The risks of half-hearted bike lanes (in New York City)
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- Опубликовано: 19 июн 2024
- Well-built, connected bike lanes can be life-changing, keeping people on bikes safe, comfortable and mobile. But in so many cities, what emerges instead is something that feels half-hearted -- disconnected and unprotected lanes that don't keep cyclists safe and don't enable people to truly get around on bikes.
A recent whirlwind trip to New York City illustrated both the risks of half-hearted bike infrastructure, but also the great potential when a city commits fully and builds proper safe and protected bike lanes.
This video also has a special guest: Jon Orcutt of Bike NYC, an important figure in New York's great transition to bike-friendliness during the 2000s. Thanks Jon!
0:00 Introduction
2:45 A bridge changes from half-hearted to great
4:06 A half-hearted bike lane in Brooklyn and its problems
5:39 The joys of a properly built bike lane
6:42 Half-hearted enforcement of bike-lane parking restrictions
8:38 The Brooklyn Bridge's transformation
10:47 Jon Orcutt's advice for other cities
11:53 Summing it up
Some footage in this video comes from the following sources, used under creative commons (thanks to all of you!)
StreetFilms - Chrystie Street Bike Lane
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StreetFilms - Pulaski Bridge
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The Dronalist - Dumbo Brooklyn Bridge Sunset
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Bike Tour - Brooklyn Bridge to Battery Park, NYC
• Bike Tour - Brooklyn B...
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Развлечения
New York desperately needs to pass the bounty program for people who park in the bike lane.
Enforcement can help, but a proper barrier between the car lane and the bike lane would make it impossible to park in the bike lane.
@@Shifter_Cycling You're right, bike lanes properly seperated from traffic would make enforcement unnecessary. While we wait 50 years for that to happen, we need enforcement NOW. Cops won't do it. A bounty program is a great idea.
@@tthomas184 It wouldn't take 50 years if the government made it a priority.
The POS city council scrapped the bounty portion of the proposed statute. I can’t emphasize enough that there is no enforcement whatsoever. Cop cars are some of the biggest offenders.
@@alex2143 it's never going to be a priority.
Some of the funniest, most frustrating "bike infrastructure" projects are those where a city places a single bike lane on a random street, surrounded by nothing but dangerous car infrastructure. Like they heard about bike lanes from a friend of a friend and decided they want to try one.
That’s just to show the shity is doing something even if it’s nothing.
Trying to kill off cyclists by luring them into a trap
@@GaigeGrosskreutzGunClub trying to get rid of this one sided s***
It's often because the neighborhoods around it that they were going to lose their street parking at those portions got cut. It's really important to show up at planning committee meetings so you can help balance out those NIMBYs.
that's Houston anywhere outside downtown. but how are you supposed to get downtown on bike ?????
Let me be absolutely blunt...
These "half assed" bike projects are at least sometimes INTENTIONALLY BAD.
In my last region, our transportation staff used the failure of the bad cycling infra as arguments AGAINST building better cycling infra.
That's still debatably one step better than most of America, which uses the *absence* of bike infrastructure as arguments against bike infrastructure-- since the lack of infrastructure also means a lack of cyclists.
I've long suspected this to be true, but I try not to assume the worst. If it's true, it's a terrible disingenuous waste of time, money and good will.
@@Shifter_Cycling That's because you're Canadian. Spend enough time in the states and you'll lose every ounce of hope for humanity you ever had.
@@Kevin15047 Edmonton's City manager is currently pushing back against city council on bike infrastructure.
We recently elected a pro-green transportation council.
@@jamesphillips2285 Alberta is Canada's Texas, though.
My city isn't even half hearted level yet 😂
Some day I hope you get to the point where you can complain about your bike lanes
Same here in Bathurst Australia 🥲
Ironically then you are much safer as a cyclist, then.
They don't just "end" car lanes without a massive level of notification and planning. Shameful how everyone else gets no consideration
My "favourite" is when they end a bike lane for construction and only put one sign up once you are already committed to your route and you're at the blockage. Nothing at the previous intersection to give you any notice so you get to u-turn and backtrack. At least they own 1 'bike lane closed' sign. That's a start anyway.
It all comes down to corruption. Especially in NYC
Not as frustrating, but I sometimes think about all the heads up signs car drivers gets about motorway exits, and entrances. The bike lane equivalent is badly designed (at least in my country), and only placed at the actual intersection. So either you can see that a bike lane split is coming up, but you don't know which direction you need to go until you're actually in the intersection, and can read the sign. Or you don't see that a bike lane split is coming up, and goes straight through/past the intersection only to realise Wait a minute, did I just go past a direction sign, should I have turned?
Extra bonus for when a large bush/tree stands so it hides the bike lane split, and/or the direction sign.
