How to Read the Blueprint

Each of the following chapters treats a different facet of bicycling experience in New York City. Though the emphasis varies according to topic, all chapters include (i) analysis of current policies — or lack thereof — which help shape current cycling conditions, and (ii) recommendations for change to improve bicycling conditions and further the social goals of personal mobility, fiscal savings, clean air and safer, more convivial streets.

Each topic is accompanied by a set of specific policy recommendations. These are printed in two different forms in the Blueprint: first, at the end of the chapter to which they apply; and second, listed together in Appendix A, organized according to the specific governmental agency or private sector to which they apply. Some recommendations can be implemented immediately by administrators and legislators for little or no cost; others require capital investment and some degree of departure from the transportation establishment's current thinking.

Some sections are aimed at specific city, state or other agencies, while others are more general in nature. Many of the proposed changes fall under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Transportation (DoT), but Chapter 9: Bicycles and Transit is addressed primarily to the area's transit operators, regional planners, and suburban authorities, while Chapter 13: Indoor Parking speaks to commercial landlords and the City's Department of General Services, and so on. We hope that agency personnel and legislators with interests in particular aspects of bicycling or transportation policy and its far-reaching consequences for the shape of our city will focus on those sections addressed to them, and take the steps we advocate to heart.