NYC bike friendly?

This came as a surprise to us, so at first we laughed out loud: New York City and Burlington, Vt., are the only Northeast cities to be recognized as a “bicycle friendly community”. Our laughter was, of course, bitter-sweet, cause we would really like it to be true, but judging from the “ghost bikes” that are installed all over New York (you see them practically everywhere, white bikes full of flowers – memorials to bicyclists killed while riding in NYC streets) we thought it might be a cruel joke. So skeptically, we read the whole article in Metro and we found out that the Department of Transportation has made some progress over the past 12 months. They installed 1,000 bike parking racks and four protected parking shelters, giving away 12,000 bike helmets and 200,000 redesigned bike maps, and installing 70 new bike lane miles. Next year, the DOT will create 90 new lane miles, according to their press release.

The agency is opening seven miles of car-free streets to cyclists and pedestrians on three August Saturdays. The first of its kind protected path on Ninth Avenue, physically separating bikes from cars, will be further extended and get a companion path on Eighth Avenue.

We are very happy to hear that. Oh, and one more thing: maybe drivers could also give all the bike riders and pedestrians a break. It’s not a race.