NACTO's "Don't give up at the intersection" design guidelines are great examples for cities on how to avoid doing this half-heartedly. There is a painted bike lane near my house that goes from nowhere to nowhere on a 45mph, 4 lane divided road where the bike lanes disappear at every intersection and are even interrupted by dedicated right turn lanes. Poor infrastructure is sometime worse than no infrastructure as in this case these lanes are often used as an example of "we put a bike lane in and see, nobody is using it".
i think they're integrating it into their new bike design manual that's coming this year.
That almost sounds like my city. Painted bike lanes almost every other block, but they all end 50' from both sides of every intersection. We got a new transit train recently that goes down a relatively busy street. This took up two lanes. Sadly, the painted bike lanes were removed because there was no room since the train took up too much space, and the cars were priority over bicycles.
You mean to tell me people were uncomfortable riding their 10mph two wheel balancing acts in the road alongside countless 80 mph ford f-150’s?
@@4GregF Trash day is especially bad. I was driving down a road with painted bike shoulders on trash day and the dumpsters were just strewn about, blocking the lanes.
@@ytmm1 it’s not the cyclists fault, it’s just really bad design with America’s highways that just plow straight through towns and cities instead of going around.
In Germany f.e. cars parked on a bike lane will be towed (which costs at least 100€, only for towing). The fee alone for just standing on a bike lane is about 90€ and one (of eight possible) points.
I always would prefer design solutions over enforcement, but 90€ just for standing in a bike lane feels quite motivating.
Same issue of enforcement though. Some cities do it, some don't. I do feel there's some level of better awareness slowly creeping in but ... emphasis on slowly.
Unfortunately, this happens not often enough. Polizei or Ordnungsamt usually don’t have the manpower to really make a difference.
@@Shifter_Cycling Almost every nyc parking ticket violation I have ever seen is over 100 dollars already. It seems like they are close to setting a 175 dollar fine for parking in a bike lane.
A tow in NYC will probably be $300+ not including the city ticket
I like to say, 'Imagine an access restricted highway (like the 400 series highways here in Ontario) without warning, turning to gravel and dropping down to one lane or even just ending. That's pretty much what many bike lanes are like.' Many of the bike lanes in Waterloo, Ontario end gracefully at least and that is nice, but most bike lanes (even there) still kind of end when they get to an intersection.
Look up the history of the Kansas Turnpike if you are interested in what happens when a controlled access highway abruptly ends. The highway was built with a t intersection at the Kansas/Oklahoma state line and cars would plow into the field at the end of the road. But I do agree with you that separate bike infrastructure often feels like this and we should provide better pathways through intersections at least.
This. Also like a sign that says "cyclists dismount". Like imagine asking a car user to get out and push.
Actually, outside of Ontario that sort of thing happens all the time. It's a renowned feature of our 400-series. Even big interstates can just end. It's alien if you're from Ontario...
Yea and in stupid places too. 400 series would end before it got ANYWHERE near downtown, because that's how stupid they are with bike lanes.
@@Obscurity202 Yea UNSAFE FOR YOU TO GO THROUGH THE INTERSECTION AT SPEED!!! They tell cyclists while allowing cars to continue, even after the COUNTLESS accidents they've had in intersections.
We need to demand that every driver needs to get TOWED across intersections by static placed winches.
Thanks Tom. My take away? “The infrastructure will tell you what to do” Jon Orcutt.
Thank you so much for the support. I really appreciate it. And that Jon Orcutt knows what he's talking about.
My city widened the sidewalk and made an *elevated* separated bike lane between the sidewalk and the road (on where the grassy bit used to be) in a bid to create our first complete street - a street to serve all users. And it's cool, they clearly put a good amount of thought into it-
-but it sucks ass. Because it has about three hundred driveways it crosses over so it's like constant speed bumps. And while we can raise off our seats and whatnot to make it more comfortable it's exhausting going up or down it.
Still better than the gutter! Mostly.
This is such a car-brain way of building bike infrastructure. Why not build ramps for the cars to have to maneuver over rather than force cyclists to do all the accommodating?
Same thing in my town. But the sidewalks are old so I get it. In some instances there are two driveways right next to each other and the lane/sidewalk go up by 10cm for half a metre.
Also here there is no separation between the sidewalk and bicycle lane other than a line of granite cubes in the asphalt. And that makes it kinda annoying when people walk in the bicycle lane, you ring your bell and they don't hear you and don't move.
I should also say that on that particular street I ride on the road and not on the bicycle lane (even though its illegal) most of the time because of the speed bump effect. I even bought a suspension seatpost because of them.
It's so classic design to effectively put speed bumps for bikes in places where cars have to yield... It's a problem around here too, though the latest (and so far best) bike lanes have been designed not to have bumps or kerbs at crossings, though the ramps for driveways are still being built into the bike path. They could be made steeper, or be built into the car lanes, but no...
That is so extra crazy as if the elevated bike lane kept being elevated with ramps for the cars at crossings so would they act as speed bumps for the cars which would be actually useful.
@@Shifter_Cycling Because cars are a certain shape, and require a certain pitch to not scrape and/or get stuck.... That bike lane should have been built (probably) where the sidewalk currently is to be level.
