A Poignant Pit-stop

I didn't want to waist a moment of time on my way back from Albany to Philly. As such, I decided to take a day off work and wander around New York. Of course this meant returning to the realm of mere mortals (that is walking instead of biking around). I started off with a trip over to see the class 1 bike lanes on 8th and 9th ave (displayed right). These are some of the first examples of protected bike lanes within an actual roadways. Most of the other class 1 lanes are confined to park side greenways and bridges. In this instance, however, The bike lane is physically separated by a painted buffer zone, concrete sections, and then a parking lane. This still leaves 2-3 lanes open for vehicular traffic.

Afterward I headed uptown to, I am quite surprised to say, Times Square. I tend to avoid this tourist mecca because of its over emphasized fame and popularity. According to the Forbes Traveler 50 most visited tourist attractions List, Times Square ranks number one with an estimated 35,200,000 people wandering it's crowded sidewalks, pausing in awe of the neon brilliance around them. Usually if I go to Times Square, it means a quick ride down the bike lane on Broadway for the fun of it, but not anymore. Several weeks ago, the downtown artery was closed off from 47th down to 42 st. This is the latest in a number of projects aimed at increasing the city's public space in new, vibrant ways. This concept expands upon the 2008 institution of "summer streets," where Park ave is closed down to automobile traffic. That was inspired by several foreign events such as Columbia's Ciclovia and the Paris Plauge. Anyway, I had to see this for myself. Depicted right is the uptown view of Times Square from 42nd st. It is quite odd to see chairs in the middle of the street. At the same time however, I found it somewhat unremarkable. Honestly it doesn't really seem like much has changed. Instead of cars obstructing the roadway you have people in lawn chairs. They have begun painting the blocked roadway red and slightly elevating the edges of the roadway.
One thing I noticed is that bike riders must dismount and walk their bikes through the street as illustrated on the left. What I found interesting is that when you stand at the intersection of 7th and Broadway, and face uptown there is a distinct difference in the amount of noise coming from one side vs. the other because of the unbalanced automobile traffic. Perhaps the daylight obscured the brilliance of this new found change, but I was not impressed. I took a seat and stayed there for a while. I overheard a man saying "It gives you the chance to take in everything that's around you." Ironically the location where this gentleman was sitting was a piece of the side walk in between the two streets. The only thing that is different about it (since cars never drove on it anyway) was the tables and chairs the the Times Square Alliance (I assume) put there. Frankly I think part of the zeal of Times Square was always that bustle. The pushing and shoving; the crowding and craning is what made this place exciting. Sure, the lights are pretty, but it's the people that make it interesting. The extra space alleviates the congestion and takes away from the experience. The idea of sitting and lounging in this monument to bustle.

Next I headed up to 104th st. and Amsterdam Ave., the location of Bike New York's headquarters. These are the folks that put on five borough tour. I was lucky enough to chat with Emilia Crotty, Bicycle education Program manager. For all of the structural improvements that NYDOT is making to the city's cycling infrastructure, their educational component is somewhat lacking. In fact, Emilia told me that NYDOT listed bike New York as the city's educational component in its application for the League of American Bicyclists. This organization ranks cities with a medal system. New York is currently bronze.

Despite its essential nature, Bike New York does not receive funding from the city. Most of their funding comes from the five borough tour. They provide numerous programs aimed at informing the public about safety and general usage. Interestingly, according to Bike New York, the biggest problem is ignorance of how to utilize the cycling infrastructure. Turns out that those... people (i can think of another word)... who are always going the wrong way in the bike lanes just don't know any better (even though there's arrows in the middle of the lane). Some people still feel this stigma about biking around New York City, even with the recent push. As a result, Bike New York offers classes for youth and adults on urban cycling. They also travel to businesses and teach seminars which Emillia described as a pep talk about biking in the city. They also have a program where they teach school gym teachers about bicycle instruction and help map out curriculum. They then lend out their fleet of 60 bicycles to that school for three week periods to implement the programs. What's amazing is that they manage to do all of this with 8 staff people! Most importantly they gave me a free mug which I took downtown for a photo op later (depicted left).

After that info session I took a stroll through the rambles in Central Park. Then I headed downtown to the bus: Easily the worst experience I have ever had on the bus. That's a whole other story though. What I took away from this trip was that walking sucks... I'm only kidding, but there is a definite difference in the experience of walking and biking New York. For the same amount of time I walked I probably could have biked at least 3 times that distance and seen that much more. Instead I walked around saw a few things, descended into the subterranean caverns of MTA and the reemerged in a different location. Utilizing the subway for transportation, while efficient, confines one's perception of the city to the tunnels and trains. It also stifles exploration of the city. Every trip on the subway means extra money. If I were on a bike who knows how far I would have gone, what route I would have taken and what sort of iconography and interesting things I would have seen. All in all, it was a productive, eventful day!