Today, councilmember Adolfo Carrion Jr. introduced legislation to the New York City Council Housing and Buildings committee requiring commercial buildings to make reasonable efforts to provide access to safe storage areas for tenants with bicycles. The goal of the bill is to ensure tenants of commercial buildings may bring their bicycles on freight elevators or are provided with secure bicycle parking.

Transportation Alternatives estimates that 105,000 people cycle to work, school or for utilitarian reasons daily in NYC. A 1990 NYC DOT study found that 49% of employees that live less then 10 miles from work would commute by bike if adequate facilities were provided. In a 1998 Department of City Planning Bicycle questionnaire of likely bicyclists, 51.4% of respondents cited the lack of secure bike parking as their primary reason for not commuting by bicycle. This legislation will help overcome this obstacle.

"Anything that encourages bicycle use creates a triple win: it decreases traffic congestion, reduces pollution and is great for one's health," said councilmember Carrion. According to John Lindsay Transportation Alternatives Bicycle Advocate, "This bill will do more for cyclists than anything introduced to the council in the last ten years. It has the potential to double the number of people biking to work in New York City." Michael Skomsky from the Building Owners and Managers Association adds that the bill encourages a common sense approach to what can be a complicated problem. (Mr. Skomsky can be reached at 212-239-3662)