Great video, I think it’s also important to stress how much cheaper to build and maintain bike infrastructure is relative to car infrastructure. Bikes shouldn’t be viewed as just a recreational activity, but as a serious mode of transportation and the financials play a key role in telling that story.
It's also much cheaper to add bicycle lanes if a property is already undergoing construction, than starting construction just to put in a bike lane.
As an outsider the struggle to make this happen in NYC is wild. NYC just has so many bike-feasible trips. Make people comfortable enough and they'll actively want to bike, and want more bike infrastructure.
Almost as if it's a .. city? Designed originally to do away with long distances between communities. Cars just tore cities appart like it was nothing.
"The infrastructure tells you what to do" is such a great and succinct way of explaining street design, gonna steal that one.
Thank you for talking about this. The funny thing is that the 'bad' example on West Street is still one of the better bike paths in the city. One additional frustration with half-hearted infrastructure is that navigation apps often don't know how to account for them. For Google Maps, it seems a bike path is a bike path, whether it's a protected lane, a painted lane, or a dreaded 'sharrow' - there's little to no accounting for which bike paths are safer than others.
In many cases, it actually seems safer to ride down a parallel road without a marked bike path because the painted paths are often ironically on the more traffic-heavy streets.
Honestly, if NYC made a significant bike to work incentive, it could lead to so many fast results.
My city has been adding bike paths and lanes. Before they started this I was using the roads parallel to a busy north/south street. The city decided to add bike lanes to this busy street. I still use the parallel roads because they are much safer residential streets. Also the new bike lanes are being used by delivery trucks as places to stop for deliveries, making bicyclists go into car traffic to get around them.
Glad you covered new york! Brooklyn despite being awarded the best biking city award sucks to ride in outside of the very gentrified north eastern and downtown areas. The rest of brooklyn (primarily black and brown) is pretty neglected would love to see coverage
Exactly
Nobody is going to ride their bike through dangerous areas.
@@Mantis858585locals will
Brooklyn is not “black and brown” apart from GP and Williamsburg but ok
@@bruhbutwhytho2301 they have no choice
Copenhagen is usually considered a good place for bicycles, but we have this %#¤#¤% too
Really I thought Denmark was equivalent to the Netherlands when it comes to bike infrastructure. When I watch many cycling compilations I see a lot of Danish 🇩🇰 cyclists. How is denamrk compared to the Netherlands.
Not Just Bikes made a video about Copenhagen called "Copenhagen is great .... but it is not Amsterdam". Watch it and you will understand why the yearly election of Copenhagen as the best city for cycling in the world, raises some eyebrows in the Netherlands. It is also worth mentioning that the dutch consider the bicycling infrastructure in Amsterdam as mediocre. 😊
I live in Honolulu and am currently fighting for the redesign of the Ala Wai bike lane you showed a clip of in the video.
One of our biggest challenges is that the most vocal residents (in the minority) are anti-improved bike lane along this route, which seems to be forcing the City’s hand in making another form of “half hearted” bike lane; one in which yes, a proper protected bike lane will be installed, but with significant modifications that still convenience the driver instead of the bike rider.
In this case, the proposed changes to the Ala Wai bike lane will be a protected bike lane, but it will zig zag with cuts carved out here and there to allow for parking next to the bike lane, rather than a straight, convenient path for cyclists.
Sir that "bike lane" looks super dangerous... it looks like the right lane of a highway is shared with bicycles then it sways into the middle lane then back or whatever. Speeding cars to the left and right. I would avoid at all costs.
@@gildisc9759 Yeah, it's awful. Which is why we're fighting to get it to be a protected lane with barriers. The "problem" is that this would require taking one of the currently existing 3 driving lanes, and so the city's half hearted idea is to take away one lane, but zig zag the bike lane so you can fit car parking into the cut-ins, so at least the cars can still have parking.
But of course, this just means bike riders will have to ride in an inefficient, zig zag pattern because...cars.
Of course, American politicians tend to skew towards the older, wealthier demographic that drives everywhere and sees anything that takes away from cars as being bad
@@tonywalters7298 You have no idea how frustrating the meetings I attend on this topic are. There’s this one wealthy, elderly person in particular who keeps saying at every meeting “Only one percent of residents ride a bike! Why do we need to take away a whole lane?”
And it’s like sure, even if that’s a true statistic, the reason WHY bike ridership tends to be so low is exactly BECAUSE there are no good bike lanes and therefore riders don’t feel safe, so less people tend to bike. It’s like this giant self fulfilling prophecy they cannot wrap their heads around. It’s like the same people who oppose bike lanes and then are surprised and get mad when bicyclists ride on the sidewalk. Like what do you expect them to do?
