes about the powerful and radical bike lane lobby is likely to be little more than the equivalent of “I’m rubber and you’re glue,” and there’s no better evidence than this letter.  When’s the last time Marty used the influence of his office–and our taxpayer dollars–to alert people to the significant changes coming to the area that didn’t involve bikes?

That being said, I’m glad everyone, opponents included, had the chance to weigh in on Plaza Street last night.  That’s democracy in action and it was on full display.  While I’m disappointed that we were unable to push Class 1 bike lane through both transportation committees, I do think this plan is a baby step in the right direction towards full protection.  If anything, it creates a “greenprint” on Plaza Street that further legitimizes cycling as a valid transportation choice and sets a precedent that contra-flow bike lanes are accepted practice.

I’m especially proud of the way complete street activists and supporters behaved themselves at the meeting.  I’m sure the “other side” might say the opposite, but everyone who spoke in favor of full protection and improvements for cyclists and pedestrians was respectful and considerate.  The hissing, booing, and wild exclamations from angry motorists–at one point someone yelled at a nervous 8-year-old bike lane supporter–included a tired list of complaints that were so selfish (“Now I have to look both ways!”) and laughable (“Bikes cause pollution!”) that it actually gave me hope.  When the best arguments opponents can come up with are the same ones that were dismissed the last time around you know we’re winning.

Evidence of that came from the parts of the meeting that most people did not see.  Our committee approved Park Slope’s first on-street bike parking, to be located in front of Gorilla Coffee at 5th and Park Place, and a set of bike lanes for 3rd Street in Gowanus.  More on both later.

Bicycle Habitat is teaming up with Recycle-A-Bicycle once again for a bike trade-in event:

Trade in your old bike – and trade up for a new one. On Sunday, April 22, bring in your old bike or bike parts to our Brooklyn store (475 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope). All bikes and parts are accepted by Recycle-A-Bicycle and receive a voucher for $50 off a new bike, $100 off a road bike or 20% off any one accessory.

RAB takes old youth and adult bikes in just about any condition so this is a great chance to clean out the garage, do some good, and get something great in return.

“This is not Holland. Bicycles are wonderful. For New York City, they’re terrible.”- Alan Bortnick, Community Board 10

God Bless Bob HuDock, Gene Aronowitz, and other forward-thinking Bay Ridge residents.  Bortnick’s quote–the perfect mashup of “This isn’t Amsterdam” and “Some of My Best Friends are Bike Lanes”–explains what an uphill climb they face in their efforts to make their community safer for pedestrians and cyclists.  In fact, Bortnick sets the bar so high for bike lanes in the neighborhood that it will be a wonder if any ever meet his standards:

Bortnick, who serves on the community board with HuDock, says he has no problem with putting bike lanes on one-way residential streets. But he opposes putting them on major arteries such as Bay Ridge Parkway, where he says the proposed lane would have reduced room for cars and slowed travel in both directions. “I would give you bike lanes anywhere you want them, but not on traffic thoroughfares,” said Bortnick. “And I would not allow you to reduce parking or to move cars off the curb.”

As I’ve pointed out before, statements like Bortnick’s are simply absurd.  It would be just as ridiculous for me to say, “This is not Houston.  Automobiles are wonderful.  For New York City, they’re terrible.”  Very few people think New York City should or could become Holland and only the extremists think we should ban all cars; sensible livable streets advocates merely believe that the scales should be tipped back, however slightly, in favor of people and that the status quo no longer suits a growing and changing city.

I hope that one day we will define New York City by what it is and can still become, instead of by what it is not and will never be.

The NYC Biketrain is a great project that’s growing by the day.  If you’re new to bike commuting or just an enthusiastic veteran, you can learn more at a breakfast meeting this Thursday in preparation for Bike Month and Bike to Work Day:

Join us this Thursday, April 19 between 730 and 815 a.m. for the first Biketrain Breakfast at Red Lantern Bicycles in Brooklyn. Directions and location info: http://bit.ly/Js28ok

This is a casual chat with biketrain organizers and bike commuters who want to support safer, more social cycling in NYC and a great chance to learn about riding and running a biketrain. While you’re there, grab coffee and pastries at the coffee bar at Red Lantern and help support a great local bike business. We’re especially hoping to see folks who are interested in running a biketrain from Brooklyn to Manhattan one or two mornings a week and on Bike to Work Day (Friday, May 18).

We’ll gather beginning at 730, and we’ll do some improvised biketrains into Manhattan, or other destinations, at about 815.

Please feel free to extend this invitation to any cyclist friends or colleagues you think might be interested, and also to any newer cyclists you think might be more inclined to commute if they could rely on company for their rides. And let us know if we should expect you by e-mailing nycbiketrain AT gmail.

Need more info on the biketrain? Check it out at bit.ly/osFsag

A slide from DOT's April 2010 Grand Army Plaza Improvements presentation

The above image is from DOT’s April 2010 Grand Army Plaza Improvements presentation.  It’s a collection of images meant to introduce the presentation’s section on Plaza Streets East and West and the solutions that were eventually endorsed by three local community boards.

If you look closely at the upper left corner of the slide, you’ll see one image that demonstrates every reason for a protected, two-way bike lane on Plaza Street.

The image shows:

• An SUV driving or parked in the bike lane.
• A double-parked truck.
• A contra-flow cyclist.

To break it down, by passing the SUV blocking the bike lane against the direction of traffic, the cyclist renders himself invisible to oncoming vehicles coming from behind the double-parked truck.  Any car speeding down Plaza Street would be similarly invisible to him.  Yes, the truck may be parked in a way that would block traffic if there was a protected bike lane on the street, but can anyone really argue that not delaying motorists for even a second is more important than a person’s life?

In 2010 DOT felt that this image smartly demonstrated the key reasons for a protected, two-way bike lane.  Nothing has changed in the last two years except for the fact that cycling has grown more popular than ever.  Yes, the PPW lawsuit affected the politics, but only on the pages of the Brooklyn Paper.  If anything, the fight over PPW showed just how much pent-up desire there is for more pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure.  Are we really willing to sacrifice the safety of our community on the altar of politics?

“We like Mike,” Douglas E. Schoen:

And even though the push for new bike lanes provokes angry outbursts by some, recent polling finds that New York voters support (72% to 23%) a plan to rent up to 10,000 bicycles from lots around the city, and say (59% to 34%) that they want bike rentals in their neighborhood.