Citibike: A First Person Account

By Modou Sène

All I Want for the Holidays is More Bike Greenways

By Abby Grosslein

I read an article recently about an intrepid Manhattan cyclist, Erik Trinidad, who did something different for his holiday cards in 2012.

    https://www.treehugger.com/bikes/biking-across-new-york-city-make-gps-holiday-card.html

He used the GPS on his iPhone and the Cyclemeter app and rode all over midtown Manhattan, turning the GPS on and off to spell out “Happy Holidays.” His video accompanying the TreeHugger article did not say how long this effort took him, or how much trial and error it took to achieve the geoglyph. However, he did post the original GPS readings.  

Mr. Trinidad told TreeHugger that he couldn’t always bike in a straight line, or get GPS reception amongst all the tall buildings. As a part-time biker in the city, I know a little about how hard it can be to maneuver a bike through all the traffic, vehicular and pedestrian. Bike lanes are sometimes closed for construction, or people stop their cars in them illegally; bikers must swerve around turning or idling cars. Biking in New York City is very unpredictable. I find it remarkable that Mr. Trinidad was able to get his geoglyph so perfect. To analyze his routes, I looked at the Manhattan Bike Map.

    http://www.nycbikemaps.com/maps/manhattan-bike-map/

The bottom of his “Holidays” is the 30^th Street bike lane. The top of “Happy” is the West 44^th Street bike lane. Parts of the “a” and “p” in “Happy” and “o,” “l,” and “i” in “Holidays” are within the Broadway, 8^th, and 9^th Avenue bike lane greenways. The “s” is part of the 1^st and 2^nd Avenue and FDR bike lane greenways. The streets around Bryant Park, interestingly, are bike lanes and what the NYC Bike Maps website calls “bike routes,” and yet are some of the squiggliest lines in the original geoglyph. It can be inferred that bike lane greenways provide cyclists with more direct, safer routes throughout the city. Without bike lanes, cyclists must change direction and swerve more often. Mr. Trinidad not only wished us all “Happy Holidays,” but he may have provided some evidence for the argument to dedicate more bike lanes in midtown. 

FiDi: So Many Obstacles, Yet so Many Bikers

By Evelyn Levine

A neighborhood with so many narrow roads, abruptly ending streets, and street parking galore, who would ride a bike? The downtown financial district of Manhattan it appears to be a cyclist’s nightmare with ubiquitous dangers, yet some New Yorkers appear to be fearless. The Citibike rental dock outside my window is constantly empty, and cycling infrastructure is quietly being implemented. Just last week there were bike lanes painted, and indoor private docking stations are appearing. 

The neighborhood, with all its dangers, is actually a biker’s haven. There is the underside of the East Side FDR, the West Side Highway path, and the two bridges that allow for easy access to Brooklyn. But who are these people biking? I have yet to see more than a handful of people using a helmet, and most people are biking in traffic and not using these aforementioned divided routes, but are weaving in-and-out of traffic. Are New Yorkers just a fearless breed?