@@dylankeith2833 or get mad when bikes ride in traffic lanes for that matter. I also agree that incrementalism is poor planning. Like we will get a bike lane or side path when a section of road is resurfaced but that works out to a small portion of the road network that is accessible, and then we will be lucky to have a half baked network in 20 or so yesrs
Oh my gosh, Christchurch NZ is absolutely committed to half-hearted bike paths. One block will have a beautiful separate bike lane, and then it abruptly ends and the remainder of the route is in and out of traffic. It’s a nightmare! And with kids in a cargo bike, it’s honestly terrifying. I think the city is just worried about looks, so for onlookers, the bike lanes look great, until someone is attempting to use them, and realizes they are incomplete and just lead to no-where but confusion and traffic. 😢
My latest annoyance is when cities build half-hearted bike lanes, but then turn around and brag about how great they are when trying to attract business or new workers or tourists. Sounds like this might be happening in Christchurch as well.
@@Shifter_Cycling Yep, so motorists are angry because taxes go up to pay for extremely expensive bike lanes. But cyclists are angry because the bike lanes are incomplete and confusing. Then cyclists just ride in traffic, and motorists honk and yell because the bike isn’t on the “path”, but the path doesn’t go anywhere. I knew you would understand. 😉🥰
Nice guy, very knowledgeable. And to take up that fight in a place like New York, must have balls of steel.
I've been cycling my bike in Bangor, Northern Ireland , and there are a lot of these half hearted bike lanes, or cars parked in them making them pointless, just subscribed to your channel :-)
Having to go around parked vehicles is something I'm becoming less and less willing to do when I'm cycling as I've had too many bad experiences with following motorists either close passing me or behaving aggressively (revving of shouting abuse) as they pass further down the road. These days i cycle with a rear view mirror and pull my bike onto the pavement / sidewalk and walk it past the parked vehicles if there are drivers behind me as i approach parked cars. Thankfully, Edinburgh council is starting to get it right and we're getting segregated bike lanes that sit between the pavement and the road meaning that they are continuous and free of obstructions.
Thank you for this video! I used to live in NYC, around 6 years ago, and you went to all the common spots I used to bike. Seems like it's moving in the right direction, but nice to see those routes I used get better.
Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge was a great experience, especially compared to videos I've seen from what it was a few years ago.
Sure would be nice to even have a small shoulder on some of the street in the industrial area to make it easier to commute! Great info.
I think a physical barrier between the bike lane and the automobile lane would make it safer and easier for all users, and would end the problem of people parking in the bike lane.
People in cars tend to be so angry and self righteous toward the pedestrians and bike riders whose lives they are constantly endangering. It is a terrifying, horrible experience being on a bike and constantly having to dodge life-threatening situations whilst being yelled at and honked at for no reason. If we had infrastructure that prioritized bikes and walking, and started taxing and regulating suvs, these people would gradually shift away from identifying with their big machines, and begin to take up their fair share of space.
It’s attitude like this that’s causing the accidents. EVERYTHING is not the drivers fault. Yes, there are some bad drivers on the road. I have a crystal clean record for 52 years because I drive safely. So how can you group someone like me into that statement??! Cars have to watch for bikes EQUALLY as bikes must watch for cars. There are no special privileges.
@@grazz7865 bikes arent killing car drivers
@@theepimountainbiker6551 no, they’re not but they are believing that they have special privileges and doing whatever they want causing dangerous situations (Of course, I can’t speak for everyone). There are the ones that understand the bike is lighter and slower and they must be careful. Then there are the ones that don’t look. Dart out into traffic. The best way to reduce accidents is awareness. Cars must watch for bikes EQUALLY as bikes must watch for cars.
The 'H' in Halifax stands for half-hearted bike infrastructure
This makes me laugh and cry. It's such a great city with so much opportunity
Half-ifax?
Halif assed
@@skateboardious yeah, that's better
NYC’s infrastructure has drastically improved in the past few years, with the pinnacle being the brooklyn bridge lane easily connecting downtown brooklyn and manhattan. The main issue is the lack of enforcement for parking in bikelanes, and the refusal to take out the second parking lane on most residential streets. A great idea they have used extensively though is using the parking lane to separate bikes from moving cars - allows for cheap implementation costs and works fairly well. The biggest improvement was actuslly when speed limits in the city were reduced, making biking a whole lot safer.
I watch videos like this because I live in Buenos Aires now. In the last decade BsAs put in a bunch of bike lanes, but almost exclusively they just painted them in. They are riddled with all the problems mentioned here. I keep looking at what other cities have done to make this work better. This was a good outline of the problems of half hearted implementation, especially the closing comment about political capital. thanks
I totally agree with the comment that, if they are going to do something for bikes, “get it right”. In my city Saskatoon Saskatchewan, there’s little to no bike infrastructure. They put a lot of resources into Victoria ave. Bragged how good it was gonna be for bikes and pedestrians. What a joke. It’s terrible and now we’re stuck with it. It’s so frustrating. Thanks for being an advocate for positive change
Ohh look it's all my old routes. You should see the summer evening commutes over the brooklyn, or along the major bike routes like 2nd ave.
