Interactive Journalism I

Cyclists and the City II

Posted on 02. Nov, 2009 by Alexander Abad-Santos in Arts and Culture, Thomas Lin, Urban

So I’m hoping you’ll remember my post about protected bike lanes on the Upper West Side.  At the time, the news was still fresh and hadn’t had time to simmer in people’s minds.  This week, I followed up on the original story, and heard some opinions from cyclists and UWS residents:

Chelsea Signage Source: A.Abad-Santos

Melba Nunez, 48, is a resident on the Upper West Side and is a High School Administrative Assistant. She believes the protected lanes in Chelsea are successful, and wants to see more:

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Daisy Yu, 27, is an East Village resident and a casual biker.  She feels like safety is a big concern for cyclists all over the city.

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Michael Gough, 50, is a CPA and a Chelsea resident.  He bikes regularly, and has experience riding the Chelsea lanes.

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Jason Yarusi, a 31-year-old bartender, gets on his bike everyday and rides the protected bike lanes to get to work.

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There’s also plenty of bike news in the City:

• Community Board 8, on the Upper East Side, voted 38-1 in favor of the protected bike lanes
  

  Protected bike lane in Chelsea Source: A.Abad-Santos

• The Times covered Bloomberg’s environmental improvements and environmental track record-which included 200 miles of bike lanes

Nationally:

• The LA Times had an article on the growing number of cyclists and road-sharing possibilities
• Philadelphia’s local news station covered the city’s new lanes and safety concerns
• Washington, D.C. will see its protected bike lane–construction starts next week

No doubt, the issue of safety is closely tied to these bike lanes.   Is safety or lack thereof a reason you would choose to or not to ride a bike in your city or neighborhood? If those safety issues were resolved, would you be inclined to ride more?

I’m also very interested in seeing if riding in New York is different than, say, Philadelphia?  What are the main differences?  Are there any issues that make one city more favorable to ride in versus another city?  Is there a biker-friendly city in the U.S. that could serve as a model?

And based on CB7 and CB8’s voting records (28-7, and 38-1 respectively) do you think your neighborhood will follow suit?  Or, are there any spots in the city where a protected bike lane more do harm than good (some interviewees mentioned traffic being an issue of concern)?

Tags: audio, Bicycles, bike lanes, interviews, man on the street, protected bike lanes, safety, Upper West Side, UWS