First things first: so thrilled Mark Wagenbuur (Bicycle Dutch) came to NYC this week. We’ve both made over 1,000 transportation films and he has become a good friend. It was so much fun to ride around with him and amazingly I’ll be joining him to do the same in Amsterdam in about a week!!
We did a 20 mile loop of the city and I tried to show off some of the best stuff we have here. It was a rainy, cold & windy trip but I think what he saw on 1st Avenue, the new East River Midtown Greenway, one of our best 2-way cycle tracks on Crescent Street in Queens, the magnificent 34th Ave Open Street, the Kosciusko Bridge path and several other NYC DOT projects he really quite enjoyed. He was filming while he made his way around NYC and hopefully he will post some of his thoughts on the Bicycle Dutch Youtube.
But I saved my grimmest, bicycling pet peeve for the end of the ride: bicycling New York City crosstown. It was a Saturday and I thought it wouldn’t be as bad as during the week, but it proved to be horrible as usual. Believe it only not we only did about 10 minutes of riding and this is just a portion of what we saw!
NYC needs to really upgrade what we are doing for crosstown bicycle lanes, especially from the Village thru Midtown. The protected lanes we have are not truly protected. They need to be wider. Safer. Hardened with immovable barriers. If you have lanes that frequently look like this it’s really not encouraging people to jump on a bike. Drop me a line as I am going to be covering crosstown lanes throughout 2024.
source
Mark knows best.
¡Feliz día internacional de las personas ciclistas!
I’m embarrassed for Mark. Coming from the Netherlands this must be tough to see
I'm so sick and tired of the entitlement of drivers. They complain about cyclists riding in the middle of traffic while simultaneously completely disregarding their own space like they're second class citizens. And it's socially accepted because there's "not enough parking space." The double standard is infuriating. If you don't want cyclists interfering with cars, then stop interfering with bikes. All these cars and delivery trucks need to be hit with hefty fines. Strict enforcement is what needs to be done to prevent this. Just like how parking times are strictly enforced. Cyclists, listen up. Next time you see this, don't pass. Stay there and let the bike lanes clog up to show the country just how hypocritical drivers are.
This time I think it’s both political will and lack of knowledge
I think that because Mark doesn’t see any Dutch concepts of biking in NYC and the bike lanes are not what they could be
Bicycles, ebikes, electric cargo bicycles, robo taxis and escooters are great options for last mile, short distance travel.
Reduced transportation costs and fossil fuels free transportation.
Cities need to do more to encourage people to ride bicycles by providing SAFE, PROTECTED BIKE LANES and trails. Every adult and child should own a bicycle and ride it regularly. Bicycles are healthy exercise and fossil fuels free transportation. Electric bicycles are bringing many older adults back to cycling. Ride to work, ride to school, ride for health or ride for fun. Children should be able to ride a bicycle to school without having to dodge cars and trucks. Separated and protected bike lanes are required. It will also make the roads safer for automobile drivers. Transportation planners and elected officials need to encourage people to walk, bike and take public transportation. Healthy exercise and fossil fuels free transportation. In the future cities will be redesigned for people not cars. Crazy big parking lots will be transformed with solar canopies generating free energy from the sun.
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"Greatest country in the world". Experienced the same over there – putholes and permanent temporary things.
That was an “adventurous” cycle track you showed there. 😃
New York under Eric Adams. So disappointing. 🤦🏾♂️
Everything in the USA is terrible according to internet users. I still have to agree we desperately need better cycling infrastructure though.
Cars and other obstacles in the bike lanes is more common than rats in NYC
Great to see these 2 champions of cycling issues get together. I wonder if there will ever be a special video that brings together Bicycle Dutch, Streetfilms, Not Just Bikes and Propel!
And I thought cycling in germany was messed up. But the US seems to be so incredibly far behind every other country I‘ve seen, it’s not messed up, it’s really f*cked up.