Overall, I bike commuted in the city about 10 years ago, and picked it up again last year. This video does a good job capturing the state of NYC/Brooklyn, it really is much better, but there are these small oversights, and mystifying gaps that get frustrating.
Also the NYC bike scene I think can have trouble taking the wins. We are making progress here!
Half of the routes I cover in this video were pretty good or excellect, so I think New York can take at least a partial W.
Great video! I always love getting to see what the cycling infrastructure is like in different cities.
The Brooklyn Bridge bike lane is great, although as you may have noticed, getting onto the lane from the Brooklyn side requires crossing a really hellish intersection. I wish it could be made just a bit safer, but alas, the world would probably explode if there were any less than 5 traffic lanes on the bridge.
Cool to see you in NYC. Can’t wait for any of your future visits here!
I can't wait to come back!
I live in Greenpoint and ride the bike lanes ya’ll went on all the time, I feel like I could’ve done this tour myself. Thanks for the video.
It'll be exciting to see how NYC continues to improve in their cycle infrastructure, great video and how awesome to have an esteemed guest!
Biking is picking up in the city. Tourists are helping a lot. They love to rent bikes and hit the bridges and the west side highway. More protected lanes are being added each season and more on demand bike rentals are being installed. 10 years from now the conversation will be much different!
"Half-hearted bike infrastructure" is the name of the game in my European city as well. I regularly feel like the bike paths give up on me.
Another great video Tom. Cheers.
This is a great video. Your perspective is fantastic, but going to different places and using your platform to empower the locals' voices (and local experts) is really a cut above and something not enough urbanist channels do. Can't wait for the next one!
Next time you come back to NYC, check out the new bike path that just opened on the north side of the George Washington Bridge. Lots of ramps, really nice. They’re working on the southside now and I believe that is going to hold the pedestrian traffic.
Let me clarify. Both pedestrians and cyclist historically used the southside. The northside was usually closed and only open when it was work on the southside. It had lots of stairs and was inconvenient. The northside that they just opened is a vast improvement. Now they’re getting to work on the southside to make it better but for now it’s closed.
It’s utterly sad there’s no downtown foot bridge
It's nice to see more channels covering things like this. As someone who exclusively cycles (I do not drive, I will not drive) it's infuriating how much my mode of transportation is treated as either an afterthought or merely an inconvenience to vehicular traffic. My own city just removed several miles of bike lane and replaced them with sharrows.
Seems like we cannot just be cyclists, we have to be political activists!
Great video Tom! Yes I totally agree with your statements as my home city (Sydney) has so many half hearted bike lanes that confuse everyone. Would be great if you did a video heard as it is a combination between London and Montreal/NYC in many factors especially bike lanes/infrastructure.
Thanks for the insightful clip, Tom. Toronto has its share of "half-hearted" bike lanes, though one of the more popular ones - College Street - is being upgraded to proper cycle tracks right now. The latest public consultations have also been putting aside older designs in favour of cycle tracks as much as possible, while the Bloor-Danforth-Kingston and Eglinton corridors will be worth keeping an eye on over the next year or two.
It's not just bike lanes. My city has been very random with pedestrian cross walks for years. Some times we get a button, some times it's a censor. Some times the walk signs talk, some times they just beep. A few have beeping aids for the blind, others do not.
Some streets are so bad that 2 corners at an intersection has the beeping aids for the blind, while the other two don't. As if once the blind person crosses, they can't go the other direction. It also comes and goes. One street has them, the next doesn't.
Glad you made this trip, even if shortened. If you stay in Manhattan, at least Times Square and below, there really is some shockingly good bike infrastructure. Brooklyn lags behind Manhattan unfortunately, but it's probably still ahead of the pack compared to the other boroughs.
The other underrated part of NYC bike improvements is across the river in Jersey City and Hoboken. Lots of improvements have been made very quickly. It's difficult to get a personal bike on PATH or a regional train, but they're very easy to get to Manhattan by ferry and Citi Bike is available on both sides of the river. I took a trip from NJ to Greenpoint not too long ago - though I took the Williamsburg Bridge instead, which is very nice but very steep - and it really runs the gamut of quality of bike infrastructure.
Thanks for the great video! We're slowly getting to properly connected bike infrastructure. Slowly.
Thanks Brad. Your support means a lot!
Good video & thanks for making it.
Have that near my home. A bike lane that goes literally one block. Leads to nothing, comes from nothing. It goes down one street that leads to a school crossing, but doesn't actually lead to the school. Also stops a street before the apartment complex, it's just one side by pass street. Never mind it's a by pass street that cars tend to drive on 60+ mph on, despite the speed limit being 30 because it's so isolated.
Thanks for the continued excellent content!
Thank you for watching and thank you so much for the support!
Thank you for this video. We need more awareness on this topic. Tom, please do this in more cities.
