Make Room for Bicycles

Bicycles have been a prominent presence on the streets of New York City for over two decades. In many parts of town, close to one in ten vehicles is a bicycle, making bikes at least as common as, say, city buses (see Appendix 2: Bicycle Traffic Counts). Yet many other street users, including pedestrians, motorists, cabbies and bus drivers, are still reluctant to acknowledge the constructive role the bicycle plays in transportation, much less grant cyclists the respect and road space they deserve. Public education is needed to create positive awareness of bicycling's contribution to the city's character, economy and community.

THE REAL TRAFFIC PROBLEM

This animosity toward, and misunderstanding of, bicyclists stems in part from the sudden, unanticipated surge of bicycling in the late 1970s, leading to the heyday of the bicycle messenger in the mid-1980s. Pedestrians, motorists and cyclists needed time to get used to each other. Lacking any help from the city, in the form of education, guidance or tolerance, the more entrenched street users were too often suspicious of the newcomers.

In the mid to late eighties, cyclists became a handy scapegoat for traffic problems that have existed for decades. The real source of animosity and danger on the streets is too many motor vehicles vying for too little street space. After all, bicycles mitigate the problem — the more bicycles on the street, the less congestion, horn-honking and pollution.

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