Bicycle Blueprint

Introduction

NYC Cycling
1. NYC Bike Policy
2. State of NYC Cycling
3. Cyclists & Streets
“A Bike and a Prayer”

Riding Infrastructure
4. Street Design
5. Bridges
6. Road Surfaces
7. Greenways
8. Parks
9. Bicycles and Transit
10. Reducing Traffic

Security
11. Bicycle Theft
12. On-Street Parking
13. Indoor Parking

On the Job Cycling
14. Bicycle Messengers
“Fifth, Park & Madison”
15. Freight Cycles
16. Gov't Cycling

Reducing Risks
17. Accidents
“Three Who Died”

Air Pollution

Bicycle Education
19. Schools
20. Public Education

Appendices

Chapter 18:
Air Pollution

Bad Air
b) Pollutants and Damage They Do
c) Pollution Control: Too Little, Too Late
d) The Bicycle Solution
e) Trial of the QB6: The Fight for Clean Air in NYC
f) Chapter 18 Recommendations
Table 18: Know Your Poisons: N.Y.C. Pollution Scorecard
Sidebar: Clean-Air Legislation

De rigeur for NYC cyclists: helmet and anti-smog mask?
Photo: Doug Goodman.

Bad Air

Read the latest news on this subject.

Air pollution is one of the harsh realities of city cycling that, along with invasive motor traffic and bike theft, scare off many New Yorkers from cycling. According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, New York City's air ranks third-worst in the country (after Los Angeles and Houston), with 26 days a year in which the air is “unhealthful.” [1] Daily, bicyclists and walkers suffer itchy noses, burning eyes and scratchy lungs — and the knowledge that they are being slowly poisoned in the act of trying to get around a city where the car rules.

Bicyclists adapt by running lights to keep clear of idling traffic, or by wearing smog-filtering masks which also prevent the easy, spontaneous communication that used to be a normal feature of bicycling. Or they quit bike-commuting altogether and confine their cycling to weekends in the park. Meanwhile drivers, the prime generators of New York City's air pollution, remain closed off from the irritation and sickness bred by their own “mobile source” emissions.

In the 1992 City Cyclist survey, 58% of respondents labeled cleaner air “very important” — a percentage outranked by only four categories (more support from government, better street surfaces, fewer cars and better bike lanes). Less bus exhaust was likewise called very important by 52%. While these figures no doubt reflect the overall commitment to environmental values felt by many bicyclists, they also indicate cyclists' special sensitivity to air pollution. Notwithstanding studies suggesting that exercising cyclists expel pollutants as fast or faster than they inhale them, [2] bicyclists understandably believe that vigorous breathing of polluted air undercuts the health benefits of cycling.

NOTES:

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Air Quality and Emissions Trends Report, 1991, 450-R-92-001, Oct. 1992, Table 5-2. The right-most column shows the number of days in 1991 in which the Pollutant Standards Index exceeded 100, indicating violation of one or more of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
2. See “Warning: Messengering May Be Good for Your Health,” City Cyclist, Jan/Feb 1990, p. 3. See also Michael Waldman et al., A Study of the Health Effects of Bicycling in an Urban Atmosphere, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, 1977.