In my opinion, bike lanes have to be completely separated both from car traffic and from pedestrians, just like car traffic has been separated from pedestrians. Only then it'll be safer for bicyclists, e-scooterists and pedestrians, and other road users will start to respect the bicycles and e-scooters as a normal mode of transport, just as normal as a vehicle.
Never disappointed with your channel!
Oh wow, the Brooklyn Bridge project is so great! This video is awesome and it could really be most North American cities that try to say they are adding bike infrastructure, which for the most part is just lip service: oh here's some paint for you. "City streets are not geological formations, you can change them".
Super video again Tom! Thanks to you and Jon for making such good logical points! I think we need to challenge politicians to dare to ride the "half-hearted " infrastructure in each ward/borough/ district to 'prove' to us just how 'safe' it is! Then, if they survive, and don't have a 'heart attack ' from the 'half-hearted ' infrastructure, we WILL get "whole hearted" complete, safe, protected, and connected bike networks!!!
There's a common trajectory of outrage from motorists when new bike lanes are proposed, that peaks just before the bike lane is built and then dies completely shortly after it opens once motorists realize their world didn't change all that much
Great video! Jon is a great guy, and what they've accomplished in NYC is inspiring. I advocate for bike infra in L.A.... and I confess I have pushed for half-assed bike facilities here, which I think is sometimes the best choice. When the city says no to complete infra, sometimes half a loaf is as much as you can get... and then you push to extend, close gaps. Even that example you open with - yes - it ends problematically, but I expect that it does serve pretty well for many shorter trips, no?
Thanks for exposing the areas that need improvement!
When I first moved to my small city there was a bike path that abruptly stopped and restarted in places. It was very piecemeal. They recently put in more bike paths. Now I can bike from my house to my parents' place almost totally using bike paths. That old bike path still needs work, but things are improving for bicycling here.
Small sample size but here in Nashville, TN, it really feels like police have given up on traffic enforcement. Roads feel increasingly lawless. That includes parking infractions of all kinds, but also reckless driving, running lights, rolling through stop signs, the whole gamut of bad driver behavior. Relying on police to ensure cyclist safety is a losing bet
Ha that’s my friend there in the redShirt of you coverImage. Been riding that stretch of Kent / NavyYard for years now so got to see how fast they revived it. Back in 2018 and earlier, car lanes and bike lane would flood over during moderate rain. Now it’s a dream to ride
Awesome video. Very informative.
Cool video. I wish it were longer, and that you had gone on the Williamsburg Bridge too.
It’s a necessity to build up quickly as the amount of non electric, electric, scooters, skateboards is astounding. It’s not really a luxury at this point, but a necessity that needs to be built.
I hope you get an opportunity to take a look at some cities in middle-income countries. For many of us, our models for making cities more liveable include places like Bogotá, Colombia, where limited resources are used effectively. It would be great inspiration (and ammunition) to see examples of cities in middle-income countries that have made significant strides in becoming bike-friendly.
❤ the interview videos.
What these videos show me is just a massive appreciation for what my city is doing (Malmö, Sweden). We currently have 25% of our citizens riding bikes daily. in 2030 they are striving for this to increase to 30%, and ways they are doing this is through safe and dedicated bike infrastructure, bike parking, cheap rental bike service with tons of stations everywhere (25$ per year), public bike service stations (bike wash, water bottle refill, bicycle pumps etc) spread throughout the city. Not to mention, camera surveilled bike parking near all train stations with public rest rooms and café (8$ per month) . Which makes perfect sense for those with expensive e-bikes who want to ditch their car for a combined e-bike/train travel.
The funny thing is that a lot of car-centric americans often get really defensive saying "how should elderly get around!?", "what about disabled people!?"... And the thing is, bikes and mobility vehicles on safe bike infrastructure, + walkable neighborhoods is ten thousand times better than car-dependency. which these people are defending. I always see elderly (65-85 year olds) out bicycling, sometimes they have stable electric three wheel bikes with a pretty massive shopping basket in the back. :) there's no reason for them to use a car, especially as they become a danger to themselves and others in traffic with age. Still they get out, workout, meet and see other people. Which is great for their health.
I bike over the Brooklyn Bridge 3 times a week and love the bike lane. It's a fantastic way to get from the railroad (LIRR) at Atlantic Terminal to my office in Downtown Manhattan. I take my Foldy on the train with me and ride it to work.
awesome episode.
Back when I lived in Brooklyn I was totally one of those bikers that went over the Manhattan bridge to avoid the crazy pedestrian traffic. I live in the Bronx now, and I've been struck at how hard it is to get across the Bronx with public transportation, it's usually half the time to bike to the Zoo than to take the bus or subway, but there are still issues, like the connection from the Old Putnam trail to the Mosholu Parkway path. Sand the cops parking cars on the mixed use section by their impound lot. All that being said I've been riding my bike throughout the city for about 18 years now and it has gotten easier and easier in that time.
We have them in the UK too.
I've seen bike lanes that are literally a few meters long then it ends.
