My bike experience in NYC

I am a thirty year old woman who moved to New York City four years ago. I am coming from Medellin, Colombia, a mountainous city in the heart of the Andean cordillera, and which has been developing its transportation system in an exemplar way within the country during the past decades. However, this is the first time in my life I have lived in a different city, and it is also the first time I am living in a city with a well-developed bike lane system.

I learned how to ride a bike when I was around 7 years old. My father taught me on the streets in my neighborhood. It was a private condo where the cars went in only for parking, so there were no hazards of been beaten by an automobile. Since that time I fell in love with biking, but unfortunately I rode my bike only until I became a teenager, because I stopped to play in my neighborhood. At that moment, I changed the security of my condo for the “wildness” of the city’s streets, where it was dangerous to ride a bike.

Once I arrived to New York, in September 2010, I started to discover a new kind of city with a lot of public spaces and bike lanes!  It took me about a year to buy my own bike, but I was using borrowed bikes in the meantime. I found biking an excellent way to explore this amazing city in my own way and rhythm.

The first place I lived, was Bushwick, northern Brooklyn. During the two years I lived there, I became accustomed to the relationship between car drivers and bike riders. I explored the variety of online maps and applications; in other words, it was a learning time. My rides were mostly dedicated to going to the beach (Rockaways and Coney Island), visit parks (mostly within Brooklyn), and I also went to the wildlife refuge in Jamaica bay, it was a great time. Then, when I started to make my life in the city, when my tourist period ended and I fell into the everyday routine between work, school and days off, I started to use my bike more regularly.

By this time I moved to Prospect Park South, Brooklyn, I found a job in Park Slope and I was already studying at City College. As consequence of the location of “my” places, my rate of bike riding is higher, with the exception of going to college (too far), and the coldest period of winter (too cold). This neighborhood is endowed with a complete and well-designed grid of bike lanes and bike paths. I was always using my bike, still to go to Manhattan. Certainly, thanks to this I had the opportunity to go to Manhattan a couple of days after Hurricane Sandy, one of the most apocalyptic experiences in my life. I saw the east village, china town and little Italy completely empty. It was a weird sensation, but once again I confirmed that the advantage of having a well-developed cycle paths and bike lanes allows citizens to explore the city and live it in a more deep way. This changes ones perception of the city’s dynamics and generates for the inhabitant an empathy for this urban environment; empathy that makes you conscious of your role as citizen. You fall in love with the city and engage it. This kind of feeling is the one we need in our attempt to develop a more sustainable city; a more livable city for its citizens.

Now, let’s try to see how the bike-sharing program of New York, called Citi-Bike, is contributing to the sustainability of the city. In first place, I must confess that I have never used the program. Never when I used to live in Brooklyn, and not now when I am living in Inwood, Manhattan. As you will see in the following map, the location of the Citi-Bike stations does not match with any of my everyday destinations, so that is why I never use it, without mentioning that I already have a bike.

However, before I write this post, I tried to find an opportunity to use it, only because I love to experience something before talking about it. But it was really impossible, first because I never go to the area where the Citi-Bike stations are located, and secondly, and most importantly, because I found out that it is not a cheap thing to do, and worse yet when you are a student that practically works for paying your studies. As is described in the Citi-Bike web page http://www.citibikenyc.com/pricing, you have three options for buying a ride: the 24 hour pass, the week pass, or the year membership; you need to pay the $9.95, $25 or $95 fee respectively (without tax) to have the right to ride the blue bike. But beware! You can only do it for 30 minutes uninterrupted, for the two first options, and for a 45 minute period for the membership. This means that if you do not return your bike before those 30 minutes, you will be charged for extra time, and that charge will increase exponentially the first couple of hours (you can check this more in detail in the web page link above).

 

Now the question was: how can I discover what people really think about Citi-Bike? Do they use it? So to answer this I went out, took pictures and interviewed some of my friends; well, to be honest, I actually tried to interview some people on the streets, but it seems like New Yorkers don't like cameras, although it can be hard to believe.

Here are the results, but first I have to warn you that I am not an expert in media, or in taking pictures, so please forgive the quality of the images.

This one was taken in Columbus Circle, a fancy tourist area where the main business is entertainment, hotels and stores. The users were wearing formal suits, which means that probably they work around the area, and for sure they have a membership, they acted like experienced people in using Citi-Bike. The bike lanes around this area are pretty well defined, and visible for riders.

Then I went to Tribeca, an arts and industrial business neighborhood. The bike lane wasn't that well defined, and the road was being repaired.

The current stations coincide with the most tourist oriented zones in the city (https://www.citibikenyc.com/stations). So here the question changes to, what is the real purpose of Citi-Bike? To serve to the citizens as a different option for transportation, or in being an attraction for tourists?

After listening to my friends (see the video below), I found that only one of them have used the program. The rest really do not know how Citi-Bike works. Also, many of them are afraid to ride a bike on the streets, and the ones who understand how it works, think that it is so expensive.

To watch the interview please refer to this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lF-d7UyVRY&feature=youtu.be

My impression of the program after I understood it, is that in order to make this a real strategy for reaching sustainable goals of the city, City-Bike has to be part of the public transportation system. From my point of view, Citi-Bike looks like a business opportunity under the name of “sustainability” rather than a strategy for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. I believe that a real sustainable transportation program should look for making the citizens' commutes more pleasant, while integrating green and alternative options.

I understand that Citi-Bike can represent advantages for some people who do not have enough space at home to store their bikes, and don’t like to leave them locked on the streets, so I don’t say that New York doesn’t need the program. But if I were a policymaker for the city, I would reinvent the program. It would be a city funded one, and its expansion design would be under a real sustainable transportation perspective, rather than merely a business approach. This perspective does not exclude an economic gain from it, as was described by some of those in the bike businesses in the city. The program will increase the public interest for bikes and in this way would stimulate the bike business. http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/204474-as-bike-share-thrives-demand-for-rentals-dwindles/

In order to not affect the bike renting business for tourists, the program can be made only for NYC citizens, and those who want to use it should register themselves at the DOT to obtain the card for renting. That card can be used as a metro card too, with everything integrated and also, reducing waste!

On October 27, “Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation that will lower the default speed limit in New York City from 30 to 25 miles per hour. This means that beginning November 7, the speed limit on all streets will be 25 mph.” (http://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/493-14/mayor-de-blasio-signs-new-law-lowering-new-york-city-s-default-speed-limit-25-mph#/0). This decision was taken based on the understanding about how motor vehicle collisions can cause permanent bodily injury or even death.  

To understand how this works, the Effects of Vehicle Speed on Pedestrian Fatalities were published by the Bicycling Education and Advocacy in North Carolina. The following table shows how, when a pedestrian is struck, the likelihood of death increases faster than the percentage increase in vehicle speed, in a nonlinear fashion:

Source: http://humantransport.org/sidewalks/SpeedKills.htm

From this findings we understand that a 5 mph reduction is really significant. At the same time, because of the fact that “New York City is dedicated to make streets as safe as possible for pedestrians, motorists, cyclists, and all who share the road” (Melissa Mark-Viverito); people like my friends are going to be much more confident at the time of riding their bikes around the city. Once Vision Zero has been completely adopted by all the car drivers in New York; a public bike-sharing program will be welcome, and for sure, will be used by City inhabitants.

  

Finally, I have to say that I love this city and I wish someday my city, Medellin, reaches the level of bike lane development that we can find here (we already started with a bike sharing program too!). But as all us know, we can always make it better.