April 16th, 2019: Less BQE, More Bike

Warm and sunny today, if a bit windy:

Tuesday Sunny, with a high near 61. West wind 16 to 18 mph.

Tuesday Night A 20 percent chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48. West wind 8 to 13 mph becoming light northwest after midnight.

Sunrise: 6:16am

Sunset: 7:36pm

The DOT would like to remind you to keep your lights charged in case of...rain?

I had no idea lights could keep you dry but maybe I'm just using the wrong ones.

And if you ride in or through Central Park, here's something you'll definitely want to know:

Moving on, the Times has more on the Citi Bike recall:

A month ago, Jordan Wyckoff was riding an electric Citi Bike to work in Brooklyn when he slammed on the brakes to avoid a minivan that swerved in the bike lane. But when he hit the brakes, the front wheel locked up, sending Mr. Wyckoff over the front of the handlebars and onto the pavement.

The same thing happened to Dominik Glodzik when he tried to brake before a stop sign in Astoria, Queens about two months ago.

Now that we've got the bikes off the road, maybe we should do something about the drivers in the bike lane.

Unfortunately, the city appears to be shying away from "bold" and "visionary" at the moment.  Consider the BQE:

Alas, the DOT's proposals are by far the lamest.

The mayor is also noncommittal regarding Amsterdam Avenue:

Community Board 9 opposes the redesign [PDF], which would convert the avenue from four to three lanes, with a center bay for left-turning vehicles and painted bike lanes. Such redesigns have been shown to reduce speeding and crashes, but on Monday, de Blasio wouldn’t commit to overruling the board when Streetsblog asked about it.

“We listen to community boards, but ultimately have to make decisions as the stewards of this city,” he said, stopping short of actually announcing said decision. “We will come back to you on that,” he added before moving on to other topics.

And of all the transit-related crises we're facing, for some reason everybody seems to be most worried about people who don't have exact change for the bus:

Transit officials recently announced a remarkable figure: One in five bus riders in New York City does not pay the fare. The statistic stunned even Andy Byford, the leader of the subway and bus system, who said it was “wholly unacceptable” and at least double the rate of other cities across the world.

There are ways around that, of course:

Finally, Councilmember Justin Brannan wants more dockless bike share:

In fact, the pilot makes so much sense we should be asking why we're not letting many more neighborhoods enjoy the benefits. A well-run dockless e-bike program in my district would improve the lives and commutes of many residents, and bringing the bikes to other parts of the city would create the same positive impact. As the MTA flounders and the L-train crisis looms large, we should be focused on providing more options to all New Yorkers.

Instead we've got Citi Bike concentrated in and around Manhattan, and some ferries.

Time to lose the highway and unleash the bikes.