Thank you !
Hi Tom! Your video inspired us to make a small podcast about comparing the bicycle infrastructure shown in your video and in Russia (the city of Kazan). We also have a lot of unfinished bike paths. You can view it with a translation. Thank you for the positive and useful content!
Great Video!
Very nice small survey, it helps to discern an average.
Nice video Tom!
As a Brooklyner my personal bugbear was the traffic circle at the southwest corner of prospect park. They built a beautiful two way bike line along Parkside Ave separated by a line of parked cars from moving traffic, and then once it gets to the corner, just stops, forcing you into traffic right where cars densely pack together waiting for the light (the traffic circle has about 5 different lights because of course). They fixed this by painting the bike lane up into the sidewalk which does work to keep bikes away from cars, but it's so unnatural that some cyclists don't even use or notice it, which makes for a fun game of almost chicken when coming back the other way and you don't know if you're going to cross over paths and run into each other.
Don't get me started... the WHOLE park interior was a "bike lane" but they added bike lanes around the park?!? NYC killed vehicular traffic around the park by adding bike lanes.
We don't even have a bike lane where I live. The grocery store moved as well... But not even a path to avoid getting hit.
On the brooklyn bridge situation. You only need to look to the 405 to see what happens when you build extra lanes, widening road infra doesn't ease congestion, providing active travel options especially in a city, does.
Great video about Bike lanes Thank you ....... Problem about bikes lanes lately is gasoline and electric scooters are using them at higher speeds then pedal bikes which makes it dangerous to ride safely in bike lanes. No rules or regulations anywhere in NYC. Sometimes it's just safer to ride the streets .
The broklyn cycle track was poggers!
Calgary seems much quieter than NYC. Also, your cold ❄️ tolerance is much better than mine. Another fantastic video, thanks.
Ha. Sometimes I wish my cold tolerance was even better. Thanks again for the support Philip -- I really appreciate it!
The street I live on has a bike lane with those little plastic barriers. The ones shown in this video are way more in tact that I've ever seen near my house. They're all so busted they do literally nothing. And yea, there are often cars pull over in the bike lane (more often pulled over than parked but still).
It's not just New York, the lack of enforcement for people parking in bike lanes is a huge problem in Toronto
While browsing for my new electric bike the other week, the bike shop questionnaire to help me find a bike asked how much I thought I’d be riding on grass and I put none thinking I’d just be on roads and footpath. Then I started doing practice runs of different routes to work and there was grass _everywhere_ XD since in town there is footpaths but once you leave the main area it seems only the newer builds have footpaths alongside them so it can be very intermittent and patchy since there is all the old builds with no footpaths as well. Also you really start noticing which bridges do or don’t have build in footpath crossings and which ones don’t, as well as which side the footpath bridge crossings are on, since you now need to plan to be on that side of the road.
Thankfully the electric bike is great on grass, which I could hardly have said for my non-electric bike, and most of the grass in front of residential areas has been keep reasonably short so that’s good. Not sure if I have the residents or Council to thank there, perhaps both. The back road I normally drive along tends to have longer grass, although it had been slashed the other day, so not sure how reliably I’d be able to ride beside the road instead of on it if the traffic was too much. Although I’ll probably take an alternate route just because if the lack of a built in footpath river crossing and use a less backroady route instead.
I live in Poland, one of the least cycling friendly country in Europe. When I went to New York for a few days of cycling I felt like in cycling heaven.
Yay top 978 and top 114 likes and comments. Love this content. Best to you and your family.
Calgary has a lot of those bike lanes. Just to get from Tuscany to Bow path lane I have to cross Nosehill Drive 3 times in 2km stretch. The bike lanes are completely neglected in terms of maintenance. The busiest one along Memorial Drive has never been resurfaced under our "green mayors" Nenshi & Gondek - full of cracks and potholes.
The UK has a major major issue with this - probably the world's capital of half arsed cycling infrastructure, because we build a lot of bike lanes nationwide, but the vast majority are shit.
London has been improving on this and seeing a huge increase in cycling traffic - Manchester has been trying to, but creating cursed things like 'cycling roundabouts'.My current home city of Nottingham is seeing significant infrastructure improvements in the city centre, but the inner city suburbs (especially the poorer ones the affluent people need to drive through) have really appalling/nonexistent cycling infrastructure...
I think it would be interesting to see a video for what a small city that is car dependent (sprawled out) with poor public transportation and little bike infrastructure can do to get more people to not use their car. I’m thinking of Hawai’i County specifically the city of Hilo and the areas around it that people commute from
Ha, I have been waiting for the right time to say this after you defended half-arsed bike infrastructure as "better than nothing" on one of my comments on an earlier video!
The thing I have noticed about many of these urban infrastructure channels is how forgiving they are of "some" infrastructure for bicycles, but are so harsh on similar pedestrian infrastructure, like over and underpasses. I would _much_ rather an underpass to get over, say, Kew Junction than waiting for 3 separate light cycles to get across the road, still at some risk to yourself. I think they have been used to great effect on Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing etc. and, despite their obvious shortcomings, do make walking easier for the vast majority.
