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The blogs have brought in lots of news of the PPW bike lane showdown this morning. Streetsblog was at the pro-rally, where hundreds of people gathered to defend the traffic-calmed street. About 70 or so opponents gathered close by, although there wasn’t much dramatic confrontation. Gothamist quotes an anti-bike lane spokesperson: “Why do they think they can mutilate this extremely beautiful boulevard? It is useful maybe to a handful of bikers.” This was met with booing, and the counter-argument that bike lane access is about “The sustainability of New York. This is about reducing our dependence on oil!” Sounds intense. Did any readers attend?
Hundreds Rally in Support of PPW Bike Lane [Streetsblog]
Protests Pit Seniors Against Cyclists [Gothamist]
Photo by Ben Fried / Streetsblog.org


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  1. “Primarily takes away from public transportation ridership.”

    Despite a slumping economy, New York City Transit recorded a total of 2.37 billion rides across the city’s subways and buses in 2008, a 3.1 percent increase from 2007 and the highest figure since 1965.

    The subways delivered 1.62 billion rides, a 3.9 percent increase from 2007 and the highest annual subway ridership since 1950, when the city was packed with industrial workers, military veterans and immigrants.

  2. Biking is a fad?

    Nearly every child growing up in this country learns to ride a bike and seem to love it.

    It’s not a fad, it’s simply becoming such that the city now makes it easier for folks to actually get around the city on a bike. Thus making more people want to do it more and more.

    That’s not a fad.

  3. I agree the biking fad is not a help in this city.
    Primarily takes away from public transportation ridership.
    And then MTA hikes fares because of less revenue…which then increases car usage.

    NOW THAT’S A LOAD OF CRAP.

  4. I agree the biking fad is not a help in this city.
    Primarily takes away from public transportation ridership.
    And then MTA hikes fares because of less revenue…which then increases car usage.
    In other locales could be fewer drivers if switched to bicycles.

  5. Sure Pete, but I was meaning 1) that the amount of oil ‘saved’ is miniscule – cf current US consumption is just under 20mm barrels / day (just over 840mm gallons/day) 2) to the degree that it slows traffic as planned (say from 45mph to 20mph) it would lower the mpg of the cars that use PPW anyway! Maybe to the point that there’s no net benefit, but don’t know the numbers.

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