Take on Bike Lanes

A few buddies were arguing yesterday about the value of bike-lanes to a community and the argument when something like this

Buddy #0

The problem I have is that these bike nerds have totally screwed up the city with all these bike lines. Roads that were already too crowded and dangerously narrow are even moreso. In front of our building on Dean street we've got cars double-parked on church day and there is no way you can fit a bus and a cyclist alongside one another -- it's just a matter of time before someone is killed. Prospect Park West looks absolutely awful with the cars out lining the middle of the street and all this bright ridiculous blinking bike safety lights in addition to the traffic lights. Someone high up in NYC government must either be a huge bike guy or some cycling lobby has them in the pocket, because it all seems like such an expensive gigantic mess and it doesn't really improve things for anyone other than the small minority of bikers. We've got giant parks -- why not ride your bike there?


I get "going green" and all that jazz, and it's nice in theory, but not when it costs a ton, makes things more dangerous, and only helps a minority of people to the detriment of the majority. Doesn't government have more important things to do with money these days?

Buddy #Z

Bikes are used as transportation in tons of cities around the world. The prospect park west bike lane has been a huge success. ….


New Yorkers don't ride bikes because it's unsafe. As more bike routes are put in more will bike. I don't see how this is a problem….and how is this bad http://gothamist.com/2011/01/20/prospect_park_west_bike_lane_study.php#photo-0

Anyway I’m not sure how I feel about any of this. I don’t quite like traffic and I don’t exactly like getting run over by a dude in a S-Class so I’m a bit torn.

I'm not making any judgment about the pros/cons of bike-lanes but just look at those two pictures..

The old picture is taken on some cold dreary winter day with tons of cars parked including one of those black-cabs which is like bringing a gun to an anti-violence campaign while the bike-lane picture shows lush green trees and tons of open parking spots. I might even see some kids frolicking around with puppies and if you look really closely there might be a fair maiden picking a piece of fruit

Just going by the pictures the bike-lane world looks like the one I’d want to live in.