And I am still seeing narrow, two way bike infrastructure being passed off as "good". Why isn't one lane in either direction converted for bikes? Is there suddenly 50% more cars going in one direction? There must be something in the water in NYC! 😂
Point taken. A lot of people in the comments on this video have said that they would prefer half-assed over nothing at all. I guess I'm of two minds on this. The risks of half-assed infrastructure is that they don't get used and are then made an example of by anti-bike politicians. The risk of waiting for perfect bike lanes is that it may never happen in a lot of cities. And I would love to have one-way, separated bike lanes everywhere, but I don't know of many cities outside of the cycling hubs of Europe that have ever built them, sadly.
Not getting used is one danger, the argument that there is already infrastructure there is another. Sadly, even though they are kind of opposite arguments, they both lead to a worse outcome for cyclists. 😥
in copenhagen denmark. parking in the bike lane is perfect if you like scratches in the paint. broken mirrors, and a ticket.
it's very rare that people do that.
looks like you have wide streets so hopefully you get it integrated with the subway and some main routes through the city.
same in Europe... sometimes it's until a connection is made, sometimes it gets just forgotten...
I read an NYC press release from April 24th 2023, where they clearly acknowledge and plan safer and sturdier bike infrastructure.
It seems as if they're moving in the right direction.
Years ago when I visited relatives in Brooklyn there was a problem with neighborhoods painting out bikelanes and breaking bottles in them to keep bikes out. I heard this was resolved later on.
Cool to see. Thanks for the video. Can confirm that Dutch drivers wil just drive in the painted bike lanes too.
Something to add to your list is poorly maintained trails. Vehicular Damage, tree roots, etc.
eg. A trail in Calgary that I hate to ride on is on the west side of Western Headworks Main Canal from 50th Ave SE to 17th Ave SE. It has a ton of roots that have lifted the asphalt making the ride incredibly bumpy to the point of nearly being unusable.
Thanks!
Thank you for the support! I appreciate it.
My biggest complaint with most bike infrastructure is the laws that follow them. Once a city puts up a few bike lanes they pass laws making it illegal to ride on the side walk. Now I understand going fast on a side walk can be dangerous, but I hate being forced in the street with cars just because 1 block near the city center has a bike lane.
NYC only builds bike lanes in white affluent neighborhoods. Where I live in Bensonhurst Brooklyn is a bike lane desert.
I lived in 4 major cities in Germany and I can tell that infrastructure and cycling culture are improving, but the mentioned issues also exist in here. Confusing transitions, our cycling lanes also abruptly end even with a road sign, but no guidance where to go next. I know a place that has a curb and you have to dismount and carry the bike to the street! imagine having a loaded 50kg cargo bike. Cars also park on cycling lane with indicators on, as if using the indicators bypasses the law. Just last week a car sharply turned into a painted cycling lane and I had to brake hard and barely got away without a creating a dent. The driver was mad at me!! Incidents like these are the reason I bought a GoPro. The Netherlands has a history in cycling infrastructure, the rest of the world just woke up to their under-developed share.
I think the major take away is you have to enforce the laws if you want them to mean anything. Even a bit of paint caries weight if the cops actually ticket and arrest people for violating the bike lanes. The worst part of that trip was the fact all the city workers just parked in the bike lanes, and nothing was done about it.
Louisville, Kentucky has a bike loop that's supposed to circle the outer perimeter of the metro area (more than 100 miles long once completed). But it's been years, and it's still nowhere near completed, parts of it will probably never be completed, and parts (especially in the most crime-ridden part of town) are just painted lanes on the side of busy streets. It's a great concept, and parts of it are truly beautiful, but the local government just doesn't have the will or interest to see it through to completion.
My experience with bus stops along bike paths is that people waiting for buses will stand on the path and block it. They don’t step aside when a cyclist comes along.
Definite conflict point. Blind woman in BC sued after being hit by a bicycle in such a bus stop.
At least in manhattan I havent seen a bus stop overlap with a bike lane
Perfect vision "Connected and Complete"
It is good to see that they went from terrible to half hearted to half decent. Certainly it will go better and more quickly if you get it right the first time, but even places that started with paint and it didn't work can move from there to real infrastructure.
On the use of bollards and the Dutch using steel ones like mentioned around 5:20. The way they are used in the US ( many of them along a cycle path) is never done in the Netherlands. The only places you see bollards are at the entrances of cycle paths, and even there they are actively removed nowadays because they are a danger to people cycling. Seperate cycle paths here are either elevated a bit (see city centre of Utrecht), have a curb between the cars and cyclists, or best of all; there is a few meters of trees, grass or other vegetation between the cyclists and cars. That last one is the one that is most common, but isn't applicable in dense inner cities, but outside of inner cities its the standard for seperate cycle paths.