Bloomberg Wants Bikes Off Subways; TransAlt Responds
Oh, and now the mayor wants bikes off the subway. "They are just too big, particularly at rush hour," he said on his Friday morning WNYC radio show. Well, yeah, since the cars got so freaking crowded. Bloomberg is normally a cycling enthusiast: he turned Manhattan avenues into a bike path last summer. But sometimes bike owners get smacked by the city, too. Maybe it's a triangulation thing: in New York bikers attract hate and love in equal measure.
Transportation Alternatives' Paul Steely White tells us Bloomberg's subway comment is "virtually identical" to one he made last year on the show, and suggests he may feel that way because "the Mayor rides the most crowded subway line, the 4, 5 and 6." White says the East Side is historically the most dangerous part of Manhattan in which to cycle, in part because of the lack of bike lanes on First and Second Avenues. While lauding the MTA's "most permissive bikes-on-board policy in the country" and encouraging cyclists "to use the subways responsibly," White advises the city to make it easier for bikers to bike rather than ride. "The mayor says he can't control the MTA," he says, "but he can control the streets." Image via Streetsblog.
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