City of New York
Creating bike- and pedestrian-friendly places is great for cities, even for those who never ride.
Michael Bloomberg ended his third term as mayor of New York City on Tuesday, spending twelve years in office. Among his accomplishments is a transformation of his city into one that is much more bike- and pedestrian-friendly than the one he found.
He added 360 miles of bike lanes and 16,000 parking racks. His administration created 59 new public plazas out of former vehicular travel lanes, producing 71 miles of pedestrian space. The number of bicycle commuters in the city has almost doubled in six years. And a million trips per month are taken on Citi Bike the new bicycle sharing system in New York, which has 95,000 subscribers.
But here's the thing. Bloomberg is never seen on a bike. In fact, his spokesman had to assure the public that he knew how to ride one, even though he couldn’t recall the last time he did.
That's wonderful because it makes the point so well. Creating bike- and pedestrian-friendly places is great for cities, even for those who never ride. Bloomberg didn't do all this because he personally wanted safer places to ride his bike. He did it because he was convinced that creating the kind of places that were good for riding would create a better city overall.
What's true in New York is true in any community. There is simply no downside to making a place more bike- and pedestrian-friendly. Doing so creates better, safer, more pleasant urban places. If it means a little less auto parking or a narrower vehicle lane here or there, that's a small price to pay for all the benefits.
