Promoting Bicycle Lanes as if They Were on the Ballot

Struggling to control the controversy over one of its signature transportation policies, the Bloomberg administration is embarking on an unusual kind of political campaign: convincing New Yorkers that bicycle lanes are good for them.

Read the full article at the New York Times.

PPW - the Data by Soma

BRBR is still thinking about our northerly neighbors up in Park Slope. They have been kinda hard to avoid in recent weeks since the news about the Prospect Park Bicycle lane might be receiving more media coverage than Justin Bieber.

I wonder what Justin thinks about the PPW lane, maybe we should ask him.

Anyways, back to business. BRBR found this very interesting posting by data-cruncher Soma using DOT information recorded about the PPW roadway. Take a look here. There are Before bike Lane (BL) and After bike Lane (AL) comparisons. For example:

Car Speeding:
BL: 3 of 4 cars
AL: 1 of 5 cars

Bike Lane Popularity:
BL: 349 bicyclist on PPW in a day
AL: 1010 bicyclists on PPW in a day

Bikelash

Just in case one of the two occasional readers of the BRBR blog has been out-of-town (how was your trip?) or in a coma (hope you are feeling better!), a link to the New York magazine cover story, Bikelash: Not Quite Copenhagen, is here.

Get Ready to Rumble!

Community Board 6 must must have a hidden love for the Spring Classics. The recent article in the Brooklyn Paper reports on their proposal to install rumble strips along the Prospect Park West Bicycle Lane. What a perfect commemoration! The CB6 press office must have coordinated this announcement with upcoming major races such as the Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix. Perhaps early morning viewing parties of the live events can be scheduled along the bike lane!

FYI: how do pro bicyclists deal with cobbles? They go over them at MAXIMUM speed. "The slower you go, the worse it is. You have to go fast to smooth out the bumps," says Fabian Cancellara, a winner at both Flanders and Roubaix.

For expediency, DOT could probably install some dainty EuroCobble, though it would scarcely create a bicycle buzz through the tires. You can give the Eurocobbles a try out on Wall Street.

BRBR welcomes the installation of more cobblestones in Brooklyn. BRBR loves cobbles. The installation could even help to offset the loss of some of the finest uninterrupted lengths of cobblestone in Brooklyn that existed prior to IKEA’s arrival in Red Hook.

Beard Street was nearly a 1/2 mile length of bicycling bliss upon the stones. The Civil War era warehouse in this photo was demolished for the IKEA site and the stones were paved over with smooth asphalt.

And if you don’t believe us about speed over the cobbles, go see it for yourself this Saturday night at the Red Hook Criterium.

These Streets Were Made for _____

Six years before German Baron Karl von Drais introduced the forerunner of the modern bicycle to the public in Mannheim in the Summer of 1817 and decades before Karl Benz began production of his motor carriages, the Commissioners' Plan was introduced to Manhattan on March 22, 1811.

Most every issue and precedent regarding roadway use in New York City is a reflection and influence of the plan.

So go out and turn 90 degrees wherever you can and enjoy some broad avenues and narrow cross streets today, wherever you may be on this second day of Spring.

NY Times Story here.

Brooklyn Bike Share

BRBR reported in our prior post about a bicycle share program coming to New York City, mostly focused in Manhattan to start.

Now there is another initiative to bring bicycle sharing to Brooklyn.

From what we've read in the Brooklyn Paper, it sounds like there will separate system for Brooklyn, though we cannot yet confirm. Thought it would make a lot of sense for the network to be shared, right? Maybe this will go back to the early transit days of BMT/IND/IRD subway lines where independent transit companies competed against one another for the best service to gain passengers and profit.

Another article on NBC, here.

You can also read about the Department of City Planning's Bike share opportunities report (2009) here.

EBI #3: West Broadway, Manhattan

We're going a bit farther afield on this Epicenter of Bicycling Interest and into an area that many long-time Bay Ridge-ites simply call "The City". Our staff confirms it did happen, though not while actually riding a bicycle but just carrying a bicycle wheel that had recently been rebuilt and repaired by the Sensesi of Bicycles.

This minor occurrence took place Friday evening, approximately 24 hours after EBI #2 in the triangular urban park at the corner of West Broadway and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. A young man and his girlfriend saw BRBR carrying the wheel and asked "Are you taking that to a shop? Where is there a bicycle shop around here?"

See BRBR's evolving EBI Map here.