Council Oversight Hearing on Bicycles, Micromobility, and Street Enforcement
Good morning, and thank you to Chair Brooks-Powers and the members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. My name is Elizabeth Adams and I am the Deputy Executive Director for Public Affairs at Transportation Alternatives. Transportation Alternatives believes that our streets belong to the people of New York City, and we work with New Yorkers in every borough to build a future that rises to the needs of our communities. Thank you for convening this hearing on bicycles, micromobility, and street enforcement.
The bills being heard today will go a long way to address street safety, transportation access, and a more equitable future for our public space – and Transportation Alternatives supports Intros 417, 501, 927, 926, 712, and 289, which will remove delays and barriers to safe streets infrastructure; make e-micromobility charging stations more accessible; clear our bus and bike lanes; and require a better assessment of bicycle infrastructure conditions and needs citywide.
These changes are essential. We need to speed up infrastructure projects, keep our bus and bike lanes clear so that the infrastructure we’ve built actually works, and prioritize equitable enforcement through automatic programs like ABLE bus cameras and keeping bus lanes, crosswalks and bike lanes clear.
Bike ridership in NYC has reached an all-time high. But we’re in a crisis — 12 bikers killed already this year. People are calling for more sustainable modes of transit, including e-micromobility, and we have an obligation to provide the street safety measures and charging stations that make it possible for more people to access biking.
The need is urgent. NYC is far behind our Streets plan requirements. DOT did not meet the bike and bus lane goals for 2022, and we’ve tracked just 0.36 miles built out of 50 bike lane miles required to be installed in 2023.
Every day an infrastructure project is stalled, or a bus or bike lane is blocked, New Yorkers are forced to ride in unsafe conditions.
This has real life costs. Blocked bike lanes have deadly consequences, and we’re already at a crisis of record cyclist deaths this year. The city must do everything it can to remove unwarranted barriers and build the systemic solutions we know work – networks of protected bike lanes.
For safe and clear streets, we need our bike lanes and bus lanes to work.
A NYCDOT survey found that “fewer vehicles driving or stopping in bike lanes” was the number one issue that would encourage New Yorkers to bike more. If we want people to commute in more sustainable ways, we need to make it safe for them to do so.
A blocked lane is not only inconvenient, it’s dangerous. In 2018, Madison Jane Lynden was killed when a car double-parked in the bike lane, forcing her into the street where she was hit by a truck driver. We need our government agencies to step up – we cannot keep ignoring such a flagrant misuse of our streets.
Blocked bus lanes are also deeply inequitable. Three out of four New Yorkers who rely on the bus are low-income. Busways and bus lanes increase bus ridership and reduce travel times. Yet a single driver can block fifty bus riders from getting to work on time, slowing commutes for up to 8,000 bus riders/hour.
We also commend CMs Rivera, Gutierrez, Farias and Bottcher for their bills. The majority of NYC cyclists are people of color and yet face inequitable access to infrastructure: over 90% of cyclist fatalities are on streets where the median income is below the citywide average. Reporting on where infrastructure projects are is critical for realizing equitable city planning.
Transportation Alternatives’ 25x25 challenge calls for 25 percent of New York’s streets to be reclaimed from cars and returned to the public, and that is only possible when bus and bike lanes can be used safely for their intended purpose.
Thank you again for your time. We look forward to working closely with each of you to make New York’s streets safe and equitable for all.
